VAGAB - Comenius project 2010

On the 4th June the last Comenius visit started. This time the VAGAB teams met in Portugal where the teachers worked on the project final report and the evaluation of the project. We spent one week in Benavente and in Lisbon, we had a chance to meet the Portuguese students and to see some of the most beautiful and impressive places of the country. Here is a "photo report" of what we did and what we saw:

Tuesday was a very busy day with lots of walking, talking, working and visiting:

The school - Escola Secundaria de Benavente

At the Town Hall

Sightseeing - cork trees

Cork tree

Portuguese bulls which survived bull fights and now have the right to "retire" ;-)

We also visited an art exhibition inspired by bull fighting
(here: Traditional costume worn by horseman; it was made of clay

Traditional hat worn by horseman - Caminos

Then, after the cultural part, we were invited to take part in aguided tour of Benavente

Traditional decoration seen on some houses

Sara - our guide - gave us a lot of interesting information about Benavente

One of the churches we saw that day

The day wouldn't have been complete without a group photo :-)

We also had the chance to take part in a guided tour of the school

Escola Secundaria de Benavente

After the guided tour we took a photo with our guides :-)

And then the time came to start working...

Serious discussions started...

We evaluated the project...

and had an on-line conference with Carlos

Everyone was more than happy to see Carlos (Skype is a great thing, isn't it?)

On Wednesday we started working on the final report early in the morning. We wanted to do as much as possible and we hade very good motivation for that - at lunchtime we were invited to have lunch with Portuguese Comenius students, teachers and the school headmaster.

Working...

Discussing...

Taking notes...

A bit of posing, too ;-)

And then lunch time came and we were taken to a local restaruant...

to have lunch with the VAGAB Portuguese students...

It was great to see them again!

We were served delicious lunch (the waiter could even speak some Polish!)

Lunch was good, but the company was even better :-)

Time for the artistic part of the lunch - Comenius song!

We saw some unusual structures - they were prepared for "bull running"...

And this is where the bulls are released from...

After lunch we took part in a conference for the whole school...

Isabel talked about the Comenius programme and our project...

... and we listened patiently, doing our best to understand Portuguese ;-)

Then the teachers form each country were asked to give some information about the project.
Here Katrin and Grit are talking abut the project in Germany

Dominika and I also talked about the project, our blog,
Comenius Day and about the advantages of such projects

And then the Portuguese students took the floor and discussed each theme we covered in the project.

Lara and Luciano talked about "Media and Communication".

... and Marco and Pedro F. discussed the theme "Family life and gender roles"

Presents for the Portuguese school
(the doll is dressed in traditional clothes from Zakopane - town in the south of Poland - in the Tatra mountains)

Treat from the VAGAB Portuguese students -
it would be a sin to refuse to taste the local speciality, wouldn't it?

That evening we discovered a very nice restaurant on the top of the Benavente Vila Hotel
- view from the terrace of the restaurant

Thursday was a day off so our Portuguese hosts organised a sightseeing tour for us. We visited lots of beautiful towns, went to the coast and enjoyed some typical Portuguese pastries.

We visited Sintra (where, I discovered, Roman Polanski's film "The Ninth Gate" was shot)

Sintra

Handbags made of cork!

Sintra

Dominika entering a famous confectioner's where we bought some typical cakes and pastries...

... such as these :-)

Than we went to the coast and visited Cabo da Roca - the most occidental place in Europe.

This is where Europe ends :-)

Photo time on the most western tip of Europe :-)

Cabo da Roca

Still there - the place was really breathtaking!

We also visited Guncho Beach, which is part of the Cascais-Sintra Natural Park.
It is popular with for surfers, windsurfers and kitesurfers.

VAGAB Comenius team enjoying the sun and the ocean

Writing on the sand :-)

The author of the inscriptions ;-)

After the visit to the beach we went to Cascais

Cascais

Cascais - freshly squeezed orange juice - delicious!

During lunch we also listened to some nice Portuguese music.

Portuguese palms, blue sky and a beautiful sunny day! Superb!

At the end of the day we went to see Jeronimos Monastery in Lisbon

Jeronimos Monastery

Jeronimos Monastery - tomb of Vasco da Gama.

We had some time to relax in a beautiful park near the Monastery...

...and enjoy the sun and the beautiful trees there.

On Friday we finished working on the final report

and took the last group photo of all the teachers in front of the school.

VAGAB teachers in front of the school

In the evening we went to a local pub to watch the opening match: Poland vs Greece

We were served some traditional Portuguese dishes, such as snails...

Here you can see one way of eating them - Salome decided to use a toothpick...

... and here is the other way to eat them - no toothpicks for Jehannes!

When we came back to our hostel we found a nice good-bye present from the Portuguese students :-)

And then Saturday came, which was the day to leave Benavente and go to Lisbon. In the morning we had our last breakfast in our a little cafe opposite the school and left the town. It was a bit sad, as we knew the trip was coming to an end, but we were looking forward to visiting Lisbon.