Fourth project meeting: Vitoria-Gasteiz
26 November - 1 December 2011
Me and two other Estonian students were given the chance to visit Basque Country with the Comenius project. And the experience was beyond words..
Having not even landed in Bilbao, I was already amazed by the local landscape which was something that followed through all the six days we spent there. We met the Basque students in a hotel in Vitoria where the teachers stayed. Unfortunately the Turkish could not make it on time but they caught up in the evening. We then went to eat and slowly started to introduce our lives to each other. It turns out we are not all that different and by the end of the trip everyone got along like very good friends, putting aside the fact of being from completely different cultures.
The first place the students and teachers were taken together was one of the three La Rioja wine producing regions – Alavesa. There we got to know more about the whole process of making wine, wines themselves and about the place as a whole and it was really impressive to say the least. We also visited the school of the Basque participants. There we had a presentation and a workshop where we discussed the topic of food. Later on went to visit a cooking school where they also had a restaurant for beginner chefs. In the evening we went to the Cathedral of Santa Maria. The Cathedral itself was and will still be going through renovations for quite some time but it is an object of interest for experts from all over the world for its uniqueness.
Next day we went to the city of San Sebastian, a very beautiful place by the Bay of Biscay. Shortly put, we saw the sculptures which are pretty famous landmarks for San Sebastian, then visited the Aquarium where you could see sealife and learn about naval history. After that we had some free time in the city itself. On the last day we went not very far from Vitoria to visit a salt mine. It was unique for its old-fashioned way of getting salt like in an open area mine. After that we again rode the bus to Torre de los Varona, a kind of defensive building where there were quite a lot of first things in the whole Spain, a radio for example.
Besides visiting all these places we also had some free time what we all mostly spent together and had a lot of fun in the meanwhile. As I said before the experience is something I will not forget and I am looking forward to seeing you here in Estonia!
Written by Norman Klaar
Having not even landed in Bilbao, I was already amazed by the local landscape which was something that followed through all the six days we spent there. We met the Basque students in a hotel in Vitoria where the teachers stayed. Unfortunately the Turkish could not make it on time but they caught up in the evening. We then went to eat and slowly started to introduce our lives to each other. It turns out we are not all that different and by the end of the trip everyone got along like very good friends, putting aside the fact of being from completely different cultures.
The first place the students and teachers were taken together was one of the three La Rioja wine producing regions – Alavesa. There we got to know more about the whole process of making wine, wines themselves and about the place as a whole and it was really impressive to say the least. We also visited the school of the Basque participants. There we had a presentation and a workshop where we discussed the topic of food. Later on went to visit a cooking school where they also had a restaurant for beginner chefs. In the evening we went to the Cathedral of Santa Maria. The Cathedral itself was and will still be going through renovations for quite some time but it is an object of interest for experts from all over the world for its uniqueness.
Next day we went to the city of San Sebastian, a very beautiful place by the Bay of Biscay. Shortly put, we saw the sculptures which are pretty famous landmarks for San Sebastian, then visited the Aquarium where you could see sealife and learn about naval history. After that we had some free time in the city itself. On the last day we went not very far from Vitoria to visit a salt mine. It was unique for its old-fashioned way of getting salt like in an open area mine. After that we again rode the bus to Torre de los Varona, a kind of defensive building where there were quite a lot of first things in the whole Spain, a radio for example.
Besides visiting all these places we also had some free time what we all mostly spent together and had a lot of fun in the meanwhile. As I said before the experience is something I will not forget and I am looking forward to seeing you here in Estonia!
Written by Norman Klaar
Photo gallery
Vitoria-Gasteiz
Brief overview of the trip
A video that Nils, one of the Estonian students, made about his trip to Basque Country in November 2011.