At the beginning of April 2022, I went on an excursion through the neighborhood and nature of Vrontados together with the 5th and 6th class of the Primary school. For both, children and teachers, that was a good opportunity to get a break from the everyday school life while learning more about the island’s unique nature. At 8 o’clock everyone gathered on the school yard and got ready. The director entrusted me with the first aid kit, that I carried throughout the whole hike in case that someone would get hurt.
From the school we headed out northwards through the small streets of Vrontados and soon reached the edge of the village, where a small path, called “monopati” in Greek, led up to the mountains. The path was quite narrow and covered with loose stones so we had to be very careful. I was helping some children to keep their balance at the difficult sections.
Along the way, the children were collecting different types of plants and the director educated them about the different species. We saw a bunch of olive trees, many herbs like for example oregano but also tulips and other wild flowers.
It was a cloudy yet warm and calm day which was just perfect for hiking. Fortunately, it didn’t rain so we could enjoy the amazing view over Vrontados, the beach of Daskalopetra and the sea. During the whole trip I took pictures of the children and the landscape, that I later provided to the school as well as to the organization. Halfway we made a little picnic break and I took a group picture of all the children and teachers. Then, we soon reached a paved road again and continued our way to the churches of Agios Makarios and Agia Marina.
After departing from Agia Marina, we were on our way back to the school which the children used to collect more flowers from the road side. One boy, Dimitri, was falling back a little because he felt pain in his leg. I walked with him when he couldn’t keep up with the others which enabled the rest of the group to continue without having to wait all of the time. In the meanwhile, I talked to the boy about his hobbies and I think that this represented a good opportunity for him to practice his English skills. In the end we arrived at the school safely and everyone was a little exhausted but happy!
