Palm Trees, Palm Trees, …
One of our Spanish groups in 5abc had the pleasure of spending a week in Elche, a beautiful town in the province of Valencia in the southeast of Spain, home to 67 orchards of 45,000 date palms – a UNESCO World Heritage Site known as “el Palmeral”. The weather during our stay was amazing, the activities offered by our partner school IES – Carrús a great mix of a cultural introduction to the lifestyle of this part of Spain (a typical “merienda” and beach day organized by the host families, a breakfast of “churros con chocolate”, etc.), informative talks on the city of Elche and our host school, as well as workshops and group activities related to the topics of our exchange – inclusion, sustainability and co-education. Not only did we get to visit the magnificent old town of Valencia and discover sea worlds at the fascinating Oceanogràfic – the largest aquarium of Europe located in the avant-garde architectural complex “La Ciudad de las Ciencias” – we also spent a beautiful day at “Tabarca”, a small, inhabited island just off the coast of Santa Pola where we enjoyed not only its charming, historical village centre, but also its beautiful, albeit chilly crystal-clear waters. Not only did we gain insights into the bilingual nature of the province of Valencia (“valenciano”, a dialect of “catalán” spoken alongside the more widespread “castellano” in the province of Valencia), we also practiced our drawing skills in the breathtakingly beautiful “Huerto del Cura”, the jewel of Elche´s historical palm grove, a splendid collection of palms and cacti from all corners of the world. We learned how to make tortilla de patata, gazpacho and the unique speciality “las delicias de Elche” – dates stuffed with almonds and wrapped in bacon/zucchini, and got to taste Moises´ delicious paella, cooked in huge “paelleras” in the school courtyard. What a treat!
We would like to thank our students for being such great travel partners and hosts, their families for their great hospitality during the first part of the exchange, and we would also like to express our gratitude to our colleagues for having been so supportive during our guests´ stay at GIBS. It takes a great team to make an experience as successful as this one definitely was!
Agni Psilinakis, Eva Hofer-Herrmuth
