In May 2025, it was time for our third project meeting, which was arranged by our Turkish partner in Trabzon in the beautiful Black Sea region in the north of Türkiye. The topic for this meeting was "Stories about landscapes", and the Hungarian, Irish, Finnish and Turkish delegations all came prepared to share stories about their native landscapes with the others. Before our arrival, all the participating teachers and students had introduced themselves on a shared Padlet, which made it easier to connect once we got together in real life. 

On the first day of our project meeting, which was a Sunday, our hosts took us to a place full of stories - the Sümela monastery in the stunning mountains of the Maçka district outside of Trabzon. The history of the monastery stretches back to the 4th century AD and we learnt about some of the stories in the exhibitions on the site. We also enjoyed a picnic lunch in Maçka before returning to Trabzon for a nice view of the city from Boztepe Hill. 

In our host school, we had a warm welcome. A group of talented dancers showed us the traditional dance horon, which we also tried to learn later during the meeting. We were given a tour of the school and visited classes, where the students had prepared with questions about the countries the guests came from. The project coordinators had a meeting where we mapped the progress of the project and discussed details about the final part of the project. There were also icebreaker activities and a welcome assembly. During the assembly, the hosts had prepared a wide variety of music and dance. All the delegations also performed a drama telling the story about a landscape from their country.

The Turkish hosts had chosen the well-known story about the Sümela monastery for their drama. Legend says that two Greek monks were guided to the remote place in the Pontic mountains by a vision of Virgin Mary, and established the monastery there. The hosting art teachers had made beautiful scenography that made the jaws drop in the audience when they were revealed! 

The Finnish group chose to make a drama about an important place rather than a landscape - the sauna. The drama features  how a few modern teenagers learn the hard way to respect the sauna elf, a traditional character in Finnish folklore. They also did a short presentation about the importance of sauna to Finnish culture. 

The Irish group told the story about Dún Briste (= "The Broken Fort"), the sea stack by Downpatrick head that we were lucky enough to visit during the Irish project meeting six months earlier. We also sang Irish songs together. 

The Hungarian group had prepared a drama about the Miska jug. 

During the Turkish meeting, we also did a few interesting field trips. We visited "En mutlu köy", which is a living and working space in the mountains for people with special needs working with agriculture and crafts. This way, the centre provides them with a meaningful way to participate in society. We did crafts together, saw work demonstrations and tasted the first strawberries of the year. 

We also visited another school in Trabzon, the Bahcesehir kolejie, where we visited classes, had a guided tour in school and also did some sports and icebreaker games. 

On our final day, we had a day trip in the mountains. First, we visited the Çal Cave, the second longest cave in the world, admiring the stalactites and stalagmites, and even a waterfall from the ceiling of the cave. Outside the cave, on the side of the mountain, we also had the opportunity to try ziplining in a beautiful landscape. 

After that, we got back to the bus and drove to our picnic destination, Şahinkaya, where we enjoyed a nice lunch, games and activities and just taking in the scenery. It was a beautiful way to finish our project meeting! 

Please enjoy the video about the Turkish meeting!