Istanbul and Zonguldak, Turkey (September 2022)

From 13th to 20th September 2022 the Erasmus+ project led us to our Erasmus+ partner school Kilimli Anadolu Lisesi in Zonguldak in Turkey (after our partner schools from Greece, Poland, Romania and Turkey had visited us in Aachen in the previous school year).

After a short stay in Istanbul the plan was to work on our project "A Unique Earth - Our Responsibility for a Sustainable Future" with a focus on water. We were able to get to know many facets of the project through many presentations by the partners and were enriched by visits to many cultural cities.

Short tour of the metropolis

Since landing in Istanbul, we took the opportunity to visit the Turkish metropolis for the first two days. We spent the first evening in Bakırköy, a very beautiful district in the south of Istanbul. In the late evening of the first day, the partner schools from Poland and Romania also joined us, so that on Wednesday we were able to do a big city tour together.

Complete tour of Istanbul 

Seeing Istanbul in one day is an impossible task in itself, so we had to limit ourselves to a few “must see” sights. Our city tour took us to the most important places, such as the blue mosque, the world-famous Hagia Sophia and a beautiful spice bazaar. Before we ended the day in Istanbul, our Greek partner school joined us and together we made a wonderful boat trip on the Bosporus.

Our Turkish partner school

On Thursday we went to our Turkish partner school, where we worked on our project "A Unique Earth - Our Responsibility for a Sustainable Future". In Zonguldak, we focused particularly on the "water" aspect. After a tour of the school and entertaining Icebreaker games, it was time to get to work. All schools had prepared various presentations on the topic, so that we got a very good insight into the problems of the different partner countries. Special presentations on the Black Sea and the Aegean completed the topic.

Sightseeing

The next day was a visit to the sulfur springs, the Gökgol cave and the mining museum. Here you could smell and taste the healing power of the water (like in Aachen). Zonguldak's mining history is another aspect that connects our host city to the Aachen city region. On the Friday we went to Eregli to visit the Cehennemağzı Caves and the Alemdar Ship Museum. The impact of the water that has been flowing through the rock for thousands of years was evident from the different colors in the caves. In the afternoon we were able to enjoy the refreshing coolness of the Black Sea at 36°C, before bringing the day to a beautiful end with all participants eating and dancing together.