KOSTANTINOS GEORGIOU
Agro-European Tourism – how to reinvigorate rural areas
Erasmus+ Adult education staff mobility
29/11/2016-07/12/2016|Cantabria, Spain
Report about my visit to Sandander focus on agroturism and permaculture . As an organic farmer and eco friendly worker to various Projects I had the opportunity with Erasmus + to attend a 9 days’ project in Cantabria (Spain) focusing to get as many information on other existing project as possible which could give me more ideas and solution for my work. The First days we stayed in a small hostel with old traditional style at a very nice and calm place. We had various icebreaking exercises, name games and team building activities based in non formal education to boost our motivation and get to know each other better. The Next few days we visited with the bus different businesses where we had a tour from the owner explaining the process and telling about his experiences for about his work.
Additionally, we have visited a traditional cake factory, blueberry farm, cheese factory, cow farm and an Eco house in permaculture Cantabria land. Every story was very interesting as we analyzed it after our visits to the working room in the hostel. I had the opportunity to listen Stories where they shared issues and difficulties that they had in the past, how they solved them and their future plans. The organizers were friendly and flexible. They were good listeners to our expectations and needs and tried to make it happen. Furthermore, I got a very good network with the other participants with which we still keep in touch and with some of them we will have common projects in the near future. As for a personal aim, I am very satisfied as I challenged my story with the others and now I am more motivated to get organized better and use the methodologies and I will try to put them in practice in my farm.
Finally, I want to thank Citizens In Power that gave me the opportunity to share my knowledge and improve my daily work and special thanks to the host organization (Permaculture Cantabria) of the whole project. I will show with the results of my work what was the real effect of the knowledge I gained and my experience coming out of these 9 days. I totally recommend to everybody to attend this type of training courses, giving them the opportunity, as the advantages of the participation are invaluable.