Pärnu Kuninga Street Basic School represented Estonia at Our Cultures-Our Treasures mobility in Spain, Ferrol at CEIP Cruceiro de Canido school from 3rd-7th October 2022. The part-takers were school headmistress Urve Krause, English teacher Silvi Raska and four students from 5th and 6th grade – Kerttu Aruoja, Mirt Matilda Sofi Kirss, Nora Reial ja Beatrice Šurõgin.
This project brought together representative partners (teachers and students) from Greece, Portugal and Slovenia.
Five days were filled with interesting presentations and cultural trips around Ferrol and Galicia.
A walk was organized for us in the Canido district of Ferrol, where the school we visited is also located. During this walk, we were introduced to the larger and more important wall paintings, which are called ´´Las Meninas´´ in Spanish. Its leader, artist Eduardo Hermida, started the project in 2008 to draw attention to the sadness and abandonment in this part of the city. There are now more than 300 of these murals in this part of the city. More are added during the annual festival, and Canido has become a popular destination for tourists.
We took a boat to Fort San Felipe, historically the most important military structure in the Bay of Ferrol. The construction of this fortress began already in 1557. We also had the opportunity to visit the Ferrol Arsenal, or naval base, and the shipbuilding museum located next to it. The naval base is still active and employs more than 1,000 people permanently. We saw several warships in the harbor, one of which had just returned from Estonia. At the same time, new ships are also being built and sold to, for example, the Australian Navy.
The most memorable was the visit to the city of Santiago de Compostela. We went to the cathedral where Jesus’ apostle James is buried. It is an important pilgrimage destination next to Rome and Jerusalem. We were also allowed on the roof of the cathedral, where the guide talked about the history of the region, the city and the cathedral.
On the last day we danced to local music. After that, all the participants wrote their names and good wishes to their friends on the drawn figure of Menina.
