Amfissa is a town situated in central Greece which has traditionally been one of the most famous olive and olive oil producing areas of the country. Our C class students spent three days at the Amfissa Centre for Environmental Education exploring the production and packaging methods for olives and olive oil accompanied by Dr D. Kalaitzidis, Director of the school, and Ms P. Kolentzou and A. Keskesiadou, Greek Language Teachers. Here is a short account of what they learned and did in these three days.

Sunday, 16 December 2012

On the way to the Amfissa Centre for Environmental Education, the students visited the Delphi Museum where they were offered a guided tour by Mr Theodore Panagou, member of the pedagogical team of the Centre. At the centre, where they stayed for two nights, the students attended an environmental awareness presentation by Mr Theoharopoulos, the Director of the Centre, followed by a vivid discussion on subjects such as global warming and climate change, endangered biodiversity issues and urban environment problems.

Monday, 17 December 2012

In the morning, the students were guided to one of the many Oil Press Facilities in the area where they observed the oil extraction procedure from washing the olives and removing the leaves to the making of the olive paste and the extraction of the final product. The students also tasted different samples of freshly extracted olive oil. They then went on to visit Anagnostakou Bros factory for processing and packaging olives where they followed the production line and tasted different varieties of olives. Before lunch, they walked around an olive grove and were informed about the original irrigation methods based on the difference of altitude. The students were also shown the inoculation method used to render cultivated olive trees from wild olive trees. In the afternoon, at the Centre they were shown, among other experiments at the Centre Laboratory, how to make homemade soap using olive oil and sodium hydroxide. Later on, the students visited the ICT laboratory of the Centre where they prepared presentations on what they had learned during their trip.

Tuesday, 18 December 2012

After presenting their work and discussing about it, the students packed to leave for Pireas. On their way back home, they visited a traditional leather producing factory and the small museum of the area. They stopped for lunch at the picturesque village of Arahova and arrived in Pireas late in the afternoon.