From the 6th to the 9th November 2024, we organized an educational visit to CERN and to cities in Switzerland, France and Italy. Forty-two B and C class students participated, accompanied by the Director Nikolaos Zarkadoulas, the Assistant Director Petros Zoumblios and Ralleio teachers Lefteris Ferentinos and Katerina Christodoulou.
The school group flew to Zurich and from there travelled by road to the impressive city of Bern, the capital of Switzerland. We saw Einstein's house, toured the historic city center and had lunch there. We continued our journey to the city of Annemasse in France where we stayed overnight.
Early the next morning we visited the exhibitions of CERN (Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire), which is the largest experimental nuclear research center, particularly in particle physics, in the world. At the center, we were given a guided tour by the Centre's electronics engineer, Mr. Dimitrios Damianoglou. We then departed for Geneva where we spent the rest of the day touring and having lunch in the historic city center. We visited the Protestant church of St. Peter with its impressive stained-glass windows. The more adventurous students of our group climbed the 200 steps to the top of the bell tower from where they admired the spectacular views of the city and Lake Geneva. Filled with gorgeous views of the city, we returned to our hotel in Annemas for dinner and our overnight stay.
The next day began with a visit to Annecy, the beautiful little town called the "Venice of France". We toured the medieval sights and the town's open-air food and drink market. We left Annecy and headed for the town and Lake Como in Italy via Fréjus Alpine tunnel. We arrived in Como in the afternoon where we admired the city's cathedral and toured the historic center. Later we departed for our hotel in Milan which was waiting for us shrouded in fog. We enjoyed authentic Italian pizza and other delicious Italian dishes in the restaurant.
Saturday, the last day of our tour, was dedicated to Milan. We visited Castello Sforzi, La Scala of Milan, the beautiful Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II and the city's iconic cathedral, the Duomo. We strolled through the famous market and had lunch before departing for Malpensa airport and from there to Piraeus.
We returned full of knowledge, impressions and experiences that we will never forget!