Once upon a time . . .

“The amazing journey” is a collaborative work.

The wonderful Teams’ members from all partner Schools have agreed, imagined and composed this unique, ambitious story, which presents the “Trees of friendship”, Nature and Environmental problems of Europe.
Enjoy their work efforts, sensitivity and productivity.

Once upon a time a plane tree, called Platan, all absorbed in thoughts, was looking a the silent water of a Greek lake that was flowing near its roots and trying to wake up the little birds, which were still sleeping on its branches.
It was very sad, because the water of the lake and the nearby river was not clear and shining, as in the past. It felt sorry about all the plants and animals of the area and it swayed its branches in sorrow. A little homeless and friendless squirrel has told it all these bad news. Platan and the squirrel were trying to understand this human behavior in vain. They were thinking why men prefer the cement and pollution rather than the trees and fresh air. They couldn’t find any answers
Finally Platan got a nice idea: the little squirrel has to travel north towards the Balkan Peninsula, following the river Nestos upstream, in order to meet the old Platan’s friend, the wise Buk.
(The Greek team)

The squirrel asked her friend, another squirrel to go with her. They went north following the course of the river. They passed by many very different places:
polluted towns with high chimneys of big factories, clean forests and meadows.
The wise Buk was waiting for their arrival. The little birds, which were sleeping on the Platan’s branches had woken up and flown to the Buk before the squirrels.
The wise Buk was very old and told the squirrels that the nature wasn’t dirty when he was young. Then he remembered the beautiful Rila Mountain lakes which were still very clean. The Buk was very happy because the squirrels jumped and the birds sang on its branches. The song was about a beautiful Rowan tree with small red berries..
(The Bulgarian team)

Two little squirrels reached Poland just in the middle of spring, the most beautiful season of the year, when the trees start blossoming. Playing and running around they forgot about their mission for a while. But suddenly they recalled themselves how serious goal they have to get. The bees working hard in the orchard told them where to find Mr Wise, who knows everything. Mr Wise, the old owl, who was the most intelligent among the animals ware proud that the squirrels wanted his valuable advice. He lived in a hallow, scoped out in the rowan tree trunk. He told his guests about the environmental problems in Poland, about air and water pollution and how many people do not care about the nature, which is the highest value for all living creatures. But Mr Wise was full of hope as a young generation in Poland appeared to be clever and sensitive to nature. He asked the squirrels to travel along the river and meet his old friends, the Lime and the Oak, to share his opinion. ‘Maybe we could do something together?’ he said
(The Polish team)

Our friend the little squirrel was now in France and was looking forward to visiting its woods and parks. He had never been there before and was looking forward to visiting its woods and parks.
But it was already late and he had nowhere to sleep and nothing to eat.
Fortunately, the animals of the wood were very welcoming and a fox advised him to go and see the two-hundred-year-old oak that was the attendant of the wood.
The venerable oak kindly gave shelter to the worn-out squirrel that ate some of his delicious acorns. The oak was happy to do him a good turn though he was in low spirits.
As a matter of fact, the oak felt somewhat depressed. He told the squirrel how sad he was to witness how much men didn’t respect nature and its wonders. The oak resented much heavy industrialisation and energy consumption which were to be blamed for air and water pollution.
The oak had seen men uproot thousands of trees. He wondered how men could have forgotten how useful trees were. Didn’t they know trees produce oxygen thanks to photosynthesis! Yet, the oak and the squirrel agreed on the fact that some French environmentalists did their best to encourage reforestation in developing countries. Men created green walls and roofs that may improve the air quality. The oak wanted to believe the younger generation would fight for nature and imagine green technologies to protect the Earth!
(The French team)

The oak tree said him also:“You must look for the oldest national tree in the Czech republic“. The squirrels were desperate, because they didn´t know, what tree they have to look for and where they have to go. But little birds heard them and one of them was golden nightingale, Karlik. They asked him: “Where is your nest?“. Karlik was vain and he didn´t want to tell them the way. The bee Maja disclosed it. „He lives on the oldest lime-tree in the Czech Paradise“, said Maja. So they set on the way to the ancient lime-tree and for the way to the Czech Paradise is very nice, they were happy, because they didn´t see any factories and idustry. Lime-tree welcomed them and it invited them to tea party. It was a magic lime-tree, but the squirrels didn´t know it. The squirrels told lime-tree all about their troubles and the lime-tree told them: „All will be better, wait. Take a cup of good lime tea.“. The squirrels soon fell asleep and they woke up near a big town. They were startled and they didn´t know, what they have to do. Two small children were walking around and they saw the dismayed squirrels on the ground. The children took the squirrels home and they took care about them. Squirrels recovered gradually and one day, when children spoke to them, the squirrels found that they can speak human´s language, because they drank lime tea! Squirrels and children became the best friends. The squirrels got an idea: „the children can help them with their problem!”
(The Czech team)

The squirrels told the children that they had to go on their journey looking for a big forest, where thousands of cork oaks lived but they didn’t know the way they had to follow. The children helped them. They used their computer to show the way to the South. It was a long distance but they were sure that the squirrels will manage to finish that adventure. So, they said goodbye to each other and continued traveling towards Spain.
When the squirrels arrived to the south of Spain, they saw a huge forest: a beautiful area rich in water, where a great variety of plants, trees and animals could live happily. There, they met a stork who tell them that, as in many other places, men where damaging the environment, building roads and factories. The stork told that many trees had got ill and died because of pollution. It was a sad view. But the stork told the squirrels they shouldn’t lose hope, because some people were now sensitive to the environmental problems and they were trying to change. Using new energies or recycling paper, glass, plastic, tins...
And young generations seem to enjoy keeping in touch with Nature.
So the stork, said good-bye to the squirrels and flew over the magnificent oak trees
She felt hopeful and encouraged the squirrels to be optimistic about the future.

(The Spanish team)

ile he was in Spain he decided to have a voyage to China. On the last night he farewell the wonderful country and got lost us he was in the rhythms of flamenco dance a bit more than usually.He arrived at the airport late and confused as he was, he came to Cyprus instead of going to China.
His luggage was lost. This was really bad as he found himself in a tourist resort with palm trees and sandy beaches. He had a wonderful day, but at night he didn’t sleep in a hotel but under a carob-tree because he had not got any money. Even though, he had the most wonderful holiday in his life.
It became more interesting when he met an attractive turtle careta- careta. They fell in love and decided to travel together all over the Mediterranean Sea.
(By the Cypriot team)