M’CHIGEENG—A group of Manitoulin Secondary School (MSS) students took the trip of a lifetime during the recent March break holiday, visiting Greece and Italy.
“There was no one highlight of the trip,” said Dawn Noble McCann, family studies teacher at MSS who organized the trip along with Dean Riggs of Espanola High School, through a company called EF Tours. “Every day was packed with amazing things to do and see. I think it was very surreal for some. However, some of the things that stand out include the Colosseum in Rome (Italy), the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Acropolis in Athens, the views of the Aegean Sea, and of course the food in both Italy and Greece was amazing.”
A total of 19 MSS students were among the total of 35 students who took part, with students from Grades 9-12 attending the trip. Ms. Noble McCann and Leslie Marshall of MSS were two of the chaperones on the trip.
The group flew out of Sudbury to Toronto, and then to Frankfurt, Germany to Milan, Italy where they met their tour guide. On the way home, the group flew from Athens, Greece to Zurich, Switzerland to Toronto, to Sudbury.
The students and their chaperones stayed in regular hotels close to the areas they visited, said Ms. Noble McCann. “The most impressive one was the “Iniohos” hotel in Delphi as it was very charming, and overlooked the Gulf of Corinth and the surrounding mountains.”
The group took a tour of Florence and saw the Piazza della Signoria, Ponte Vecchio, Chiesa di Santa Croce, Gates of Paradise, Leaning Tower of Pisa and visiting the Duomo.
The next day was spent in Rome where the group visited the Colosseum, took a guided tour of Rome and visited the Roman Forum. Day five included taking a self-guided walking tour of Rome a guided tour of Vatican City, visiting the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica.
The next day the group took a night ferry to Pompeii where they visited the Roman Ruins, took a guided tour of Pompeii, and boarded a night ferry to Patras. From there they travelled to Delphi and then on to Athens.
In Athens the group visited the Delphi Museum, took a guided tour of Delphi, and with their expert local guide they saw the Temple of Apollo. And on day nine the students took a guided tour of Athens, visited the Acropolis, visited the Acropolis Museum, and took a tour of Athens. With their tour director they saw the Plaka District and the Temple of Olympian Zeus.
“For the last night, we all got dressed up in formal attire and did the Greek evening where we were immersed in the Greek culture during an evening of festive entertainment and local cuisine,” explained Ms. Noble McCann. “We got to see the fancy footwork of traditional Greek dancing accompanied by musicians playing on bouzoukis, stringed instruments unique to Greece. Music and dancing have long played a central role in Greek culture with over 4,000 dances from all regions of the country so it was pretty cool to end our trip like this.”
