The opening of the international seminar occured in the presence of Jean Soulier, president of the Association Paysage et Patrimoine sans Frontière, Francisco Marques, Regional Delegate of Education in Algarve, José Antonio Cavaco, local councillor in Faro and Teresa Matias, president of the General Council of the Aprupamento de Escolas.

Principal Carlos Luis underlined the importance of European projects for the quality and reinforcement of the European dimension of education, noting that this project acts as a soure of motivation for students in all the schools involved, from pre-school to secondary school level. It also demonstrates the strong involvement of teachers, as well as that of parents and local partners.

On this occasion, the Nosso Azul exhibition was officially inaugurated, having been set up by the group of students from the Professional Course of Communication. Rodrigo Rouge, their representative, says this is "an artistic experience that reflects our own experiences. In this exhibition, the colour blue is a reflection and a vision of what we are … our culture, our history, our daily life … "The student also specified that all the students involved had a lot of work to do, but also a lot of fun in doing it.

View the video of the Nosso Azul exhibition

The main part of the meeting also deals with the intellectual productions of the project, in particular the common book "Les chemins du bleu". In Europe " : summary, organization, calendar, illustrations, etc. It also involves experimenting with online tools on the project website, in particular the Virtual Notebook.
Participants were invited to create a “Blue Notebook”, from photographs and texts taken during a visit to Faro guided by Rosaria Irene, Portuguese coordinator.

The visit allows to admire the cathedral whose side altars are covered with "azulejos", to climb to the top of its bell tower from where one can have a magnificent view on the natural park of Ria Formosa. We also enjoy a private tour of St. Francis Church, guided by the Franciscan friars.

Unfortunately, the weather conditions do not allow to leave for the beaches and coasts of Lagos. However, this time is used to give the floor to each partner for a short presentation of the work done in his team. We also have time to jointly develop a meeting evaluation document. This presentation of the status of the project in each team and the use of this evaluation document now appear to be necessary at each of the next meetings. We thank the Mayor of Faro and the Algarve Tourist Office for their support, as well as Mrs. Marisa Damas, for her availability and contribution to this project. Our thanks also go to the entire local team for its valuable contribution to these project activities which have had a very favorable impact on the European participants coming to Faro from Italy, Romania, Spain and France.

Paula Pereira et Rosaria Prospero, project coordinators in Faro.