A mini retreat- visit to an organic vineyard and farm
The field projects of ARCHELON have just been completed. Volunteers returned to their homes, the officers in charge of the projects returned to Athens, the equipment was transferred to the warehouses and now the annual reports are being written.
"This is a big 6-month effort made by ARCHELON every year, since 1984, in order to record and protect the nesting of sea turtles in the most important habitats of Greece. Many of us are busy with the field projects all year round, taking care of their organization, execution and evaluation. Mid October marks the completion of fieldwork and it’s a very important milestone of the year ", says the Director of ARCHELON Daphne Mavrogiorgou.
To celebrate this milestone, a mini retreat was organized at the Kokotos Estate, in Stamata, Attica, where we welcomed the program managers, Nikoletta Sidiropoulou (Zakynthos), Galini Samlidou (Peloponnese) and Lydia Koutrouditsou (Crete). Our main goal was to spend a few hours together and communicate in a different- than- usual open space.
Guided by Anne Kokotou, we toured the estate, visited the organic vegetable garden, the animals, the areas for children, the beehives, the first cyclamen of this fall and the lively acorns. We went through the organic vineyard, saw the winery facilities and smelled this year's must.
Later we were introduced to wine-tasting, we enjoyed the buffet and the wines of the vineyard and we played the game of the "secret friend", something that is evolving as a tradition in ARCHELON!
It was a welcome breath. Now we are ready to start planning the field projects for 2022!
Participants: Aliki Panagopoulou, Anastasia Samartzi, Anna Kremezi-Margaritouli, Galini Samlidou, George Valais, George Parhas, Daphne Mavrogiorgou, Dimitris Margaritoulis, Dimitris Fytilis, Erini Kasimati, Thomas Arapis, Ioanna Fytou, Lenio Margaritouli, Lydia Koutrouditsou, Nikoletta Sidiropoulou, Nikos Manias, Michalis Moraitis, Olga Drettaki, Panagiota Theodorou, Rania Spyropoulou, Regina Stefanatou, Frosso Dimitrakopoulou, Chara Papailiou.
