6-26 June 2005 Kizkalesi, TURKEY
This youth exchange project under Action 1 took place in Kizkalesi - East Mediterranean town. There were, except the Turkish host organization, Bulgarian, Hungarian and Lithuanian representatives, formed in teams of 7 people - 6 members and 1 leader.
The idea of the project was to let us learn more about the history and the culture of Turkey. The other participants also introduced not only their organizations, but the history and interesting traditions of their countries too. Learning the other nations’ background is a way to respect them, beside the differences.
We visited ancient ruins and museums, where the past presence of old civilizations is so visible. The province of Mersin, where Kizkalesi is situated, is full with history and remarkable places. It is the area, where Christianity was first spread and also a crossroad of Greek, Roman and Islam cultures.
OUR VISITS
We have been not only in Kizkalesi during the project. We visited many of the natural beauties and historical monuments of the region.
KIZKALESI
Kizkalesi castle - it is built on a small island 200 meters far from the land. It has given its name to the town (the ancient town’s name was Korykos). There is one other - Korykos castle. Both castles had been built to protect the city in 11th and 12th centuries.
NARLIKUYU
Heaven and Hell - two amazing hollows on a rocky land, named like this, because of the interesting legends, connected with the Greek mythology.
The Three Beauties - it is a mosaic of the three daughters of Zeus from destroyed antique bath. It was believed that there was wonder-making water.
SILIFKE
Ataturk house - one of the three residences of Ataturk in Turkey. After visiting the house, we had a meeting with the mayor of the town.
Goksy Delta - the delta of the Goksy River is under protection now. It is a home for more than 300 fish and bird species and rare plants. 
TARSUS
Saint Paulo’s home - this Christian saint was born here. Besides the ruins of his home, there is a well in very good condition. It is believed that the water in this well is miraculous.
Cleopatra’s gate - the legend says that the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra had entered Tarsus through this gate to meet Roman general Antonius.
MERSIN
A visit to one of the biggest and most beautiful mosques in Turkey.
There are problems, connected with the theme of the project, and they are related to each country and each nation. Together we were trying to find some solutions and possibilities in order to learn from each other experience.
OUR DISCUSSIONS
We discussed how to save the history like handing it down to the next generations.
We talked about the difficulties of preserving the historical and archaeological monuments and their popularizing in the country and abroad.
OUR WORKSHOPS
Neighborhood. We were divided in for teams with participants from all of the represented counties. We had to imagine that we live in one block of flats where a young noisy immigrant disturbs a part of the neighbors. We organized a meeting, where we discussed honestly all problems that we are worried about and tried to reach to a compromise in order each of us to be satisfied. Finally, one participant from each team informed everybody about the decision, reached at the meeting.
Euro train. The situation was as follows: we were passengers in one train crossing Europe. There were many other passengers from different nationalities, with different behavior. Each participant had to choose with whom of them he/she prefers or does not prefer to travel and explain why. The aim of the workshop was all of us to debate about the different types of stereotypes in the society. We exposed the negative points of thinking of stereotypes and how they can stay in the way of the contacts between the people.
Presentations. In teams, we made presentations about:
- The ethnic groups
- The antique theatres
- The nature
- The mosques
We exposed the topic issue of each theme; what kind of problems there are; how they can be solved.
Draw a picture. We had to express with a picture what are for us: the traditions, the nature and the future. All the time we mixed the papers between us. At the end, each of us had in front of him/her, a sheet with three different pictures, drawn by three different people. One by one, we explained what we think another’s pictures express and why.
OTHER ACTIVITIES
Meeting with the Yoruks. Nowadays, they are small ethnic group, but these people are the oldest settlers of the region. We were told about their way of life, we listened their traditional music and tasted one delicious dish, called sakma - it is a thin pancake, filled with meat and cheese.
 International night. We had a special evening, devoted to our international drinks, food, songs and dances. We arranged one big table and each organization presented national items.
A day for international dishes. We went to a restaurant, where all participants took part of preparing some national dishes. We all enjoyed cooking and after that eating them.
Cleaning the beach. The conception of this activity was to aware the society, especially the young people, that we have to keep the nature and all its beauties clean. This initiative was welcome. Volunteers, just resting under the sun, helped us to collect the rubbish.
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