Day 1
The first day combined theory and practice, taking participants from a “cooking together” experience in the Centre of the Earth and having this food for lunch to an afternoon visit of Queen Amalia Tower Estate / Pyrgos Vasilissis winery and other educational space managed by Organization Earth, where the participants transplanted the cabbage seedlings. Day 1 offered a first-hand experience of how environmental education works in practice and showed how a historic estate can combine heritage, organic farming and visitor experiences.
Centre of the Earth
Centre of the Earth is created and run by Organization Earth. It is an environmental, education and urban sustainability centre located inside a city park. It lies about 6 km from the centre of Athens and is conceived as a physical meeting place for people of different ages interested in rethinking urban lifestyles.
Queen Amalia Tower Estate/ Pyrgos Vasilissis winery
A place and a business of historical value, the estate was commissioned by Amalia, the first queen of Greece, in the mid-19th century as a model centre for agriculture and animal husbandry. Inspired by the "Megali Idea" (the "Great Idea"), the political and cultural project aimed at the liberation of the entire Greek nation, Queen Amalia had an artificial hill built in 1857, adding it to the six already existing. The property thus took the name Eptalofos ("Seven Hills"). The seven hills were dedicated to the Argonauts of Greek mythology: Jason, Pollux, Castor, Tiphys, Heracles, Orpheus and Peleus.
Today the estate uses organic techniques in the management of the vineyard and the winery. In its 4 hectares of vineyard, new plantings favour native Greek varieties. Olive oil and pistachios are also produced, and there are horses, chickens and beehives.
Community Garden of Petroupoli
The Community Garden of Petroupolis is a participatory urban agriculture initiative implemented by the municipality of Petroupolis. It brings together local residents, volunteers and vulnerable groups to cultivate food collectively, learn sustainable practices and strengthen community bonds in a dense urban environment.
Unfortunately, we were unable to visit this place due to a tree safety problem that occurred the previous day.
But this initiative was selected as one of a good practices in civic agriculture in Greece, so if you want to know more, check our Baseline study here:
