Christmas in the country where living is sweet
AUTHENTIC SURROUNDINGS for the 14th Christmas in Europe
You might meet a shepherd at the corner of a lane, and imagine that in the sky of Fundão the shooting star which guided the Three Wise Men came straight from the nearby Serra Estrela.
AUTHENTIC SURROUNDINGS for the 14th Christmas in Europe
You might meet a shepherd at the corner of a lane, and imagine that in the sky of Fundão the shooting star which guided the Three Wise Men came straight from the nearby Serra Estrela.
All the INFTUR Team (Lisbon, Coimbra, Fundão, Santarem and the schools from the Portuguese Islands of Madeira and the Azores) found a way to create a warm and convivial atmosphere for this feast and added some ingredients for a …
Successfull recipe...
Excellence without effervescence, efficiency without extravagance and a contagiously positive way of life, surely typically Portuguese, for all the participants: Albanians, Austrians, Danes, French, Hungarians, Italians, Luxembourgers, Poles, Portuguese, Slovenians, Swedes.
Right from the first day, when we arrived and set up the stands and took part in the inaugural parade, each one of us felt special, each of us had arrived from different climes and we all felt - different!
We are individuals...
From the second day (cultural programme and meeting the public), we all had the need to connect to others, to be part of something greater than ourselves.From the third day (European buffet, meeting with public and other students) we needed to recognize ourselves in others, we felt a part of one large team with European colours and we wanted others to be aware of it.
We became like a family ...
Here are two seemingly contradictory challenges. Neither of them is more important than the other; but what gives us happiness is to bring the two together.
One of the quests of 'Christmas in Europe' is to seek a response to these two challenges: to keep one's individuality while being part of a larger whole as much as one can. This quest translates into the professional arena (tourism, gastronomy, promotion of the cultural heritage), and points to a possible way for Europe to develop.
The magic worked its spell also in Portugal. Many thanks to all those who made this possible, both through their detailed planning and through their passion.
Magia teve um grande susseço em Portugal.Obrigados a todos aqueles que organizaram com precisào et coraçào.
Christiane Keller
