ESCAPE PROJECT NEWSLETTER No. 7

October 2015 No. 7

Impressions from Surovo Štúrovo (Parkany) – Slowakia Štúrovo is a city near the Danube River in the South of Slovakia.

Inside this issue: Sturovo—Slovakia

1

Meeting the Mayor

2

Chateau Bela

3

Gabcikovo’s Dam

4

The Annual Sturovo Fair

5

A Trip to Bratislava

6

An Afternoon in Esztergom

7

European Day of the Antrepreneur

8

 All partners contribution  All days impressions  All activities described

The Danube here is the SlovakHungarian border. On the other side of the river, you can see the city Esztergom.

From Sturovo you can see the “Basilica” which is situated in Esztergom. It is open daily from 8.00 to 16:00 and the entry is free.

Nearly 80 % of the people in Sturovo speak Hungarian. They

have bilingual schools in which Slovakian and Hungarian is spoken.

The young people are often spending their free time in pubs l i k e “ Th e G r e e n P u b ” , “Underworld” and so on.

Sturovo is well known for his big thermal area. The thermal baths are the reason why so many people are visiting the city in summer.

Twice a year, a big market is taking place in the whole town.

There you can buy regional food from Slovakia and Hungary, clothes, sweets and so on.

Austrian team

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Meeting the Mayor The t hird transnati onal meeting of the ESCAPE Erasmus+ Project was held in Sturovo, Slovakia, between the 4th and 10th of October. The general topic of this edition was ecology so the students from all the countries had to prepare some PowerPoint presentations about the most significant natural reservations from their region while the teachers taught specimen lessons involving environmental protection, sources of energy, reducing pollution and healthy lifestyles.

„I found the meaning of the town’s coat of arms one of the most interesting parts of his speech“

Right at the beginning of the week, after the meeting from the Gimnazium School in Sturovo, the guests had the chance to meet the mayor of the town, engineer Eugen Szabo, but also the vice mayor, Mrs. Kornelia Slabakova. Although it was a very formal meeting, the atmosphere was a comfortable one because both of them were interested in finding out about the purpose of this project and about the involved countries: Romania, Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary,

Slovenia and Czech Republic.

Mr. Szabo spoke to us about the history and economy of Sturovo. I found the meaning of the town’s coat of arms one of the most interesting parts of his speech.

There is a red head of a cock in the middle of it, which represents the great courage and the blood of the heroes that fought for Sturovo and the two blue borders that represent the two rivers which cross the town.

In the end of the meeting, the mayor and the vice mayor told us about the traditional fair at the end of the week and wished us a great time in Slovakia.

Cristina Dragoi, Romanian team

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Château Béla On the second day of our stay in Slovakia, we visited a very nice castle. Château Béla is located in the town of Belá, in the southern part of the Slovak Republic, bordering Hungary. Belá is just 10 km / 6 ml. from the Danube River and the medieval town of Esztergom. We got to the castle by bus and Slovakian students greeted us there. They told us a few facts about its history and that in the 16th century the invasion of the Turks left the settlement entirely destroyed and the town re-

mained unpopulated until the early part of the 17thcentury. However it was transformed into a 5 star hotel in 2008. They also didn’t forget to mention that English prince Harry came to the castle as a wedding

guest and, according to the villagers, also had one drink too many.

The castle itself is very big and decorated in French style. Outside of the castle there is a very beautiful garden, full of roses and decorations and even a pond. The interior is very luxurious and has many rooms so you can really enjoy your holiday. We had a really good time exploring the castle and its surroundings. It was a wonderful experience.

Slovenian team

“Outside of the castle there is a very beautiful garden, full of roses and decorations and even a pond”

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Gabčíkovo´s Dam

„Gabčíkovo Dam is the main part of the waterworks. It consists of two main structures“

The Gabčíkovo´s difference in water levels is about Dam (more precisely 20 metres. The power plant on the Gabčíkovo–Nagymaros right riverbank was designed to Waterworks) is a large produce 2650 GWh annually. A 10 m barrage project on wide road bridge passes over the the Danube. It was complex. Operation of the power initiated by the plant is fully automated. In 2012, Budapest Treaty of 16 after 20 years of service, 300.000 September 1977 ships have passed through the locks b e t w e e n with totally 5.000.000 passengers. the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and Outlet channel leads water back to the the People's Republic of Hungary. The old riverbed and also helps against project aimed at preventing catastrophic floods. The channel is 185 m wide at floods, improving river navigability and the bottom and 8.2 km long and reproducing clean electricity. enters the Danube at Sap. Only a part of the project has been Regulations in the old Danube riverbed. finished in Slovakia, under the Technical parametres: name Gabčíkovo D a m , The area of the Čunovo reservoir is because Hungary first suspended then tried 40 km², exclusively on the Slovak to terminate the project due to side (the original Hrušov-Dunakiliti environmental and economic concerns.

Parts of the waterwork: Supply channel for Čunovo Dam conveys water from Bratislava about 10 km to Čunovo. Čunovo Dam is the first level of the Waterworks, producing 24 MW of electricity, and there is an additional smaller power plant. Čunovo includes also the Čunovo Water Sports Centre, a site of world championships in water slalom and rafting. reservoir was to be 60 km²). The Hrušov reservoir accumulates water for operational water level is the main power plant in Gabčíkovo 131.1 metres above sea level. and also regulates water level. It is The power station has eight 16 km long and from 1 to 4 km wide. vertical Kaplan turbines with runners Its capacity is 196 million cubic 9.3 m in diameter and a maximum metres. capacity of 90 MW each. Total Gabčíkovo Dam is the main part of the capacity is 720 MW at operational waterworks. It consists of two main discharge of 4000 m3/s. Water level structures: a hydropower plant and differences are 24 and 12.88 m. two lock chambers. This level of the The original river bed has a discharge of waterworks was designed to use between 250 and 600 m3/s. differential water level to produce Two navigation locks were built. A electricity, to allow ships to pass bypass canal will handle floods. safely through locks and to divert In 1996, Europe's largest artificial flood water. The chambers are on the whitewater slalom course, the Water left bank of the Danube and the Sports Centre Čunovo, was built on a

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river island at the head of the bypass canal.

The Gabčíkovo Hydroelectric Power Station produces 2600 GWh of electricity annually, making it the largest hydroelectric plant in Slovakia.

It supplies around 8% of the country's electricity consumption.

Environmental consequences: Intensive degradation of the Danube River bed downstream (especially at the Old Danube river bed) caused by the absence of the Nagymaros wateworks.

Decreased water level, Increased sediment supply, Increased amounts of bedload and higher intensity of bedload movements, Reduced flood capacity, Decreased channel stability.

During our third visit in Štúrovo, we visited the Dam on the second day of our programme. We enjoyed our voyage through that waterwork, as well.

Slovak team

The annual Sturovo Fair One of Slovakia’s oldest fairs, “Jarmok Šimona Júdu” or “Štúrovský jarmok”, took place from October 8th to 11th, 2015 in Štúrovo. It is the biggest fair in the modern history of the Danube Region, attended by vendors, entertainers, and visitors from both banks of the Danube.

The craftsmen presented their products in the city centre’s pedestrian zone. The traditional fair also offered a great variety of food and drinks that left us happy and smiling. We visited it on Friday 9th October, took a lot of pictures and compared some of the prices most of which were a lot higher than those in Bulgaria. There were a lot of people from Romania, Hungary, Senegal and Peru and dancing Indians and black people selling their traditional goods and willingly communicating with us. We saw

many well-known products, such as red pepper, woolen socks, wooden souvenirs, candy, magnets, clothes, pottery etc. but there were no Bulgarian craftsmen. What we enjoyed most were the merrygo-rounds and other attractions at Vadaš. A fair like this usually influences the environment with a lot of litter but we saw it nowhere. Visitors were nice and polite and kept the place clean and tidy. It was a wonderful experience that we will never forget!

Tsvetina Tsenova Bulgaria

„It is the biggest fair in the modern history of the Danube Region.“

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A trip to Bratislava

„Bratislava’s Old Town is really interesting, with a lot of unique places.“

On Thursday, 8th October, we were on a trip to Bratislava. The day was foggy and sometimes it was even raining. We set off from Sturovo after 8 am and travelled on two hired buses. The journey to Bratislava took about 3 hours, but despite this, the way was entertaining as we could talk to our new friends.

Our city tour started at Bratislava Castle, which has recently been reconstructed and hosts a museum now.

We saw it only from the outside.

Everyone took a lot of photos there!

We made a group photo as well. Then all of us walked down to the Old Town, which is just nice to stroll about.

Bratislava’s Old Town is really interesting, with a lot of unique places.

We saw Church of St. Elisabeth, called Blue Church, and had here some free time for sightseeing.

Some of us discovered the New Town, had delicious coffee and went with others to a tea shop.

The time spent there was just great!

We managed to buy some gifts for family and friends in a

large shopping centre in the afternoon.

Also we bought something for ourselves like t-shirts, necklaces or earrings.

While we were waiting for our buses, it started to rain again. That´s why we got wet, because we didn’t have umbrellas.

The return journey to Sturovo was very long, but we slept almost the whole time. It was a really good day, we enjoyed it.

We want to come there again in the future.

By Veronika, Simona and Adriana, Czech team

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An afternoon in Esztergom On Wednesday, 7th October, we started the day at school. We had some specimen English lessons, and after having lunch we walked to Esztergom. At first we had to go across the Maria Valeria Bridge, which connects Hungary and Slovakia. Esztergom is an old historical city in Hungary with beautiful buildings and squares. We were divided into two

city. We took some photos again and went down to join the group and see the statue The crowning of St. Stephen. Some minutes later we started to walk back to Štúrovo. We were very tired because we had to walk during the afternoon but we enjoyed ourselves. We talked a lot and tried to teach our mother tongue to each other which wasn’t easy so we laughed a lot. After that we had a delicious dinner at El Camino restaurant and went back to our accommodation to relax.

All in all, I think it was a very good day because we saw a lot of interesting groups, and while one of the groups things and we had a great time. went to a museum, the other one had an hour to discover the city. Then our group went to the Danube Museum too. Hungarian team We saw pictures about the history of Hungary and the Danube and there was a huge map where we discovered our home town Pápa. We watched a silent movie about the regulation of the Danube. Then all the students and teachers walked to the Basilica. We took a group photo at the stairs of the building and went inside to look around. The church was beautiful with frescos and statues.

We wanted to go to the dome of the Basilica so we climbed 510 stairs. The view was amazing: we saw the Danube, the bridge, the hills, Štúrovo and Esztergom. The Slovakian students showed us the whole region. It was an incredible feeling that we were on the top of the

„ The view was amazing: we saw the Danube, the bridge, the hills, Štúrovo and Esztergom “

October 15 - EUROPEAN DAY OF THE ENTREPRENEUR With students from 12th grade spec.

"Economic Informatics" in Vocational School "Prof. Dr. Assen Zlatarov" - Vidin, noted it in the office of the Regional Information Center - Vidin.

It was the place of our makeshift studio on Television "Idea of 12th grade," and the show "Puzzle of questions."

To the questions answered the young and responsible employer of our production practices - Mr. Radoslav Georgiev. He has his own business in our town and is

With the support of the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union

mentor our students.

After the event, the leading team Nadia and Dimitar, makeup and props Eli Emilova and technical support Bobby Koymanov, gave an interview to "colleagues" from the Radio and Radio FOCUS - Vidin.

The event is part of activities under the project "ESCAPE", funded by the European Commission under the "Erasmus +".

THANK YOU STUDENTS FOR YOUR CREATIVE THINKING AND RESPONSIBLE ATTITUDE TO THE EUROPEAN INITIATIVE! ELI CVETANOVA Project manager Bulgarian team

The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsi-ble for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.