The Greek holiday “Ochi (No) Day” is celebrated every year in Greece on October 28th and mostly remembered for general Ioannis Metaxas' strong reply of 'oxi' (no) to Mussolini's request to allow Italian troops to come into Greece at the beginning of WW II. The result of this message was powerful, and in the end, Greece managed to maintain her liberty.Today in Greece, the Oxi Day is celebrated in a large, national parade. Soldiers, tanks, armoured vehicles and students parade through most Greek cities with an air of pride.

This year on 27 October (a day before the national parade) our school awarded our best students and after this we visited the Rupel Fortress because it is a historical monument of our area as during the German invasion at April 6, 1941, a historic battle took place at this site. Rupel fortress is the biggest complex of the embattled site along the Greek-Bulgarian borders named Metaxas Line with a total spread of fortresses of 1,849 metres and 4,251 meters of arches’ length.

Before setting off for our trip to Rupel Fortress we gathered to our school to award our best students. Students from each class who had a mark up to 18,5 received certificates. These also who had the best mark in their classes received awards.

Moreover, the best student of the 3rd grade has the honour to carry the flag at the parade. Therefore, this year’s best student from the 3rd class except the certificate and the award took also the flag.

After this we began our trip to Rupel Fortress. It was a rainy day. We set off at 9 a.m. and we reached our destination an hour later. Firstly, we honoured the soldiers who died at the Rupel Fortress. Then, we were guided into the Fortress. There, a soldier told us a few things about it. Inside it there are many rooms such as clinic, kitchen, toilets, offices etc. Totally, the tunnels are 6, 5 km. Later, we visited the museum of Rupel. There, we saw different uniforms of soldiers and officers, pieces of an old airplane which were found at the Rupel Fortress, pieces of guns and personal objects of the soldiers that were also found at Rupel Fortress, 3,5 meters inside the ground, with the bones of the soldiers on April 2001. After this tour we came back to our school.

Elina-Vicky-Maria (A2)Photos: Dora