Written by William June 2014
Dikili, Turkey
Yesterday we went scuba diving off the coast of Turkey, in
the Aegean Sea. It was my first certified dive. I had 3 wet suits on; since
there was so much rubber, if you punched me in the chest I wouldn’t feel
anything. The tank felt like 60 pounds, and I am only 50 pounds. It was even
heavier with all the other equipment, so I was very tippy underwater. The first
second I got in the water I did a barrel roll, and I didn’t have my regulator
(mouthpiece) in. I thought it couldn’t get any worse than that, but I continued
the dive. During the dive I found it easier to swim upside down than right side
up. I didn’t see many fish because I was trying to stay upright. Then we left
Dikili and headed off to Kusadasi, Turkey.
Kusadasi, Turkey
Right now I am sitting in my room on the boat that is docked
at the Kusadasi port, if you were wondering where I was. Today we went to
Ephesus and saw the ruins. I found it hard to listen to the guide because it
was so hot. I found a cool little arch in the wall that led out into a huge
open room, which was cool in both definitions. We saw the toilets, a library,
marble (lots of it too), a marketplace that was in ruins, an amphitheater, and
a fountain. We brought swords, and I beat my brother in a sword fight probably
because he was on crutches (I actually ran away and so he gave his sword to
mom). We are leaving Turkey and going to Rhodes, Greece.
Rhodes, Greece
When we got to Rhodes we drove 1 hour to go to a beach. The
beach had boats, jet skis, wake boards, water skies, and crazy sofas. We rented
a boat for 2 hours, but we only were on it for 30 minutes. Charles and I took
turns driving the boat. I got to drive the boat for 10 minutes; then Charles
got to drive for 10 minutes. We got bored of that after a while, so we turned
around. We wanted to do the crazy sofa, but the driver was gone, so instead we
went jet skiing. My dad let me drive for most of the time, and I got up to
around 60 kph. At the beginning we were racing Miss Jenn and Charles, but we
left them in the water (editors note (by William this time): that is true, and
don’t believe CHARLES’ BLOG IT IS ALL LIES). At the beginning of the crazy sofa
we got a big tug, and it felt like we were going to flip upside down. It was
quite an adrenaline rush! It wasn’t quite as exciting the second time around
because we already did it, but it still was fun because Miss Jenn was on it! We
ate lunch at a hotel and then drove back to the ship.
Santorini, Greece
Yesterday we went to Santorini, and we went to a place where
you could see sunrise on one side and sunset on the other side. We went to
where all the white buildings with the blue roofs are, and it was really pretty
there. After that we walked around, and my mom went shopping. Then we went to
lunch and got to pick the fish we wanted, and it had an awesome head; my mom
broke its jaw when she was playing with it. After that we went to the famous
two buildings, which were white with a blue roof (that are in all the post cards).
We took a few pictures and left to go shopping. Of course, first and the most
important was the ice cream stand, and then it was shops for my mom. Then Miss
Jenn went wandering and couldn’t find us, and we were getting some more ice
cream. Lastly, we went on the boat and left for Patmos.
Patmos, Greece
In Patmos we walked around for a while, and then Charles’ arms
got tired from his crouches. I was really happy when he said that because that meant
ATVS! My dad rented us 3 ATVS: one for my mom and me, one for him and Charles,
and one for Miss Jenn. We only had them for two hours, but we got to see most
of the Island. There were some astonishing views. Miss Jenn had to go to the
bathroom in the middle of nowhere, so we drove down to the beach, and she went
to the bathroom behind a bush. [Editors note: not loving that this is being
shared, but First Amendment and all that…] On the way out Miss Jenn got chased
by a few goats, and she was running around like a mad woman. Just kidding! but
there were goats. We got to see most of the island. Sadly, we didn’t get to see
the cave where Apostle John wrote the book of Revelations. I thought the island
was pretty, and I want to go back.
Mykonos, Greece
In Mykonos we went to Delos and into a museum where there
were a bunch of statues that they found in some ruins. Our tour guide used to
be an archaeologist there, so she could get Charles and me into a room, which
was roped off so public couldn’t get in. There were some really antique pottery
and paintings. After that we got on the boat and went to a swimming spot, which
was cold. I was in and out because I got a really bad rash really fast. Then we
headed off to the water sports, but since we only had a half a hour till lunch
we decided to do parasailing. While we went to the launch sight, we saw a water
jet packman. He was on a wake board with water spitting out of the bottom, and
it propelled him up. Then we got to the launch sight. They made us get in harnesses,
and they attached us to the parachute and off we went. Up and up and up we went
higher and higher; once we got to about 200 feet, they stopped the line. Then
they started to go slower so they could dunk us, and they succeeded, which made
my harness go shooting up. It wasn’t too comfortable for the rest of the ride,
but we did get to see a huge sea turtle.
Then we got lunch, which was kind of boring. After that we
went to the downtown and saw how a lady made mosaics. We watched her cut stones, and she explained
how she glued them together. She even
gave us some different color stones to keep!
So then we went to a cafe, which had an ice cream shop right next to it,
and that was perfect for that day. We
didn’t want to walk a far distance in the heat because we would have felt like
lobsters cooking, so we took a boat instead to the cruise ship. I would want to come back to Mykonos on a
cooler day. I think we had a great guide named Ranya, and she made Mykonos enjoyable,
even with the heat.
Written by Charles June 2014
Dikili, Turkey
A couple days ago we got on the cruise boat and sailed away
from Istanbul. Again, we sailed close to
sunset, so we got some pretty photos.
The next day we stopped at Dikili, Turkey. Dikili is a little fishing town that has
about 60,000 people living in and near it.
When we got off the boat, we took a van to a diving boat and sailed to a
diving spot. It was off the coast of
Turkey, next to a little rock in the middle of the Aegean Sea.
It took us fifteen minutes to get ready, and we hopped
in. The second William got in the water,
the weight of his tank made him roll onto his back! That was the first of many turtles that he
and I did. We got down to 25 feet, and
there was a small reef that we followed.
The guide found some fish food, so he fed the fish so I could pet them. A little while later he found an octopus
hiding under a small rock; he lifted the rock up and caught the octopus. While it was on his arm, it went from a
pinkish color to the same color as his wet suit, which was black. I also got to pet it; it was very slimy and kind
of gross. A little later we turned
around, and we swam back. I found a huge tower of rock, and I stood on it. I stood like I was the Statue of Liberty, and
then I flipped upside-down and did a handstand.
In a few minutes we were back on the boat and motoring back to the
dock. That night I got crutches (for
fractures in my ankle), and we got ready to go to Kusadasi, Turkey to see the
Roman ruins.
Kusadasi, Turkey
The next day we went to Kusadasi, Turkey. We first went to the Roman ruins, which was
the best-preserved Roman city in the world.
It was a twenty-minute drive, and at the end we drove through the Roman walls,
which surrounded the city. Ephesus, the
ruined city, was also the third largest city in the Roman Empire. When we first got out, all you could really
see were some pillars, and there were also some piles of stone. Some of the stones had ancient Greek writing
on them, which I thought was really awesome.
Then we came to a small theater called the Odeon, and it seated 1,500. It was mostly intact, but there were some
parts that were restored. Then I
maneuvered myself down a marble ramp that led to the main road of the
city. About halfway down the road we saw
a little temple/fountain. It was
dedicated to one of the emperors that visited Ephesus. Sadly, it was mostly destroyed.
At the bottom of the small hill we were walking down, there
was a big library.
It was massive by
Roman standards.
Even though only the
front remained, it was two stories tall.
It was so big that it was considered the fourth largest library in the
ancient world.
Then we walked down
another road and went to the city theater.
It seated 25,000, and the sound quality was so good that I would put it
in for my TV.
You could hear from one
side of the stage to the exact opposite side, as if the people were sitting
right next to you.
After that we walked
to the van and went back to the ship.
Tomorrow
we are heading to Rhodes, Greece.
Rhodes, Greece
When we got to Rhodes, we first took an hour van ride to a
beach on the south side of the island.
During the van ride we learned nothing because our tour guide didn’t
speak much. When we got to the beach we
rented a small motorboat, and we cruised around for thirty minutes. We saw some small cliffs and lots of the arid
mountains that are on Rhodes. I got to
drive the boat a bit, and I thought that the boat had terrible steering. It felt like the steering wheel wasn’t
connected to anything.
When we got back to the beach, we took a Crazy Sofa
ride. A Crazy Sofa is an inflatable
lounge chair that seats three people. You
hook the sofa up behind a motorboat with a rope, and you pull people around for
a couple minutes. The first time we did
it William, Mom, and I were on it.
William and I were bouncing for most of the time, and Mom was screaming
her head off. We were so loud the people
on the beach could hear us.
After the Crazy Sofa ride we went jet-skiing.
I was riding with Ms. Jenn, and William was
riding with my Dad. (Don’t believe a word of Williams’s blog.
It’s all fake, especially the part where
William beat me on the jet ski.
He
actually flipped it and got attacked by Jaws.)
While Ms. Jenn was driving, she got up to fifty-one miles an hour; while
I was driving, I got up to forty six.
They set up a jet-ski course, which we had to do figure eights on.
Once, we broke the rules and did some
donuts.
After jet skiing, we did another
Crazy Sofa ride.
This one was even
faster than the first one, and William spent 97% of the time in the air.
At the end we got going really fast and hit
the wake.
The sofa went 3 feet off the
water and stayed up there for 10 seconds.
I went so high it felt like my arms were coming out of their
sockets.
After the sofa ride, we took a
van ride to a resort and had some lunch.
After lunch, we headed back to the cruise boat.
While we were driving, our driver took a
wrong turn, so we nearly missed the boat.
That night we sailed to Santorini.
Santorini, Greece
We arrived in Santorini, and the first thing that you could
see was the cliffs.
I thought that they
were 6,000 feet tall, but other people said differently.
We took a cable car up the cliffs, which
ended at the town of Fira.
Fira is the
largest town on the island, but it didn’t have the blue domed buildings that
come in all the post cards.
We walked
down Fira’s cobbled streets, which was a disaster for me on the crutches.
Then we took a van ride to Oia, the town with
all the blue domed buildings. We walked down a marble sidewalk and looked at
the view and all the pretty buildings.
We got lots of good photos, and most of them looked like post
cards.
That was the first place where I
really felt like I was in Greece.
After the walk we went Perivolos Beach and had lunch at a
fish restaurant.
At the beach all the
sand was black volcanic sand because of the mega eruption 4,000 years ago.
The eruption was so big they could hear the
bang in the Netherlands.
After the
restaurant we went to a winery, not to try the wine, but to look at the view
from it.
You could see the entire island
from up there.
It was also overlooking
the cliffs, making the feeling that you were in a volcano come to life.
After the winery we took the cable car back
down the cliffs and got back on the cruise boat to sail to Patmos.
Patmos, Greece
The next day we got to Patmos. We got off the boat and spent the entire
afternoon on the island. Patmos is the
island where the book of Revelations was written. We first rented 4 wheelers and drove around the
island. We went to the northern and the
southern tips; we quickly learned that there wasn’t much to see on the
island. There was only a monastery that
was closed, and there was also the cave where the book of Revelations was
written. That was closed too. After
seeing nothing but 2 massive mega yachts, we went back to the rental shop. After returning the 4 wheelers, we got some
ice cream and did some shopping. Then we
went back to the boat and sailed to Mykonos.
Mykonos, Greece
In Mykonos we rented a boat and drove around.
We first went to Delos, a nearby island, and saw
some ruins.
Delos was a large Greek city that was
basically the economical center of all of Greece.
It also felt like the center of the sun,
which made sense because the Ancient Greeks thought that Apollo was born
there.
We also saw what was left of a
rich person’s house; it was two stories tall with a courtyard in the center of
the house.
Lining the courtyard were
columns, and I thought that they looked like they could belong to the
Parthenon.
We also went into a museum
that had lots of statues and artifacts.
There was a roped off section that William and I went into.
It was so secret that the Chinese Prime
Minister couldn’t get in!
There were
little artifacts that had to do with everyday life.
There were pots and pans, toys, silverware, fishhooks,
and even a sword.
After Delos we went swimming, but then we got bored, so we
went to a water sports center where we went parasailing. Parasailing is when you get hooked up to a
parachute and then pulled behind a boat for a couple minutes. William and I did it together for ten minutes,
and we saw a sea turtle from up there. We
also got dunked in the frigid water.
After parasailing we got lunch, and we took a walking tour of the town in
Mykonos. We saw how they made mosaics
and how they scoop our ice cream. It was
so hot there that everyone was melting like the witch in the Wizard of Oz. That night we sailed for Athens.
The next day we did nothing in the morning and
afternoon. In the evening we took a tour
to the temple of Poseidon, which was an hour van ride away. Even though there were only a few columns
left, it was cool because it was on top of a hill at the southernmost point
near Athens. It looked out over the
ocean. It was near sunset, so that made
the lighting really cool. Our tour guide
told us that there used to be a castle surrounding the temple. You could sort of see the walls if you looked
close enough. It was extremely windy up
there, so no one died of heatstroke.
The next day we saw what everyone goes to Athens to see: the
Parthenon! We first had to walk up the
Acropolis, which is the steep, nearly vertical hill that the Athenians built
the Parthenon on. Again I was on
crutches, and the polished marble steps nearly killed me. Halfway up there was a theater that people
rebuilt. Near the top of the hill we saw
a destroyed temple. It was destroyed
because the Ottomans used it as gunpowder storage, and a lightning bolt
decided that it looked like a good target.
After the ruined temple, we saw the Parthenon. I was expecting it to have been left alone,
but people are trying, hopelessly, to put it back together with the original
pieces. In World War II the Germans
didn’t help the construction workers because they bombed it. To get back at the Germans, two teenagers
snuck up to the Acropolis, took down the Nazi flag, and ran off with it. The Germans were perplexed at where their
flag went, so they had to buy another. I
thought that the Parthenon was cool just as it was (ruined), so I can't imagine
it in its original state. After a few
minutes we escaped from the heat and went to the air-conditioned museum next
door. There were lots of statues and
blocks of marble that were interesting for about five seconds, while you took
in the sculpture, then your brain tells you “Get A Move On!” The next day we left Athens at 5:30 in the
morning to head back home. Overall, I
liked Santorini and Athens the best of all the places we went to, even though
Mykonos came a close second.
Two days ago we saw the Temple to Poseidon. It had a big difference
that made it vary from all the others because the middle didn’t have a room
inside; it was all outdoors. It was a pretty drive because it was along the
coastline. Once we got to the temple we took a few pictures and left, then
headed back to the hotel. We saw the changing of the guards at the Parliament, and
it wasn’t that cool because all they did was kick high in the air and make horrible
screeching noises with their shoes.
Yesterday we went to the Parthenon, which was really cool; it
was built for Athena, goddess of wisdom. We walked around it for a little bit,
and then we went to go to the Acropolis museum. We had a little ice cream in a
café and went into the museum. Like half of the items were missing because the
darn English people took the pieces and won’t give them back. Instead of giving the real ones back, they
gave the plasters back. We had a really cool view of the Parthenon at night
when we were having dinner with our friends. I liked Greece and will want to
come back some time, and our next adventures will start wherever we are next,
which is a mystery for everyone.
