No Offense, But Athens is Kind of Dirty

I know that this sounds mean, but I am trying to give some constructive criticism. Athens is a wonderful city full of many diverse people and cultures, but it is also dirty. There is graffiti everywhere, and the streets are covered with cigarette butts. Also, on a minor note, the buildings across the street from our hotel looked kind of haunted. I will now present a list of rules for the people of Athens, so tourists can realize the true beauty of the city, and not just the pollution.

New Rules For a Clean Athens, Greece:

1. NO LITTERING (Well Duh.)
2. Please do not smoke in public places such as restaurants, stores, etc.
3. Only spray paint assigned graffiti walls in certain areas of the city (The government needs to create them first, though)
4. Please pick up trash and debris if seen and deposit in the nearest waste bin.

The consequences for violating these rules can come up to $2,000 dollars in fines.

Now, I am not saying that Greece should be forced to do these things, but I sincerely think that Athens could use a clean up job. Don't get me wrong, I LOVED Athens, and I would love to go back, but I did't like the trash. Everything else in the city was perfectly fine, and I loved it. Please do not take offense to this post.

Fearful Ferries- Viewer Discretion Advised.

I had a whole different expectation for the ferries than what actually happened. I expected it to be a nice, airplane-like, smooth ride to Paros. That is not what happened. We bounced, swayed back and forth, and the motion made almost everyone sick. My nanny alone used up 5 barf bags. Although I did not vomit on the first ferry ride (to Paros), I felt nauseous. I felt so bad that I couldn't even carry my own bag. But as soon as we got into our itty-bitty rental car, I felt better. Even more bad feelings were relieved as soon as we reached our rental house, 30 meters from the beach. Pictures of the view can be seen on my dad's blog post, "Travel does not treat everyone equally".

The boat ride back to Athens, however, I had a little more confidence. I had taken some Dramamine earlier that day, so I was hoping for no nausea. My hopes were fading away fast as soon as my mom started to vomit, and the waves started to pick up. My stomach was spinning and I had a blooming headache. I decided to take a peek out the window.... Horrible timing! I looked out the window as soon as a giant 4 foot wave slammed the boat, causing another course of vomit from my mother. I felt like my stomach was belly flopping off the high dive. Not many minutes later, my breakfast decided it was time to come up. I grabbed a bag and hurled and hurled and hurled. What made this worse, was that the woman sitting next to me had to get off the boat, and we were just pulling into her stop. I wanted to move, but my body was just like.... NO! The woman had to wait for me to finish puking my guts into a bag in order for her to get off the ferry.

Finally, for the last two legs of the trip, my stomach decided to be nice. My ferry ride experience was pretty bad.

My Time in Turkey - Part 2

I am having the best time in Turkey! On the third day of our trip, we went to see the Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque. The Hagia Sofia was once the biggest church in the world! I thought it was a mosque, but I learned that a mosque and a church are very different things. The Hagia Sofia was used when the Roman Empire took over in the 300's, and ruled until the 1200's. The Romans were all Christian, and their empire was massive. The Roman emperors tried to demolish the Muslim faith, so they could have everyon believe in Christianity. In the 500's, the Roman emperor Justinian built the biggest church in the world. The church was so big, it was used to crown the new emperors!

When we went to the Blue Mosque, we had to make sure our hair was covered, that our shirts were long enough to go down to our mid-thigh, and that our pants covered our knees. Of course, my dad didnt have to do any of this because in Islam, men are considered closer to God than women. That is also why the men sit in the front of the Mosque, and the women sit in the back. Despite having less rights than men in this religion, I thought the women in the mosque looked pretty happy with themselves (they may just be happy because they are in the place of God, we'll never know). On a different topic, the mosaics in the domed ceiling were absolutely amazing! It is so gorgeous I can't even describe it.

I keep relating everything I see that has to do with Islam with a book that I am currently reading.This book is so amazing and I think everyone should have a chance to read it. The book is called "I Am Malala" and it is written by Malala Yousafzei. It tells her story and struggle to find peace and win back her chance at education. I wish I could have reccomended it for next year's book club at Lime Kiln.

On our fourth day we went to the Palace. The architecture was so amazing, and we werent allowed to take pictures😬. It was so gorgeous! The chandeliers were as big as dining room tables that could seat 8! The furniture was made of the most expensive fabric, and the ceilings had gold plating and stone was carved into designs. The paintings were giant, and so amazing! The hallways had stained glass windows, gorgeous curtains, and giant chandeliers. The biggest chandelier had 10,000 English crystals!!!

I think that i have written to the point where if you read any more you will get bored and leave.