Hello friends! My name is Odyssey. I was named after a Greek God of wandering adventures. I will take you to some of my most amazing journeys. I hope you will enjoy reading. And , yes, you can call me Ody!

Pirot, Serbia

When I was on a summer holiday with my parents, I was enjoying the warm sea and sandy beaches on the island of Skiathos, Greece. One day, while I was making sand castles, I found a map in the sand. It had some drawings showing me how to find a hidden treasure.

To do that, I had to swim to the cave nearby and find the key. I didnt know what the key unlocked. It was a secret. I like adventures, so I decided to ask an old sailor to take me to the cave in his boat. The old man told me it was dangerous because there was a legend of a sea monster lurking from the depths of the cave

Dusan Marinkov, Serbia

I decided to go for it anyway as I wanted to have some fun and see what the legend was all about. Above all I wanted to find the key to the hidden treasure.

Miljana Djordjevic, Serbia

As soon as we entered the cave, it started to get darker and colder. Suddenly, the water unsettled and big waves occurred. Out of the water, the monster appeared.

It had big sharp teeth and a key was around his neck. I saw some letters written on the walls of the cave and I read them aloud. As soon as I did that, the monster disappeared and the key fell into the water. I knew we had to find the key.

The key was lost and our hero, Odysseus, was sad and disappointed. Tears came into his eyes.

"I will never find the treasure",

he thought.

Serres, Skoutari Team, Greece

All of a sudden, he saw something coming out of the water..It was a beautiful mermaid. Penelope was her name...

The old sailor panicked. He didn't want to be a part of Ody's adventure anymore. So, he left. Ody was alone with the mermaid and...

....there was no other way to get back to the shore but swimming...

Thank God, the mermaid was very friendly. Ody explained in details his story and Penelope promised to give him a magical potion to drink. He could easily dive and stay underwater in order to search for the lost key. Penelope took him to her castle in the bottom of the sea...

When Ody saw the castle, was very excited because the castle was really amazing.

A sudden thought passed his mind...

"Maybe I could stay here for a couple of days" he thought but then he remembered the treasure.

So, he drank the magical poison, thanked Penelope and left...

Now he could be underwater for as much time as he wished and he decided to continue his search to another country.

He didn't know to which country exactly, but Ody loved adventures so much.

The journey was all that really mattered to him...

Our Ody is no longer on Skiathos island, he has already sailed away to a new country, to new adventures...

He swam and swam...he was very tired and what a surprise... the key was there finally! And next to it a bottle with a message.

Sicily, Italy I.C. "Polizzano" Gangi

He kept swimming when a strange land was in front of him...he was very curious so he decided to land. It was Sicily!

But what was inside the bottle? He opened it and found a message...

You have to walk until you reach a very characteristic village where houses are piled on a mountain. You will find other instructions inside the mouth of a big thirsty feline in a little cave. Be careful!

He walked for a long time and then he found the village he was looking for. It was a very beautiful place with a lot of houses. Amazing!

It was a very hard rise but finally...

he arrived in a square where he saw a fountain with a lion of stone and inside its mouth another message: enter the church and look for some mummified priests!

There was a crypt inside it and a treasure chest was hidden behind a golden column. Suddenly he remembered he had a key in his pocket.

He could open the treasure chest and found a bottle with a message: You will find your treasure just outside the church. So he went out..

He was disappointed because he hadn't found any treasure and started again his journey when...

he met an old lady who cried. He asked her: Why are you sad? -Because I'm alone- answered the old lady-. So he decided to stay with her for some days...He had understood what the real treasure is: the ability to LOVE!

I chose to visit the Hawaii island, which is the youngest and largest island in the Hawaiian chain, but it’s remarkable for more than just its size. I visited Kilauea, one of the most active volcanoes in the world, I talked story with a cultural demonstrator at Puuhonua o Honaunau, a historic park that was once a place of refuge. Hawaii, the Big Island is definitely an island for adventure.

Probably it was my lucky day because I saw the great Anne Hathaway with her husband and son. I am a huge fan so I went to talk to her although I was a little nervous. Luckily for me Anne is a polite, sociable and very cool person if I may say. We talked for almost an hour but then sadly for me she had to leave. I went a restaurant where I ate a peculiar dish which was delicious. I stayed in Hawaii for five days to experience its hole greatness.

When finally it was my time to leave, the most traumatic and terrifying thing happened. Suddenly, a colossal tsounami broke out. Everybody was screaming and wandering around, terrified. My mind went blank for a second, I thought this is the end.

When finally I found my senses I helped everyone to get out of the building, they all got into their cars and ran off.Unfortunetly the wrost thing at the worst moment happened to me, my car broke down. I was so paniced that I was ready to fade. Lucky for me a stranger picked me up who was very polite if I may add.

He wasn't scared at all, on the contrary he was relaxed like nothing was going on, something that I couldn't understand. A few minutes later a bear jumped on the street. The stranger turned the steering wheel and we got into a ditch.

The stranger covered in blood, I tried to find his pulse but nothing...he was dead. My head was bleeding, there was nothing to do other than run. I ran for a few metres, the tsounami was almost there. Nothing left to do, only pray...

All of a sudden out of nowhere I heard a weird sound. It was a rescue helicopter, the moment I saw it my face, lighten up, I've never been so happy in my whole life. They rescued me and not only me there were many other people, so was Anne Hathaway, her husband Adam and their son Jonathan.

I was glad to see they were ok, but not only them I was glad to see the rest people were ok too. The rescuers took us to Maui, where we finally were great. I was so relieved that this terrible experience had finished and that we could finally go home. All's well that ends well. For my first trip it was definitely thrilling.

The trip to Hawaii is over now and I am so exhausted. I think that I need to rest before my next adventure! This one was so overwhelming!

Ody's trip to Italy! By Helen, Arsakeio High School, Greece.

I’m pretty sure I could come up with at least a hundred different reasons why Ι chose to visit Italy this time. This is not a difficult list to come up with, but for the sake of space and brevity I limited the list to my favorite really good reasons I finally made this trip.

It seems as though visiting Italy is a bucket list entry for a lot of folks and my job here was to convince myself to finally go to Italy, so I could cross this one off of my country-list. 

Italy certainly does have much to offer: spectacular cities, ancient ruins, wonderful museums, soaring mountains, great beaches, and beautiful natural scenery. But so does any number of other European countries, so I had to uncover what makes Italy so unique and worthy of my really hard-earned dollars!

The first reason I visited Italy is Rome. There is really no other city quite like Rome in the world. While Rome wants to be a modern 21st century city, it is desperately trying to keep it historical ruins and monuments from crumbling. The city is really one large archaeological dig that continues to discover its history.

To be able to walk through the Colosseum and the Roman Forum, where the likes of Romulus, Julius Caesar, and Nero once ruled, was for me a walk back in time. 

Okay, the truth be told about Venice is that it’s old, sinking into the lagoon, floods occasionally, and sometimes smells. Maybe a lot of people, and I also include myself, want to visit Venice before it disappears into the Adriatic and becomes the lost city of Venice. That was actually the second reason why I absolutely had to visit Italy. 

I have done a lot of journeys and I have had only twice said “ wow!” in my entire life (and believe me its NOT small): The first came when I saw the Grand Canyon, and the second came when I stepped onto the plaza from the train station into the wonderful world of Venice.

The third and very important reason I wanted to go to Italy was the food. The food is included in the list of my favorite things ( my favorite after tourism actually) ,so I definitely had to taste the specialties of the notorious Italian cuisine

I’m not sure I’ve had a really bad meal in Italy and this includes stopping every single hour for a quick bite. The different regions of Italy all have their own specialties but no matter where you are, you will find wonderful cuisine.

Just make sure to make an appointment with your dietician before making the decision to go on this journey .And for dessert,(because I am a BIG fan of sugar and sweets)  why not try a tiramisu or my all-time favorite dessert, the panna cotta with fig sauce? 

And when you need a quick snack to tide you over, don’t forget about the gelato, which I could eat every day, no problem.

And the wine of course! No Italian meal would be complete without a good house wine. There is so much wonderful locally made wine in Italy, so be sure to sample them all.( a BIG thumbs up for the wine!)

Enough with the Italian food . Let’s talk about the locals. Sometimes Italians get a bad rap for their impatience with tourists but there are very friendly and hospitable after a while. My many great experiences with the locals are some of the most wonderful memories that I have from this unforgettable journey. 

So there you have it. The reasons above made me finally make this journey. Now, I only have to decide what interests me the most, start planning, and head to that particular region. If only someone else paid the bills for me!

Ciao for now ( see, I also learned some Italian!!)

Shumen, Bulgaria

In Italy, Odie having a good time, but one day he felt terribly tired. He returned to Greece, sat down in front of the heated fireplace, and fell asleep.