7/20/10, Tuesday - Santorini, Greece

I haven't written much lately, as I did not feel the need to share my bad attitude and mood across country borders to whomever might be reading this. I don't even like moody Corie and I figured no one else would want to read her negative thoughts, but positive, fun Corie is back after 2 wonderful days in Santorini, so I will write my blog in retrospect (from July 17- July 20).

I woke up in time to eat breakfast, take a shower, and make it to Natalia, Michelle, and Meredith's hostel by noon, when we had agreed to meet up. I took a bus to go see them where they were staying at Hotel Perissa. I asked the bus driver when I got on the bus if he knew of it and he said yes. As the beach we were headed to is called Perissa beach, I had a feeling he wasn't really listening to me and that I'd have to keep an eye out for the hotel. As we cruised along the curvy roads of Santorini smushed in a bus like sardines in a can, I began to talk to the people around me on the bus (it started with me apologizing for basically laying on their laps). I told them I was going to Hotel Perissa, not Perissa Beach, so when we passed the hotel, it was a whole group of us asking the bus driver to stop. I showed up at Hotel Perissa and met up with the girls. They are great and I had a fantastic time with them. We took the 4-wheelers they had rented and went down to the beach. We had a super cute waiter on the beach who brought the food and drinks directly to our lounge chairs. I told them about Kamari and that they should check it out. Natalia teased me. "When people ask 'How were the Greek Islands?' You can tell them 'the rocks were amazing!'" We laid on the beach all day until I had to go. I left on a bus to make it back to my hostel in time to catch my plane back to Athens and, tomorrow, on to Istanbul.

7/19/10, Monday - Santorini, Grecce

It is the end of my first of two days in Santorini and I am finally starting to see the appeal of Greece! This day almost made up for the suffering and boredom I have endured over the last few days.

My day started at 4:30 am so I could catch my 7:00 flight from Rhodes to Athens and then Athens to Santorini. The same American businessmen from my flight to Rhodes were on my plane leaving as well. Quite a coincidence…

As I left Rhodes, things almost immediately became better. I am not sure why, but I even got my own row in business class!

With my horrible opinion of Greece, I was probably a hard guest to win over, but the family that ran my hotel started off on a good note. They were at the airport to pick me up, something no other hotel has offered me. It was nice not to have to worry about how to navigate a bus system or pay an arm and a leg for a taxi. After explaining a bit about the island, the hotel owner offered me free breakfast. While eating, I started talking to these Aussie girls, Ez and Trish, who told me they were going to see the famous sunset in Oia that evening and were nice enough to ask if I'd care to join them. I quickly and graciously agreed to meet up with them that evening. I went and changed into my bathing suit and headed to Kamari Beach. The first thing I did was get a massage on the beach. Though I believe the baby oil she used to be the reason for my sunburn (even though I also gave her sunblock to put on me), it was well worth the 10 euros for a 15 minute back massage on the beach. On Kamari beach and the beach I am going to tomorrow to meet up with my American friends (Michelle, Natalia, and Meredith), there is black sand, as Santorini was formed by a volcano. My science-loving, dorky-self was most impressed with the volcanic rocks. Though you'd think that black sand beaches made by volcanic rocks consist of black rocks, it is not the case. There were also sorts of colored rocks; green, blue, yellow, orange. It was beautiful and I collected a lot of them. There were some nice Americans that gave me their raft as they were leaving. Though I didn't use it today because I was afraid I'd fall asleep and end up in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, I definitely plan to share it with the girls tomorrow.

After my day at the beach (where I got fairly sunburned despite having applied 50 spf sunblock numerous times), I went back to the hotel and showered and looked for my two Aussie friends from breakfast. As I was walking into the hotel, I saw other girls I knew! Katie and Steph, my Aussie friends from my flight from Milan to Athens a few days before happened to be staying at the same hotel as me. Today has definitely been a day of serendipity. In addition to bumping into Katie and Steph, Ez, Trish, and I went up to Oia to see the famous sunset. On the bus next to me was a woman from Great Falls. She actually lives about 3 miles from my dad (off the same road and everything!)

We then went out to dinner and made our way back to the hostel.