Island Life

Next stop.. Santorini. One of the many Greek islands that thrives primarily off of tourism, and after visiting, I can understand why. They are amazing. It's like hitting a slow motion button on life. I traveled from Athens to the island on an eight hour ferry. Not as painful as it sounds. There was plenty of room to spread out, and I met a friend. Lydia. She is a 23 year old student finishing a study abroad program with a few weeks in Greece and would be the one to teach me my first lesson about traveling alone. We spent the evening together in Santorini. We got fish pedicures where you basically stick your feet in a fish tank full of about 200 tiny fish and they proceed to nibble on dead skin until your feet are smooth. Gross right?  I was actually pretty freaked out by it. I enjoyed the experience though, and it worked! Anyways, we had dinner, talked about life, about relationships, about traveling. I got to know her. The waiter kept bringing us free glasses of wine (must be the American charm :), and we just talked. Then I never saw her again. She went her way. I went mine. The revolving door. I've met a lot of interesting people, people from all over the world, but just as soon as I meet them, we're saying goodbye. Such a short period of time to make an impression and learn from each other before life takes us separate ways. To be completely honest, I'm not really sure how I feel about this yet. It is definitely taking some getting use to.

As far as Santorini goes though, the island is beautiful. I spent time at all three beaches. They have two black sand beaches and a red sand beach. I rode a donkey. I hitched a ride on the back of a Vespa scooter (sorry mom. The bus didn't show up). The big thing in santorini, though, is the sunset, and I'm a sunset person so this was on my priority list. I got to the tip of the island about two hours before sunset, found a tucked away spot amid the iconic white and blue buildings, and waited. As sunset drew closer, the people piled in. I felt like a was waiting to watch the fireworks at Disney World to be honest. However, The sky did not disappoint. It was amazing to watch the sun seemingly fall off the edge of the earth. Worth my two hour wait, but honestly nothing that can't be rivaled by a Mississippi or an Arkansas sunset. Remember to look up sometimes. 

Santorini is the one island on my list that does not have a Crossfit gym, but I made the beach my playground. I did Santorini style Murph on the beach of Perissa. 1 mile run, 100 Burpees, 200 push ups, 300 squats, 1 mile run. To my non-Crossfit friends, Murph is a workout done at Crossfit gyms across the US on Memorial Day to honor the men and women who serve our country. I'm glad I got the chance to pay my debts in some way. Proud to be an American and so very thankful for those who serve for my freedom. 

That's it for Greece though. I'm leaving the land of gyros and kabobs and headed for pasta and pizza. Italy is next.