Santorini and Athens, Greece

Santorini was amazing. It was exactly what we needed after being on our study abroad and after the week long bus tour of the UK. Everyday was spent relaxing on the beach reading books (and fitting in our summer tan to four days), then walking around town to get dinner and check out the cute little shops. The best part of it all was the great hotel we stayed in with the cute old couple running it.

We did have one adventure while in Santorini. The second day of our trip we made it out to the beach early and set up shop on some beach chairs to soak in the sun. After about three hours of reading I noticed Hillary get up from her nap to go in the water and I chose to follow. Once she reached the water she was kind of stumbling around and laughing that she had stood up too fast and was dizzy, so I suggested that she sit down until she was no longer dizzy. Next time I turned around to look at her I caught her trying to stand up, but then feinting to the ground. I wasn't sure if she was still being silly or what, but after she didn't move when the water came up to hit her face, I rushed over to pull her out and try to see what was wrong. In the mean time, a group of Greek vacationers (read: partiers) who had seen what had happened asked if I needed help, then proceeded to yell at me for trying to make Hillary go in the water (which I hadn't), and then yelling at me to find out what Hillary had been drinking. When I responded that we don't drink alcohol, they were sure that she had been sneaking something and continued to yell at me. As I was getting more frazzled, Hillary slumped over as she feinted yet again, sending me into a slight panic. After some guys helped to carry Hillary to the shade, we continued to sit and wait for thirty to forty minutes for the ambulance which had been called, all the while Hillary getting worse, then finally getting slightly better.

Once the ambulance finally did arrive, Hillary was feeling better and wanted to go back to the hotel, but after asking the ambulance drivers' to just drop us off at our hotel, they informed us that they didn't speak English and told us to get in. The fact that Santorini is a small island leads directly to it having only one hospital and no major roads, so we sat in the back of the ambulance for the thirty minute drive back, all on small, windy roads. Hillary was lying on a gurney that wasn't really secured down and continued to slide from side to side around each turn, which just made her sicker after she was feeling better.


Arriving at the hospital was a whole new experience. The building was pretty old and broken down, and inside no one really knew what to do with us. After receiving some information about what had happened (which included the doctors insisting that I reenact Hillary's stumbling and feinting) they sent us to sit on a bench outside in the shade for an hour and told us to let them know when we were leaving. We were pretty shocked that was the prescription from the doctor, and more shocked that they didn't ask for any personal information from Hillary, who had received a ride in one of their ambulances, which would've cost her thousands here in America. Well, we followed the doctor's orders then went back to our hotel.


Despite our half freightening half amusing adventure to the Santorini hospital, we overall loved our time there and it ranks high on our favorites list. It was definitely a plus that they had delicious crepes, both savory and sweet, and great Greek sandals.

After Santorini we spent a quick 24 hours in Athens on our way to Italy. Since we didn't have a ton of time, there isn't a whole lot to report from Athens. I did insist that we make it up to the Acropolis, so we made the hike up in the extreme heat.