Andio, Athens! Yasas, Santorini!

Sorry Everyone! Our hotel on Santorini had no wireless, but no worries! I continued writing and posts about our island adventure will be here shortly!

Today, Sam and I left Athens for the small island of Santorini . Our ferry left at 9:00am, so we got up at 6:30. Sam is used to getting up early, and suited up for the journey. Unable to convince my body it was later, I look ever so slightly more haggard.

We packed up and moved out. We took the metro from Monastiraki to Pireus Port, then took a shuttle to Gate One. We were an hour early, but luckily, our boat was waiting for us. It was Blue Star Ferries, the most popular in Greece. Many moons ago, when Sam and I learned we would be taking a ferry to Santorini, we were plagued with images of the Staten Island Ferry with middle aged Greek men surrounded by a cloud of cigarette smoke. So, we chose to get a private cabin. Then, upon discussing it with Mom and deciding that we may want to stay in our cabin no matter what if the boat was too shady, we upgraded to a deluxe, which included two beds and a private WC. We would go for comfort and safety this once and cut corners later. Silly Americans….

The walls of the escalator to the ferry were shiny and wood paneled. I thought it was just a nice bridge sort of thing, not actually part of the ferry. But the wood paneling didn’t stop. Indeed the entire inside of the ferry was wood paneled. There was also a rule prohibiting smoking. Oh yeah! There was also a café, a gift shop, a conference room, a food court, and an ala cart restaurant. Some cheap seats indoors were airplane style. Others were comfy, upholstered chairs around small tables. There were arcade games and a TV area for children, complete with a fun mural. To top it off, we thought the ferry would have no food, so we bought packaged snacks in Athens last night. They went really well with the cappuccinos we got at the ferry café.

Our room was lovely. I had two twin beds, a nightstand, a desk and a full bathroom. Yes, a full bathroom. We had a shower. We were both really tired, so we slept for the first half to the journey (2.5/5 hours). Once we woke up, we decided to explore the boat. We went to the café and then sat outside to take pictures and marvel at the breathtaking view.

Around 2:04 pm, we docked in Santorini to begin the next leg of our adventure…