Once we had booked our “frequent flier” tickets on Delta (maybe our last now with their new oppressive rules), we moved onto the actual planning of our time in Greece. In addition to time in Athens, my top priorities were Knossos (on Crete, not Cyprus) and Santorini.
How to get to these islands? In what order?
The first step was to understand the ferries. As we moved forward, understanding their routes and schedules was impossible. After hours familiarizing ourselves with the different ferry companies and their offerings, we learned that you don’t travel from “Athens to Santorini” or “Athens to Crete”. You have to look for “Piraeus (the Athens ferry port) to Thira (the Santorini ferry port)” or “Piraeus to Heraklion — sometimes Iraklion (it is Greek after all) — (the Crete ferry port)”. Also, during early April, the schedules and routes are quite limited. There was no way to get from Crete (Iraklion) to Santorini (Thira) without going all the way back to Athens (Piraeus).
Once we had these details down, we started to look at the timetables and seat choices. Yet another myriad of complicated choices. Eventually, we settled into some (in the end mostly good) choices.
Most importantly, we did not decide to implement the crazy idea of packing in boat trips too close together. I had at one point entertained the idea of arriving in Piraeus (Athens) at 6am from Heraklion (Crete) and leaving from the port on the 8:15am ferry to Thira (Santorini). As we left for Thira (Santorini) on the ferry, we watched the Heraklion ferry pull into harbor.
For the ferry to Crete, all four of us were traveling overnight (9pm to 6am). Thankfully, we chose a private (outside) room. With four bunks (two up, two down), we had room for us to sleep. Room for our bags (not much as we travel carry-on only) was very limited. There was a private bathroom; small with a toilet (watch the flush), sink and tiny shower — nice shampoo and soap, though!
The public areas were very pleasant at first, but filled with people traveling without berths — an the ship was not nearly full. There were kennels for the pets on their way across the sea. We slept most of the way to Crete and back as they were overnight trips, but what an adventure!
For our trip to Thira (Santorini) we were undecided about the cheap “airline” seats, versus the “business class”. After reading various reviews, we opted for the more expensive “business class” lounge. While we had a lovely table and comfy seats, the rest of the ship appeared to be just as nice. The airline seats looked comfortable, and the “open areas” were pleasant. Perhaps we traveled in the off-season and on a nice day, but for when we went, I’m not sure the extra cost was worth it.
Despite not knowing Greek, we understood well enough where we needed to go and what we needed to do in terms of getting on and getting off the boat and where to go.
Ferries in Greece? Complicated at first, but highly recommended.
