Ferries, part one

After a short stay in Athens, we took to the sea on a journey to Patmos. Athens is a big, spread-out city. The Acropolis is on a hill near the center of this picture.

We discovered that overnight ferries can save money on hotels. Sofia says she doesn't care about sunsets, but don't they look good as a backdrop?

But after the sun goes down, sleeping in the economy ("deck") class on a ferry can be a drag, and the smiles disappear.

Ferries, part two

More night ferry travel. We didn't board this one until 1:30 AM. Dawn found us in Rhodes.

Ferries, part three

Our modern-day Odysseus continues the Aegean journey. Minus cyclopses. And any real hardships to speak of. Plus his wife.

On the way to Crete, our boat made a stop at Halki. This island had the sinlge prettiest Greek Island Village that I saw. The picture is blurry, I know, but the majesty is still there. Our guide book sets the population of this town at 52. The local sponge industry crashed years ago, and lots of those pretty buildings are empty and crumbling.

So beautiful I'm giving you another dose. Halki.

Ferries, part four

Remember those rough seas outside our Crete Hotel? Well, the reason we had extra time in Crete was that our boat to our next stop was cancelled. We were supposed to take one of the high-speed catamarans that cruise the Aegean, but they can't tolerate too many big waves. We should have made offerings to Poseidon when we saw him in the museum in Athens.

So instead we had to rush and find another way to travel. Don't believe the claims on the side of the boat. These giant ferries, which we used for all our travel, are reliable even in higher seas, but they are universally called "slow boats." The trip that should have taken 1 hour and 45 minutes took 19 hours! We had to take a crazy route: back to Athens and then out to Santorini.

The ferry to Santorini was nice but the Deck Class, which provided a reclining Pullman seat on other ferry lines, was really deck class on annoying Blue Star ferries. On the Minoan Line ferry, by contrast, we could lay down and sleep on a row of reclining, cushioned seats.

At least on our long ferry trip we got to see islands that weren't on our itinerary. Here is lovely Naxos. This is the island where Theseus, slayer of the minotaur, allegedly abandoned Ariadne after she betrayed her father, King Minos, and helped Theseus escape. Ouch!

Ferries, part five

The last ferry ride. We spent many hours at sea, and sometimes rooms on dry land seemed to rock with ocean motion, so affected were we by our voyages. Still, ferries provide lots of great views. Here a temple to Apollo, never finished, stands guard over the Naxos harbor.