Jo here... Today we got up at the crack of dawn to begin our massive trek to get from Sorrento all the way across to Naxos, Greece, in 2 days. So we started off with a bus from our campsite down to Sorrento train station and then the train to Naples. We then got a train to Caserta and then change trains in order to get to Bari. After getting up at the crack of dawn we arrived in Bari at 14:30. We had to ask around how we could get to the port as it was not as close as we thought. So after a short bus ride we arrived in the port of Bari. Our ferry (the size of a small cruise ship) to Patras wasn’t scheduled to leave until 20:00 so we had to wait around in the heat for a few hours but luckily we could board the ferry at 16:30 so after buying our “deck” seats we got up to the pool bar deck and found a place in which we would be staying in for the next 16.5 hours!!!! We quickly realised that our “deck” simply was a plastic chair and nothing more! After the ferry had finally left the port we got settled and had our first gyros and it was delicious! We also purchased a bottle of vodka to keep us occupied from the duty free shop. By early morning we had had enough. It was freezing cold on the deck and all we had we light cardigans and sarongs to keep us warm. We weren’t willing to splash out an extra €100 to get a cabin so we had to deal with it. I think it was around 6am when the ferry pulled into it’s first stop Crete that space became available inside so we packed up our things to find something warmer inside the ship. Jake had disappeared a few hours earlier and fell asleep in a hallway so we headed back there. In that time we realised that a few cabins had been left unattended with the door open and room key inside. These people had got off in Crete so we decided that we were so exhausted, from lack of sleep, that we were willing to sleep in a used cabin! We all feel straight to sleep (on top of the covers) but were rudely woken 2 hours later by the cleaners finding us and then demanding us to pay the upgrade... We all quickly disappeared to the inside bar area ;)
After freshening up (a few baby wipes and a change of clothes later) we counted down the last remaining hours of the journey. By 13:00 we finally arrived in Patras, Greece and paid for the connecting bus transfer to the Piraeus port so that we knew we would arrive in the right place. The bus was scheduled to leave at 13:30 but we only found it just in time as we were given the wrong directions by the crew and even the Australian guy that spoke fluent Greek was sent every which way when the bus was next to the ship all the time!
After another 2 hour journey we arrived at Piraeus. We headed straight to the travel agent to book our ferry to Naxos. We knew that we would have 2 choices either catch the 17:30 or the 19:45 but upon approaching the travel desk our only option was a ferry leaving midnight the following night! There goes our planning. Our only alternate option was to go to Paros (island very close to Naxos) so we bought the tickets and went to an internet cafe close by to arrange accommodation. The ferry left at 20:00 and we got in close to midnight and was met by a Greek man that took us to our hotel. It was basic and the best thing was we finally had air conditioning after all this time! We had a well deserved sleep in that morning even though we still had to find another nights accommodation.
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