We woke up way too early this morning to catch the 0745 ferry back to Volos. We were taking the Super fast Ferry today instead of our normal "slower" ferries. I myself prefer the slower ferries for the simple fact that you can actually get up, walk around, and even step outside for some fresh Mediterranean air. The Super fast ferry will get you to your destination quicker, but it's like being on a wide plane. You board, find your assigned seat, and sit down. There are large windows, but with the salt water constantly splashing up, you can barely see out of them. they do have TVs throughout, but all that they played was Greek News. . .BORING! The one thing all the ferries seem to have in common, was making stops at other islands along the way. Each time the ferry stopped my hubby and I would run off the boat, breather in some fresh air, and get a few photo ops of places we have never been, or even heard of.
We finally arrived in Volos after several hours, loaded up the car, and started our 4 hour journey back to Athens. The plan was to get to Athens, do some laundry, rearrange and re-pack our bags and try to catch the evening ferry to Paros (another Island, located in the Cyclades) However, about half way to Athens we decided to find a small place along the water to eat. So we got off the highway and started driving down the off roads following the sea. After getting lost and hitting a few dead ends we finally made it to a small town on the water, had a couple of Souvlaki, and of course Mythos, and just relaxed. Lunch took much longer than we had planned, so at this point we knew we were never going to make the ferry to Paros tonight. No longer being in a rush, my husband took me to a small church that he would stop at as a child while on their family vacation.
The church was the size of a Master Bath in some modern homes, and half of it was built into the mountain, as I have seen a lot throughout my travels in Greece. People would stop there, pay their respects, and then fill up jugs, and jugs, of the mountain water that ran down to the church. We filled up our water bottles, but it was nothing compared to the amount of bottles the locals were coming to fill. Car after car would just pull up and help themselves.
We finally made it to Athens, and to my husbands childhood home. We showered, unpacked, repacked, and decided to take advantage of our only night in Athens during this trip. One of my husbands favorite places to go while in town is Flisvos Marina (which is the MEGA-YACHT destination in Greece), and I really can't remember a trip to Athens that didn't include at least one evening walking through this Marina. After walking around, and actually seeing one of the largest personal yachts I have ever seen in my life, we got a couple slices of pizza and a couple glasses of wine and just sat outside and enjoyed each others company.
We drove back to the apartment, and crashed. It was a long day, and we had to get back up in a couple of hours.
We got to the ferry and the best thing about traveling in off season is that the ferries are not full and you pretty much can find a seat anywhere you want. This time we were traveling with Blue Star Ferries, and just our luck we were on their newest ferry "Delos". I just have to say that this was without a doubt the nicest ferry I've been on. After claiming our space we ordered a couple of coffees and headed out for part two of our Big Fat Greek Vacation.
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