Ferries

July 12-Day 12

Today we decided to not go out of town. We hung around the hostel working on getting more info on the next weeks travels. We decided to take a ferry to Ancona, Italy where we would be able to get another ferry to Croatia. We now had to figure out how to get back to Greece so we could get back to Italy so we could get to Coratia. We initially thought we could take a bus or train north from Albania through Bosnia and Montenegra to get to Ctroatia, and that would be possible, but with Miranda feeling car sick on our last trip in the mountains we didn’t want to risk 14 hours on a bus to get to Croatia. So we will do it the more relaxed way. The only problem now was getting back to main land Greece so we could catch the overnight ferry north. The only way to get to Croatia by ferry is from Italy. We decided to go as far north as we could on our first ferry so the next ferry across would be quicker. There is a ferry everyday from Igomanitsa ,Greece to Ancona, Italy so that is the one we will take. Annette (hairy lemon owner) will drive us to Greece for 100 Euro. Because our other option was ether the bus, which left Saranda, Albania at 7 pm and gets to the border at 10pm. Then there might be a bus to Igomanitsa. Well to be in the middle of nowhere at night was not an option. The other option was to take a short ferry ride back to Corfu and another to Igomanitsa. That would in the end cost about 100 euros so the car ride sounded like a good option. So that is how it turned out. Annette drove us to Greece and we are on the overnight ferry to Italy and hopefully we can catch another ferry from there to Croatia asap.
The ferry we are on this time is very nice. It is a 10 story ship with a swimming pool, disco, stores,3 restaurants, and much more. It is much nicer than the Ventouris ferry line we caught to Corfu. The ferry line is called Super Fast Ferries. We didn’t get the seats this time. Instead we bought 2 blankets from Saranda and we will sleep on deck. This was a much nicer ride. The deck is covered and completely lined with windows so are protected from the elements. We got on the ship at 8:30 and by 10:30 we are all hunkering down for the night. We have 2 long tables where we will sleep for the night. So we tuck our bags under near the back and crawl under the tables with our blankets to sleep for the night. A little hard but much better that the lousy seats on the last ferry and no snoring fat men.