Enjoying the Greek views on the Ferry
Superfast Ferry
We walked several blocks to the port in Bari to board an overnight ferry to Patras, Greece. Our Eurail Pass enabled us to book reclining seats on the Superfast Ferry for a nominal peak-season fee of 30€ per person. We checked-in at a desk in the ferry terminal and they told us to proceed onboard. When we left the building, we didn’t see any obvious path so just started walking towards a boat we saw in the distance.
Approaching the ferry, I was shocked by the massive size. We boarded through a tiny door next to huge ramps where tractor trailer after tractor trailer slowly drove up the ramps. Once inside, we found people everywhere. All seats on the lounge were taken or being saved with luggage and any semi dark area was occupied with people lying on the ground. These people must have previously used the ferry because many were prepared with inflatable air mattresses, pillows any anything else imaginable.
Sara and I located our airplane style seats and settled in before going to explore the ship. We exited to the outside top deck which had a helicopter landing zone painted on the floor. There we found several people that had tents setup for the night! It felt unreal how prepared everyone was for sleeping on a ferry without buying a room or even seats. While we were outside, the ferry departed and we enjoyed watching Bari fade into the sunset.
Sunset selfie on the Ferry
Because most stores were closed in Bari, we were unable to find any food for a picnic dinner. Rather then go hungry, we splurged for a meal on the ferry. It tasted as expected for a cafeteria style meal, but at least I was able to enjoy Italian spaghetti one last time. After dinner, we settled into our surprisingly comfortable seats and tried to get some sleep. Most of the way through the night, I started getting uncomfortable and curled up on the ground while Sara stretched out on the seats.
Around 3:00 in the morning, there was a lot of commotion as the lights turned on and people gathered their belongings. I heard we were at Igoumenitsa, our first port of call. Luckily we both fell back asleep and woke to a shock a few hours later because the room was again dark and quiet with only a handful of people remaining. Eventually the boat docked in Patras and we disembarked along with the remaining passengers. We were well rested but hungry since we slept through breakfast. We hopped on a local bus for a ride downtown, we walked a few blocks to our hotel, and checked-in to our room for the night.
Ghost town in Patras
It was after 2:00 on a Sunday afternoon when we finally set out to find food but it proved to be quite difficult. Even worse then Italy, everything was closed in the afternoon with no indication of opening times. It wasn’t just restaurants, the entire town seemed to be a ghost town. We walked several blocks of the closed businesses and only saw a handful of other people – it was eerie. Still hungry, we went back to the hotel to regroup and look for other food options.
A few hours later and armed with several potential restaurant options, we set out again for hopefully better luck. We first walked about the waterfront where we enjoyed views of the sunset. We saw several groups of people relaxing and children playing in the park. We had a good feeling about finding dinner as we we watched the beautiful sunset over the Gulf of Patras.
Luck still wasn’t on our side as we searched for food on a Sunday. We tried three recommended restaurants. We found all three but all were closed. Also, there were still no supermarkets in sight. Distraught, we went back to the hotel and asked the new front desk host where we could find food. He pointed down the block and mentioned there might be two or three restaurants open. The first one we tried only served drinks. The second one was a promising Italian place but we couldn’t flag down a server to order. We went to the last option, ‘H Nitta Tou Nannou. It seemed to be more of a fast food joint but we were happy it had Greek style food.
Greek salad for dinner
Being hungry and excited for our first meal of the day, we ordered way too much food, but it was all fantastic. We had a Greek salad, kebab pita, and pork platter washed down with the cheap local beer. We saw a couple sitting next to us had tzatziki with their food but we could remember the name so I asked them to ensure I could order it too. Their tzatziki was excellent and went great with our meal. By the end of the meal, I could barely move, I was so full. We slept great that night with a comfy bed and full stomachs.
In the morning, we took a bus and train to our next stop, Athens. The bus was included on the Eurail Pass because it replaces a train line that was never completed due to the Greece financial crisis.
