Day 14 and 15: Ferry ride to Venice and then home

We arrived home in the early afternoon. The trip counter shows that we covered 3778 kilometers on this tour.

Summary

Due to the weather, we shortened our tour by 6 days and about 900 kilometers. We were on the road for 15 days and visited some parts of Albania for the first time, as well as western Greece, the island of Lefkada, much of the Peloponnese, Athens, and parts of central and northwestern Greece. It was our first visit to Greece, and we collected many wonderful memories on this tour. Visiting Greece in September is a good choice because daily temperatures are between 25 and 30 degrees Celsius. The heat is easy to bear due to low humidity.

Roads are generally good, and those who enjoy twisty roads will find plenty in the mountain areas. Gasoline is about 20% more expensive than in Slovenia. Our average consumption was about 5.3 liters per 100 kilometers, which means roughly €10 per 100 kilometers. Tolls on the motorways are moderate for motorcycles. A Greek peculiarity is that you don't take a toll ticket at entry and pay at exit; instead, there are several toll booths, and you pay each time you pass through one.

We mainly stayed in private apartments or small hotels, sometimes with breakfast. We looked for apartments with a kitchen or at least a small kitchenette so we could prepare food if we wanted to.

We ate at restaurants from time to time. Typically, dinner for two with drinks costs between €40 and €55. We ate traditional Greek food. I discovered that plain goat and sheep yogurts are really good. Oranges, probably picked ripe in Greece, were much tastier than those we can buy in Slovenian supermarkets and grocery stores.

People in Greece are generally very kind and enjoy joking.

Greece is quite a large country and not densely populated, except in the main cities. Distances between cities and towns are long, often taking several hours to travel.

You can find pebble, sand, and rocky beaches in Greece. The sea is usually crystal clear. The water temperature during our tour was between 25 and 27 degrees Celsius, which was really nice.

We spent about €2400 on this trip: 32% on accommodation, 14% on ferries, 14% on sightseeing (guided tours or entry tickets), 13% on restaurant food, 11% on fuel, 7% on groceries, 3% on tolls, and the rest on other small expenses, gifts, etc.

It was a great tour, and I would be happy to return to some of the places we visited. We have left a large part of Greece to be discovered on a future trip which gives us an excuse to return again :-)

Early morning ferry

We got up at 2:30 a.m. at the hotel, packed everything, and drove to the ferry port. The ferry was delayed by about an hour. It started to dawn as we departed. We found a table in one of the saloons. The ferry was not very big but was quite modern. Many passengers were traveling with pets, and the ferry even had a toilet for them.

I was editing my video and photo content and writing this blog throughout the day. During breaks, I talked with other passengers in the saloon. Jose from France was at the next table, and we had several conversations. The day passed relatively quickly. In the evening, I went outside to watch the sunset.

The night on the ferry

We had some beach mats with us, which we spread on the floor. We put on our motorcycle gear to keep warm through the night because we had no blankets. I slept surprisingly well.

In the morning, we had breakfast at the ferry restaurant, then packed our things to go to the parking deck as the ferry approached Venice. When we arrived, we waited almost an hour before the ferry gate was opened. Once it opened, we passed through border police quickly.

The last section of the trip

After getting out of the port we were following signs for Trieste. We made a short detour to Duino near Trieste, and then crossing the border at Fernetiči. The weather was sunny, but windy and cold. We put our raingear on already on the ferry, to keep us warm in this weather.

A short video about today's trip