Three Ferries to Greece or Two Innocents Abroad In A Honda Accord

Wednesday 15th November 2006

Left the hotel around 9.30am and headed back to the motorway around the tangenziale.  We took the A14 to Ancona and had a shit journey on a long, boring, flat road with loads of lorries and maniac drivers tailgating us.  The only thing of interest were fields of vines although there was more of interest after Rimini because we could see the sea on the left as we were heading towards Ancona.  After the toll booth you need to follow the signs to Porto but be careful to keep right or you end up taking the road to Pescara and have to come back on yourselves.

The other problem is that the road splits to two different ports.  We went to the "tourist" port and found a yacht marina and had to come back up the road and down again before taking the road to the "ferry" port.  The problem is that in a stream of traffic you don't have time to stop and make a decision.  It's just unfortunate that we always seem to make the wrong decision whenever we have a choice!  Eventually down on the port we needed to buy a ticket and we found that all the ferry operators are located in a large orange building near quay 14.  The guide books say there are ticket booths on the port area but obviously the information is out of date or they are not there in November.

We went with ANEK lines and got an inside cabin for 2 for 308 euro which was 68 euro less than normal as the special offer included the car going free.  The Hellenic Spirit ferry docked at Quay 16 around midday.  This was a really big ferry the likes of which we had never seen before around the Greece islands.  Our cabin was on the 10th deck at the top of the boat.  We queued for over 2 hours until 2.30pm when the last lorry left the ferry and it took around an hour to load the boat.  We drove on frontwards to the right hand side then went up 2 ramps to the bottom floor of the ferry then had to park over in one corner.  The car decks were locked at departure.

We got the keys to our room from reception and a porter took our case and us to our cabin on deck 10.  The room had 2 single beds with ensuite and was about the same size as our room in the Villages Hotel.  The room far exceeded Gerry's expectations as she thought we would have a pokey hole about the size of a bambi motor home in the bowels of the ship.  In fact the ensuite shower and toilet was bigger than a bambi motor home and we couldn't be in the bowels of the ship because then we would be sleeping in the car.  When aboard the ferry you are immediately on Greek time which is one hour ahead, so the ferry left Ancona at 4pm Italian time or 5pm Greek time.

We ate in the "Distinguished Class" restaurant because it was only slightly more expensive than the "smash and grab" but with waiter service.  We had a drink in the bar and then headed for bed to set the alarm for 7.45am the next day to see the ferry docking in Igoumenitsa at 8.30am.