there are a lot of ways you can travel between the greek islands if you ever decide to make the best choice ever and go. the best methods probably depend on how much time you have in greece to spend getting from place to place. steve and i experimented with almost every option, standard ferry, high speed ferry, and a flight via agean airlines.
more on options 2 and 3 later, but if you are planning to travel from athens to santorini i must insist you take the standard (read: not high speed) ferry. when i booked our tickets on the blue star ferries out to santorini i was a bit worried by the 8 hour sailing time. not only does 8 hours on a boat seem potentially claustrophobic, but when you're in a place as amazing as greece you don't want to waste an extra moment cooped up en route to your destination.
little did i know the blue star ferries are like a day trip attraction unto themselves. this is not your average ferry boat. our ship, the blue star delos (though we booked our tickets for the blue star naxos so i'm not sure why the name swap) was really more like a luxury cruise line. besides it being the only ferry with open air seating (as opposed to the high speed lines) we had no idea it would also be stopping at ports on the islands of paros, naxos, and ios before docking in santorini. basically we got a espresso and photo filled boat tour of the cyclades before getting to our second hotel. it was such a wonderful surprise!
after a very early morning cab ride from our parthenon hotel to the port of pireaus, we watched the sunrise over athens as we headed out into the agean sea and ate breakfast and lunch on the ferry getting the grand tour of other islands we know we'll need to return and check out. since we were up so early it was a welcome benefit that there were coffee shops all over the boat and the weather shifted from a pleasant morning breeze to sun that made the water around us glitter. the view from the ferry approaching santorini was absolutely breathtaking and when we rode in our hotel shuttle up from the port to fira we got our first unbelievable view of the caldera from over the cliff.
more to come!!
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