Day 13 -Travel Day from Paros to Rome

We were awake at about 7.00 am to pack our bags in readiness for the day ahead. The weather this morning was almost perfect with no wind and clear skies and the water was flat almost like a mill pond!

After breakfast we met Nick our driver who took us back to Parikia harbour for the ferry ride back to Santorini.

The ferry terminal was a full on mess with people everywhere and we were early we stopped in a cafe for a coffee to watch the flood of people!

Nearing the ferry departure time we moved to the terminal only to find total disorganisation! We lined upon a long queue which I thought was for our designated ferry but with ferries coming and going it was definitely not easy! One ferry took off to Santorini which I thought was not ours…we were still in the queue for another which I thought was ours???

When the ferry arrived at the terminal it was for a different ferry company…. Ok bugger we thought! Anyway we boarded the boat and as it left the jetty we along with a few others found we were on the wrong boat but going to the right place. Seems this happens often so we had to purchase new ferry tickets…. Somehow I am going to have to get a credit for the original ferry tickets….good luck with that!

Seems it all stems from poor communication and organisation at the ferry terminal to me! Not my fault!

On the ferry Robyn was concerned we would be struggling with time to get our plane flight from Santorini to Rome but I thought we would be Fine…. Hopefully!

The trip on the ferry to Santorini was smooth sailing and despite a delayed start we arrived in good time at the Santorini terminal. After a short taxi ride to the airport ( € 50 again!) we were in good time for the check for the flight to Rome.

The Santorini Airport was very busy and we found a cafe to enjoy a glass of wine and share a small pizza.

We boarded the plane and to our amazement most of the fellow travelers were taking on up to 2 travel bags as cabin baggage! As a result there was some pandemonium organised space in the overhead lockers. Seems to me that the passengers these days have very little checked in luggage and rely on the airlines to not police the carry on baggage.

We arrived in Rome at about 4.30 pm and after collecting our bags caught a cab to the UNA hotel near the train station…. The traffic into Rome was very light being a Saturday afternoon. The driver said that as the summer holidays were over next week traffic would be very heavy next week.

The hotel we are staying at in Rome is very comfortable and has generous space for our bags etc.

After refreshing a bit we journey out for dinner near the hotel at an outdoor restaurant. The meals were great and we sat near a Canadian couple who made conversation with us both. They were both travelling in Italy to visit their family village in Calabria … seems they have Italian heritage in former generations.

It was good to chat with them about many things including Trump, the health system and their family. Seems that the husband was a physio which was interesting!

After dinner we headed back to the hotel for bed after the adventure of the day!

Picture below is from our balcony at Dryos … note the smooth Mediterranean Sea!