Fredagsbloggen: Till den grekiska övärlden (och allt som hände på vägen ...)

Text and photo: Helena Bergström

Now we have made our way to the Greek archipelago to discover two islands that were new to us: Naxos and Sifnos. We barely made it home from the Elmia trade fair before we had to pack up, so we felt far from prepared. Moreover, it was quite an eventful journey to get us all the way to the first island…

Table of contents

From one to the other

We were recently at the Elmia Husvagn Husbil trade fair. It was a really intense week with lots of exciting news to check out on the trade fair floor, but above all the week offered a nice hangout with new and old friends. One evening, a long table was set up behind our motorhome, for example. Cozy!

Marlene from Jikitas is most likely seen on Adventure.

We gave three lectures and the hall was completely full each time. Really fun!

For once, we also had time to listen to some other speakers. Educational, inspiring and entertaining! We listened to MotorhomeAnnika (now ÄventyrsAnnika) who told about her motorhome trip in Finland, Wandering mile who told about a challenging motorhome trip to Cyprus and Jikitas on Adventure who talked about different campsites in Sweden. Really good lectures, all three of them!

To Greece – last minute booking and departure in the middle of the night

After the Elmia trade fair, we went home to the houseboat in Stockholm for a quick trip. We had to unpack, wash, and then pack again. We didn't have time to do more than that before the plane to Greece was due to depart.

As we mentioned earlier, we are doing the Greece trip in collaboration with a Greek PR agency that helps us on the islands. At the last minute we realized that we needed to book a hotel at the port of Piraeus as well, before the crossing to the first island.

But yes, it was fine to book the night before we left. Then we slept for a few hours before it was time to get up at 02:20 and take a Bolt to Arlanda …

Arriving in Piraeus – 2-star hotel, unexpected meeting and waiting for boat tickets

We landed in Athens just before lunchtime, and managed to find a local bus to Piraeus – the port city where the ferry would depart. Here we had booked a night at the 2-star hotel The Niki Hotel Piraeus. No luxury of course but perfectly ok when you only need to sleep one night, and perfect location for taking the ferry the next morning.

Our room at The Niki Hotel Piraeus. Small, but fresh.

We had a simple Greek dinner at a tavern – moussaka or pastitsio – and on the way there someone shouted in Swedish ”But I know you!” Yes, that can happen. The world is not that big after all. Fun!

At the same time, we were waiting for our boat tickets. We thought perhaps our Greek partner would send the tickets a few weeks in advance, but at 5pm the night before the planned boat trip, we were still wondering, now that we were in Greece… Will tickets arrive?

Sometimes you have to have ice in your stomach. Yes, half an hour later the tickets steamed into the inbox. It turned out that we were leaving at 07:00 the next morning, on a fast catamaran.

To Naxos – early morning (again) and a very bumpy journey

Another early morning! We didn't have to get up at 02:00 this time, but at 05:20, which corresponds to 04:20 Swedish time. It was starting to become a bad habit with early mornings, it felt like …

The ferry, from the company SeaJets, was ready at the port when we arrived, and after a short wait we were allowed to board.

It turned out to be a very modern and well-organized ferry, with numbered seats in comfortable chairs and a café/bar on each floor.

After a while, however, they shouted over the loudspeakers that it was best to sit still in your comfortable seat because of the weather, and we soon understood what they meant. It was rocking heavily and every other person who dared to leave the chair was dragging their feet.

These modern catamarans are probably rockier than the larger ships, but the advantage is that the trip took 3.5 hours instead of 5 hours.

We made a short stop on the island of Syros, to drop off and pick up passengers.

There was also a short stop on the island of Mykonos for the same business, and there came many new passengers.

A short stop at Mykonos – where many wanted to board.

Arrived in Naxos – we'll tell you more soon!

Finally we arrived at our destination – the island of Naxos. Now it was ”just” a matter of finding our bag among the large pile of bags on the car deck and getting off in the sun.

There Naxos awaited, and we'll tell you more about that island soon. But first we need to explore the island properly and find out what it has to offer.

This week: Grateful for ...

This week we are grateful that we have once again had the opportunity to go to Greece, where we will discover two new islands for us: Naxos and Sifnos. We really like Greece, and it is also nice to experience some Mediterranean warmth in September. We are grateful for that!

Your turn ... What are you grateful for this week?

Stop on the road during the journey towards Naxos.

The week ahead

We know where we will spend this week: In Greece. It will be Naxos first and then Sifnos. Since the program will be quite hectic, we do not expect to have time to blog every day, and therefore we have prepared some posts.

You can expect a mix of reports from both us and guest writers. Among other things, they will cover the Czech Republic, Italy, motorhomes and various autumnal topics.

As soon as we have time, we will tell you about Naxos and Sifnos. Of course, you can follow the trip on Instagram too, at @freedomtravel.se!