The 16-hour ferry to Patras was a great option for the dogs, we had a room so we could all sleep. It wasn’t anything fancy and the beds weren’t the best but the food was actually good! The dogs were not a fan of going to the bathroom on the deck but when we asked about the “potty spot” for them we were taken to a dark basement area with a box of dirt and Finn liked that even less so on the deck they went.

When we arrived in Patras we had arranged a ride with Daytrip. I found them from TripAdvisor and they allow dogs in the cars. They are usually used for sightseeing and exploring but they offered what we needed, and the driver Dimitris was awesome! We were simply required to have seatbelts and a blanket for the dogs, which was not a problem.

We arrived safely in Piraeus, a suburb of Athens with a huge port where boats go to most of the islands, including Crete. Thankfully, we booked the room for 2 nights at the Casa Verde, it was clean, comfortable, and a good location for the port, even though we only needed one- our ferry left at 10:00 PM the next day so we wanted somewhere to hang out until we took off. If you can afford it I recommend always booking an extra night when you have a late ferry- we learned our lesson in Bari when we had to aimlessly walk around the city for hours waiting for the ferry. The night in Piraeus was a loud one. The local soccer team was in the championship for the title and, even though the game was in Athens, there were watch parties all over the city. The dogs did not like the fireworks and noisy crowds, so it was a bit of a struggle to take care of business that night.

After a night of barely sleeping the town got back to normal- the home team won in overtime, so the fireworks went on all night, including a big show at 5 am, which was not fun. I snagged some breakfast, and we checked in for our evening ferry and honestly, I started hitting a panic wall. After all these days of travel, I needed to get to a place where I could unpack, buy conditioner for my hair and not worry about the weight in my bags, and make coffee the way I like it. I started scrolling reviews of the ferry and got a bit worried. Lots of bad reviews, the boat is old, it never goes on time, the rooms smell like mold- those kinds of things. This was emotionally one of my tougher days and lack of sleep probably didn’t help.

We arranged a car to the ferry- another lesson we learned from Bari- the walk to the port entrance is only half the battle- sometimes the boat is a mile back from the entrance. The driver picked us up and took us right up to the entrance of the ship- relief #1. We entered the boat and were given our keys- it looked like a cruise ship, bright, open, and nice- relief #2. We got to our room and we were pleasantly surprised. It looked clean and roomy and had a little sitting couch and a fridge- relief #3. We took off on time and I breathed a sigh of relief- we were almost home. I ordered myself and small bottle of wine and inhaled the sea air- we were close now.

Better than I expected accommodations on the ferry to Crete!

We made it!

Now that the 10 days of travel are over, we are headed to our new apartment in Heraklion. Luckily, we have family here and they helped us arrange for a furnished apartment in the City Center. We learned a lot and might have changed a few details, but overall, I think we did pretty well. I will post lessons learned next for those who want to travel with dogs in the coming days. Also, follow as we set up our life here and hopefully go from visitors to residents. OPA!