An early goodbye to Athens and a journey by taxi, bus, taxi and ferry

We left our hats in Greece. They were purchased in Greece, meant to be worn in the heat of Greece, and were supposed to stay in Greece. Up early and having no patience for packing hats, the veteran (okay fine, ten days in country) Greek travelers began the day packing and eating and trying to remember the long list of directions about how to shut down the Airbnb house we were staying in. Sadly, I fear we forgot a few things, such as turning off the air and hot water. At least we brought our trash out. Have I mentioned at all Greece's plumbing system? If anyone have ever been here, you'll know, but for the uninitiated, Greek pipes are too small to manage toilet paper, so every Greek bathroom comes with a foot-operated lidded trash bin. This is where you put the toilet paper after using it. The first few times it's super weird. Then a person can get used to it. I imagine getting home, going into someone's lovely house, and depositing my toilet paper in their garbage can. This is a habit I need to unlearn.

Anyway, with trash taken out, we jumped into the pre-ordered taxi waiting for us and listened to Greek pop music on the radio as we were taken to the sketchiest bus station I've ever been to. In Greece, each section of the country has its own bus system, so when you go to buy a ticket, you have to figure out which part of the country you're traveling to -- not the city mind you -- the region. So there's about 10 ticket counters to choose from and you can only buy your ticket from the exact right one. Luckily, the folks who put together this system also realized it can be confusing for foreigners, so there was a lovey information lady ready to help. I say Patras, she says 7. That was our exchange. I found 7, bought our tickets, and and hour later we were riding through the countryside on our way to our ferry stop.

I can't say much for Patras, only because it was the smallest of pit stops before we took yet another taxi to the port where were caught our Superfast II ferry that would bring us to Bari, Italy. We waited at the ferry station for about two hours before we were allowed to get on our boat. A small amount of hilarity insued when Alex, being the Good Samaritan that he is, tried to turn in a glasses case to the security person. The guard thought Alex, for some philanthropic reason (???), wanted to give him a pair of glasses. The guard kept saying, "No sir, you keep your own glasses." And Alex attempted to explain that they were not, in fact, his glasses, but instead those of someone who left the building. I think the guard finally understood what Alex was saying, but he remained skeptical and walked by us several times, giving Alex a hard stare.

Once aboard our ferry, we were escorted to our cabin (hooray for overnight ferry cabins!), which was, literally, the farthest one away from the entrance. Food was on our minds so a trip to the on-board restaurant was in order. Alas, the food was gross and expensive, and we left kind of grumpy and definitely still hungry. But our cabin was cozy, our bodies tired from travel and our minds in need of quiet. We settled in. We could see out our port window the lovely city of Patras, our last sight of Greece on the trip. Goodbye Greece. Thanks for the feta and food and the islands and the graffiti and the antiquities and the ferries and the driving and the time with Alex.