We woke up to light rain. Our host took us to Paros airport at eleven and our flight was scheduled to depart at 12:35. At the airport, we were left standing in a line until 1:45 when we were advised our flight was cancelled due to weather, low clouds and we were instructed to pickup our bags. They were checked for free because we were a little overweight for carryon, 8 kilograms on Olympic.
We were amongst a throng of passengers outside the terminal trying to figure out what to do. If we had made it to Athens airport, we were scheduled to be shuttled from the airport to the Avra hotel at 2:30. We had prepaid our hotel, dinner and breakfast and were fearing now that all would be lost. Our options were waiting for the bus to take us back at the port or a €40 taxi. There were no taxis. Jill was frantically looking for options on her iPad. She found a ferry leaving at 7pm which would get into Piraeus around midnight. We would then have to taxi to the Avra in Rafina, a €100 trip.
Jill was positioned at the bus stop while I held my position for a taxi. I had a few couples ahead of me. A woman at the bus stop asked Jill if she would be willing split a fare with a private transportation service she had used to get to the airport. Yes! The trouble was that time was of the essence to get to Parikia, the Paros port, in time to catch a 2:45 ferry into Rafina, which is exactly where our hotel is located.
The people in front of me scattered to various private vehicles. A taxi arrived so the 3 of us hopped in and she cancelled her private transfer. We told the driver we needed to get to the port in half an hour in order to catch the ferry. He said he would do his best by taking a rough route to avoid the traffic. Up he went on narrow winding country roads in order to miss the horrendous traffic. Our new travelling partner had just booked a ferry ticket online, but Jill was not able to as it was too close to departure. Our driver put it to the floor. He said, do up your seat belt and we went on the ride of our lives. He was a great driver gunning when he could. Narrow rough roads, blind hairpin corners and lots of I’m sorries from the driver as we went up to go down and around to miss the traffic. We arrived at the port just as the ferry was ready to dock. Jill ran across the road to buy tickets while I unloaded our luggage from the cab. Our hero driver asked just €20 each for the horowing ride. A bargain. The bonus is that Rafina is a five minute walk from the Avra Hotel and a nice dinner awaits. It was a Goldenstar fast catamaran ferry with stops at Mykonos and Tinos. Travel time four hours. I took some pictures from the ferry to show the dramatic sky.
We arrived 6:45 to a beautiful sky. We were upgraded to a sea view room which overlooked the beach. Tomorrow is go day. We are both looking forward to getting home.
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