Ferry Chania-Piraeus and the way to Thessaloniki

It was time again to leave this beautiful island behind us. Saying goodbye to my very own family in Frangokastello was very hard and emotional, with the mother Sofia we changed plenty of tears. They have been so nice to us and I will miss all of them. Saying "taleme" means in Greek "See you". We used to say taleme avrio, see you tomorrow, but now it was just "taleme"...

This time we booked a ferry which left 10 am instead of 9 pm. This option you dont have in off season and I was so glad to have this daytime ferry! You can sleep good at the night before and night after, not beeing the whole night on the outside deck together with your dog.

Price was this time 38 e for an adult and 123 e for my camper, 161 e. If you take return ticket, you will get some discount and I think the daytime ferry is slightly more expensive than the night one.

Each time the ferry is different one. So it is always exciting for me to see where can I stay with my dog. This time it was the best!!! Protected in the big bar outside with a roof, not in the wind and rain in an open deck! And gosh there were many dogs with their owners, I would say nearly 50 dogs were travelling from Chania to Piraues. This dog in the photo was sitting all the time in his owners laps :).

6 pm we were getting to Piraues after beeing 8 hours on the ferry. Having a view to the port and I could see this boat, atleast this one is not waiting passengers for the coming evening!

From the ferry I could already see plenty of tents from the immigrants and these two tents were next to busy traffic after the port.

Slept one night about 60 km north from Athens in a parking and the next day I was ready to drive until Thessaloniki. The toll roads are VERY expensive in Greece, I could not believe it! Avoid them if possible since the prices are absurd!

Campers are in the same class as busses (!?), so they put you in the class three which is nearly  three times more than a car!

Athens-Thessaloniki about 500 km and twelve toll points with totally 75.55 euros! And you can ONLY pay with cash and first two automats next to the highway where I was looking to take some more cash WERE EMPTY!

Arrived in Camper Stop Thessaloniki...Helsinki 3038 km.

Camper stop Thessaloniki is offered by Zampetas, a Camper and Caravan dealer. It is located about 20 km from the center of Thessaloniki, but you have good connections with the publich transport to reach the city center. They offer your stay for free, including water, electricity, washing machine and a wifi (which works only during the opening hours monday-friday 9-23, saturday 9-18). Beware that there is no access to leave or come with your camper when the place is closed! So if you do not leave out on saturday afternoon, the next time you can get out is on Monday morning 9 am. I came here to get some problems repaired before starting my road via Eastern Europe. GPS coordinates for this camper spot are N 40°30'09" E 22°58´14". You will also find a Lidl store on the same main road about 2 km away and fill your GPL on the next door in a ECO station.

My doggy was admiring the big boy :)

This Smart had a nice option :P

I met a very nice French family on the spot and they were offering some delicious cakes!

There is a place you can dry your laundry and can sit on the shade..

And this guardian dog Willy. He lives in his own area during the opening hours and when they close the shop he is having party time and freedom! Especially from saturday afternoon until monday morning. He is a friendly dog and was giving a welcome play to my girl. This photo above I took on sunday evening around 10 pm...

...and the other photo the night after at 9 am. I could hear the worker calling him that he should get back to his closed area, but he didnt even move. So I got out and brought him in his place. Im sure he spent his whole night on my chair!

Willy in his own bed, waiting for the evening to come and be a free boy again!

Got everything fixed and time to drive to Bulgaria!