Getting from Bulgaria to Greece turned out to be a challenge. These two countries have a common border and no convenient way of crossing it. My initial plan was to travel to Alexandroupolis, the nearest to me Greek port, and to start island hopping from there. I wanted to avoid popular islands like Santorini and to visit less touristy places. My Greece trip had to end in Athens from where I was flying home.
I lived in the town of Byala that is about 250 km (155 mi) from the Greek border. That did not sound like a great distance, just 3 – 4 hours of driving and I did not expect any pitfalls. But when I looked at all possible options ‒ planes, trains, and buses, it became clear that all of them required at least a whole day of traveling.
If I had chosen flying I had to go to the airport in Varna, then to fly to Sofia, Athens and to the island of my choice ‒ three legs with hours of layover in the airports. It was not cheap or time-efficient. The trains followed approximately the same route to Athens from where I could fly or take a ferry to a Greek island. Needless to say, that would take even longer than the first option.
The bus from Byala could take me as far as Burgas, the city which is halfway to the border. Then I found that there were no buses between Burgas and the border crossing point at Svilengrad. ‘Never mind, it is not far. I can take a taxi to the border,’ I told myself. The Svilengrad – Alexandroupolis railway was opened in 1874 when this territory was part of the Ottoman Empire. In 1923, the new borders were drawn and the railway line got split between Greece, Turkey, and Bulgaria. Turkey built its own line directly to Bulgaria that avoids Greek territory. Years later, Greece constructed another line that goes to Svilengrad around Turkish territory. All sounded great until I read that the passenger service on the section between Bulgaria and Greece was suspended in 2015. I’d have to take another taxi in Greece to get to the first train station there, travel by train to Alexandroupolis and by ferry to an island. The logistics complexity of such a trip was too much for me.
My ticket to fly home was from Athens on the 5th of October. The issue of getting out of Bulgaria became more and more pressing with each passing day. I spent hours on the Internet checking bus and train schedules, plane tickets, and reading travel forums. I even asked around if anyone was going to Greece in a car and could take me with them. Nope, nobody was driving there. Regardless of how I pieced together my itinerary, it looked too complicated and inefficient in every sense the word. I did what I usually do in such cases ‒ put the whole thing out my mind.
Before leaving home for Europe in April, I knew that my friend Tanya and her husband Bill were coming from Colorado to Crete for a wedding in September. The wedding was going to be three days but they wanted to see Crete too. Because of that, they made arrangements to come early and to stay for a few days after the wedding. When after some time I was able to look at my trip to Greece from a different angle I thought if I could join them. I contacted Tanya and she did not mind. I abandoned my plan to go to smaller Greek islands and started working on a new one – how to get to Crete.
From my previous research, I already knew that one travel agency offered a combo ticket: the bus Varna – Sofia – Athens – Piraeus plus the ferry Piraeus – Heraklion, Crete. The service was once a week leaving at 11 p.m. on Wednesday and arriving at 6 a.m. on Friday. The total cost was €100. I asked myself if, at 62, I could spend 22 hours on the bus and a night on the ferry. Maybe, or maybe not. I was not sure. But then I thought of the convenience of this ticket. I’d be brought directly to Heraklion where Tanya and I agreed to meet. The timing was right too. Tanya and Bill were arriving in Heraklion on Thursday night. I would be there on Friday morning. So I went to Varna and bought a combo ticket for the 19th of September. I also booked hotels on Crete to match my friends’ movements around the island. During the 3 days when they were going to be at the wedding, I decided to go to Rhodes. When everything was booked, I breathed a sigh of relief. The planning stage of this trip was exhausting. It probably took more time and effort than planning any other trips. Tanya took upon herself planning of our activities on Crete for which I am very grateful to her.
I wrapped up my stay in Byala – paid the bills, returned the library books, packed my backpack and put away everything else until the next season, defrosted the refrigerator, disconnected water and electricity. My apartment looked bare as if nobody lived in it. Only the clock on the wall was ticking.
A taxi came at 9.30 pm. My driver, Milena chatted with me all the way to the bus station in Varna. Thanks to her, I got there in a good mood and stopped stressing out about the difficulties of the road to Crete. Everything was going to be just fine.
Indeed, I did not feel tired after the night on the bus although I hardly slept. A VCR played American movies with Bulgarian subtitles, one after another, that nobody watched. The flashing screen of the VCR and loud radio music for the driver kept me awake almost all the way to Sofia. We arrived at 6 a.m.; I had breakfast at the bus station and at 8 am, boarded the bus to Piraeus, Greece.
The road between Sofia and Piraeus was flat, with villages and olive trees here and there. Nothing caught my eye. One passenger, probably being bored as all of us, tried to strike conversations with others with little success. His deep resounding voice brought the passengers out of their lethargy for a few minutes and then everyone dozed off again. At the border, I was the only passenger with a passport that had to be stamped. All others showed their EU id cards. In Greece, the bus stopped every 100 km (62 mi). We got out to buy food and to stretch our legs. The bus quickly drove through Athens directly to the port of Piraeus. By 8.30 p.m., we were at the ferry terminal. The bus driver distributed ferry tickets.
When everyone went to the ferry we were not allowed to get on it because our tickets were for the following day. We rushed back to the driver who promised to remedy the issue. The ferry was scheduled to leave at 9 p.m. and everyone looked nervous. The driver returned with a new batch of tickets. This time, they were issued with the current date but with wrong names. By then, the passenger gangway was gone. Panicking, we ran to the ticket office ignoring the bus driver and asked the agent to re-print our tickets one more time. The agent was busy counting banknotes and she did not want to be interrupted. When she was done with that, she printed new tickets; we hurried back to the ferry and boarded it via the vehicle ramp.
Our ferry tickets had no seats. Some people were lucky to find a coach or armchairs on the desks. Others curled up on the floor but I really wanted to sleep in bed. At the customer service for extra €14, I was given a bunk in a cabin that I shared with 2 women. The cabin had a shower and it was quite comfortable, totally worth the money that I paid for it.
The Minoan Line ferry was huge like a cruise ship, the sea was calm. I immediately fell asleep on my top bunk and slept soundly through the night. When I woke up at 5.30 a.m. the women, my cabin mates were already gone. By the time when I got out of the cabin too, the ferry was at the pier. While I probably wouldn’t make the same bus and ferry trip from Bulgaria to Grete again, it was not exhausting to travel like this.
Wow! What a trip! Next time you can try Blablarcar, it’s very popular in Europe https://www.blablacar.com/
I heard about this service. Do you anyone who used it? Did they like it?