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| A delicious way to start the day. |
The next morning, we checked out and walked the length of Fira to the bus terminal, stopping first at the 24/7 bakery to pick up some breakfast. They have a huge range of pastries, stuffed with cheeses, sausages and the like. I opted for a spinach and cheese puff, while Avy took the cream cheese bagel. From the bus stop, Avy went for a quick walk to a cafe we’d seen on the street to the east side of town to grab some coffee. We each had an iced cappuccino, which was deliciously creamy (probably because it was topped with real cream rather than foam). At only €1.80, this was some of the best coffee we’d had, so certainly pay a visit to Coffee Island.
The bus to the airport, which we took at 9am, is another bargain at €1.60; the only reason we took a taxi when we arrived was because we’d arrived late in the evening. Bus is definitely the way to go. It only took about 10 minutes to arrive, and we found a massive line of people waiting to get into the airport. Seems like Santorini airport is in desperate need of an expansion! After asking the staff, we found out people were lining up for different flights in the different lines, waiting to get inside to check in. Our flight’s bag drop only started at 10am, so we had to sit and wait a while before joining the line again. Directly behind us was a group of American grey-nomads, and one woman was going on about how various cultures don’t know how to line up, and about how the Americans are the best and most courteous in this aspect. All this while she tried to cut in front of me after the line was shifted across. So attention to any Americans who might be reading this: I know you’re not all like this woman, but it’s because of people like her that you get a bad reputation! I was waiting for her to voice her opinion of Australians, but her mild-racism didn’t get that far.
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| Lining up to get into Santorini Airport. |
Eventually checking in for our flight on Volotea, we had to wait around in the airport for a while – not much to see there! But after only a small delay, we boarded our flight and headed for our next stop: the floating city of Venice.
Stop number four on our epic honeymoon brought us from Greece across the Adriatic Sea, and a big leap to the north. Up here, the summer had certainly receded a lot more, with the air feeling much cooler, but the sun still beating down. We welcomed the fresh change as we emerged from Marco Polo Airport to start exploring Venice.
Our AirBnB host for our time in Venice had already given me instructions of how best to get from the airport to our accommodation; we’d opted to stay on the mainland side, just near Venezia Mestre train station. It’s much cheaper to stay over here than on Venice itself, but also, Venice is a maze of tiny streets, and finding a little apartment there would have been a nightmare! From the airport, it will cost €8 to get the bus to Mestre station, and the tickets are bought right there at the stop. The important thing to remember about Italy is that train and bus tickets must be validated before they are used; else you risk a hefty fine. The reason for this is that the tickets are not linked to a specific train, but rather timed and/or single use. For the airport bus, the validation machine sits right next to the ticket machine. But if in doubt, there will probably be someone floating around to help you.
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| Airport bus to Mestre station. |
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| Waiting for the bus. |
Arriving to Mestre station, we found our AirBnb and checked in with Bella. She was amazingly helpful and friendly, and the room was really nice. The only downside was that there are three different AirBnB rooms at their place, and all share the same bathroom. It seems that Bella’s house is quite popular, too! So we often had to be quick off the line to get in before someone else. Apart from that, it was great!
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| Our room in Mestre. |
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| Bathroom in Mestre AirBnB. |
We went for a walk into Mestre city centre, half-looking for some dinner but mostly just exploring. It’s a pretty little town with lots of cafes and alfresco restaurants spaced out along various piazzas. Avy had made it clear that she was craving Asian food; I always like to eat local when I travel, but you also have to keep the wife happy! J As it turns out, Mestre appears to be populated with a lot of Chinese / Cantonese families, so there are several restaurants to choose from. On this occasion though, none of them had quite what Avy was after, so we sat in two different restaurants, but walked out shortly thereafter! We ended up at a place called Da Jessica, which seemed okay. There was some seafood pasta that drew Avy in, and they had Italian food too, so that kept me happy. Unfortunately, the pasta dish did not really match with the advertised picture, so that was disappointing. My pizza, on the other hand, was quite delicious.
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| Weighing myself some grapes! |
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| Exploring Mestre town. |
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| Exploring Mestre; quite a pretty town. |
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| An obligatory selfie! |
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| A little dinner, served up at Da Jessica. |
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