ITALY-GREECE: "una faccia, una raccia"

OK, not so sure about the spelling on that, but I know a lot of you have heard me quote this line before (what can I say, I'm a geek). So I know a few of you are planning on going to Italy before heading over to Greece and are wondering what is the most efficient way to cross the Ionian sea...and of course, there is no easy answer!

There is a super cheap flight from Milan to Athens on EasyJet for £30 (which translates to about $60). Unfortunately, EasyJet does not fly from Rome to Athens, only from Milan (what?!). A quick search on Kayak for flights from Rome to Athens showed an average of $144 one-way cost on Alitalia. Naples to Athens for $115 and Palermo to Athens, at $142.

As far as ferries over, there is a 15 hr ferry ride from Brindisi, Italy (on the heel of Italy) to Patras, Greece (Northern tip of Peloponessos and the European Capital of Culture 2006!). You can book a reservation at GreekFerries. There is also a 28 hour ferry ride from Naples to Patras (yikes! 28 hours!). From the port of Catania, Sicily you can only take a ferry to Naples. From Palermo, ferries only go to the west coast of Italy. Needless to say, getting a ferry from Sicily to Greece is a major hassle (and makes no sense to me).

Ultimately, I would recommend flying. I apologize that in a previous post I mentioned that there are ferries from Italy to Greece (making it out to be some easy endeavor). I know some of you have travel agents that you are corresponding with and I would discuss this with them further, I'm sure they are privy to way more info regarding ferries, flights and so forth. Good luck!