As Marc Travels and Maree continue their round-the-world journey with a Zero SR/F and a Suzuki Jimny, they start this video out still in Albania, but with a deadline to catch a ferry to Corfu, an island in Greece. This of course means a border crossing (Albania isn’t part of the European Union as of April 2023, but Greece is). That’s not all, though—first, they start the day with a different kind of ferry entirely.
Unlike the larger ferries you may be used to, this is a short, cable-type ferry that goes from one side of a river to the other. The cable system pulls what looks like a slightly fancier, slightly larger raft across the river, from one side to the other. It is sturdy enough to carry passenger vehicles, such as the Jimny and/or the SR/F (though it doesn’t look large enough to support a semi-truck or other large vehicles).
While it might seem a little strange if you’ve never encountered this type of ferry before, Marc’s footage does at least make it seem a lot sturdier than some of the water crossings that we’ve seen Itchy Boots encounter on her journeys. In both cases, though, the important thing is that both the bikes and their riders got from one bank to the other with nothing and no one ending up in the water (yay).
That first ferry crossing is just the start of today’s adventure, though. From there, it’s time to go through the border checkpoint leaving Albania and entering Greece via a mainland crossing. Albania sits just north of Greece, with the Adriatic Sea on the west coast of the country. To the north, east, and south, it’s surrounded by Montenegro, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Greece. While it’s possible to get directly from Corfu to Albania, that option wasn’t available on the day they were traveling—so they went through mainland Greece instead.
While Albania was incredibly beautiful, Marc noted that the charging infrastructure hasn’t really been built up there just yet. Even though they stayed in well-populated city areas, he found himself mostly using standard household charging rather than relying on fast chargers. What’s it going to be like in Greece?
The pair ended up racing a bit to catch the ferry from mainland Greece to Corfu, but thankfully the ferry port seemed to have a less confusing layout than some we’ve seen in the past. They were able to successfully stow their vehicles (with Maree having to do a lengthy backing process to park the Jimny where the ferry crew wanted) and take the ferry they’d wanted so they could get to their next Airbnb apartment.
The island is, of course, beautiful—and very close to the Airbnb, Marc already managed to spot a fast charger on the Plugshare app. He visually confirmed the charger as they rolled toward their apartment, but since he didn’t stop to charge, it’s not clear yet whether it’s working (the other half of the charging station battle). They plan to stay a few days in Corfu, though, so we’ll probably find out sooner rather than later, and also gain more insight into the local charging infrastructure as the days (and videos) stretch on.
