Athens, Santorini

Continental from Miami to Newark to Montreal to Athens. Continental was nice and gave me an exit row for which they usually charge a fee now! Flying coach is not so nice, however, the extra leg room made it OK. The Continental flight from Newark to Montreal was delayed, however, so was the Montreal-Athens leg, so we were OK. Air Canada 767 mostly all coach configuration, and a plane with an old style video system, not unlike our AA 767. Service was good, audio need help-upgrade Air Canada, please! We were however surprised to get a snack on Miami-Newark on CO, but hear that with the merger at UA, this is probably finished. Arrived in Athens easy clearance thru customs.
Train from Athens to city.

Thankfully there is now a train from Athens airport to the city. 5 euros each, a fair price for the distance. Blue line goes right into the airport. Very east to find, just follow the signs, about 5 min. walking from the customs area. Directions to most major sites in Athens are listed on the train. Very easy to use. We took the train all the way to the port of Piraeus. Out the door, turn left, 5 min to the Hotel Triton. A clean if minimal tourist hotel, we got Room 69! Breakfast included for 70 euro. Not too much to see in Piraeus. Avoid this area unless you have the need to be here early. We had a 7:30 am departure and we were able to pick up our tickets at the port the day before. The rest of the area of Pi reus was a dump. We had dinner at a restaurant at pier E-7, quite a big place, but food was so-so and cokes were $5 each. A McDonald's across the street would have served better at a lower price. Wake up at 5:30 am for breakfast which starts at 6:30am. Fantastic breakfast-continental style at the Hotel Triton, but a lot of choice. Fantastic Greek yogurt, eggs, bread, juice, coffee ham, cheese and cocktail fruits.

We arrived at the port to catch the speed lines ferry over to Santorini. Two classes of service on the boat. Regular seating is sort of like a domestic first class airplane seat and upstairs and area called "Distinguished class". Seat a bit bigger, few people, probably more money and not worth it. Seats were maybe about 3-4" wider, faced each other with a table in the middle. I was fine in the regular seats.
Five hours, we reached IOS, the first stop before Santorini. Ios, a non discript island, picking up a few tourists and dropping of a few also. The view on arrival to Santorini was quite beautiful. Arriving in port is a bit confusing due to a lack of Taxis available. The easy was to get to Fira is to grab a shuttle bus that waits to meet the ferry. Just look for people holding up a sign that says "bus" . 15 euros for two from the port to the area of our hotel. A real value, way too far to walk and all up hill. A regular bus would cost about 2 euros, but leaves you at the bus stop near the main street and with a lot of luggage, may be a problem.