Santo Winery and Fira

The tour began in the early evening with a trip to Santo Winery which is on the other side of the island to Perissa and looks out on to the caldera where we sampled three of their wines as the sun set. The grape trees on Santorini aren’t cultivated in neat little rows, instead they are planted and grow very close to the ground. When it comes time to harvest the grapes, they are hand picked and collected in baskets carried by donkeys or mules. Sanorini also grows cherry tomatoes and pistachios.

After the winery we went to the capital of the island, Fira, for dinner and shopping. Had dinner on a very picturesque place in the cliff-side, over looking the ocean. I didn’t think the food was that special and was overpriced for what we ordered. I imagine we were paying for the location and the view. There were a couple of waiters serving us that evening, one of whom I think was in training. We ordered two mains to share, when the trainee brought them out, he placed the tomato pasta dish to the side and the second dish in front of us. The other waiter saw and started to shout things down, and he came down to switch the positions of the dishes. It really didn’t matter, and I felt a little bad for the trainee. They also forgot to bring out the taziki we ordered, and heard the commotion in the kitchen when we told the waiter we didn’t get the taziki. The bill paying was a little different to normal, we were sent inside the main building to a lady sitting at a desk surrounded with papers, notes, files. She totted up the bill and we gave her the money, her till was the bottom drawer in the desk.

Santorini is a stop on the cruise ship routes, we saw a couple in the harbor area. From the dock up to Fira, it is five hundred and sixty six steps if you wanted to walk. Alternatively, you can take a cable car or sit on a donkey up the steps. While we were having dinner I heard the donkey bells as a long train of donkeys were being herded back to the donkey station.

Perissa and Fira