June 4, 2014
On to Santorini
Our 2 hour high speed ferry to Santorini began boarding at 8:30 am, so we had to be fed, packed, and at the dock no later than 8am. Had I realized that there was a McDonald's just a few blocks away from the port. I would have coaxed Darrell into seeing if the Greeks were properly representing American fast food in Heraklion, but there wasn't enough time left before we had to board the ship. We could have also sampled two McDonald's menu items only available in Greece; The Greek Mac and the Greek Chicken - Beef or chicken, tzatziki sauce, lettuce and tomato on pita bread.
We pulled into the port, unloaded our luggage from the limo van, and stood in the boarding line. Sofia handed us our tickets. We were early enough to be in a short line, so a few of us took a look around the docks before boarding.
We boarded directly onto the back end of the ferry. Everyone with luggage was instructed to just set them down on the side of the bottom level of the ferry right next to vehicle lanes against the wall. We went up to the first level of seating where the coach seats were. Darrell and Sofia sat inside while Mark, Pano, Garrett and I walked out onto the rear outside deck. We grabbed a spot along the very back rail and waited for departure. This was the start of the sixth day in which our group had been traveling together. By the level of comfort, comradery, and outright joking around, it felt more like we all friends from way back. We had a fun time waiting for the departure mostly due to all of the comical people watching. We laughed at everything from the guy dusting his buss off, to a young lady who suddenly sprinted off the get her ferry ticket after realizing that while she waiting in line to board she actually didn't have one. The dock crew prepared for departure as the engines began to turn. The vehicle ramp was hoisted up, and the ferry began to move away from the dock. Soon after we cleared the dock and began to turn towards the breakwater, a heavily accented lady crew member came out onto the outside deck. In a shrill, heavily accented voice, she called out "PLEASE ALL COME INSIDE...PLEASE ALL COME INSIDE." Almost everyone of nearly 100+ people on the deck, ourselves included, looked at her in complete disbelief and didn't budge. She persisted for about 10-15 minutes moving completely around the deck. We were extremely bummed out by this. We were told that it was a closed ferry and no one was allowed outside while we were underway. Apparently, the high speed ferries move quickly and the risk of a man overboard is to great. We reluctantly moved inside and grabbed our seats. A few of us may have even mimicked, or from the Greek "mimikosed" her shrill, heavily accented words out loud while we did.
The Cosmote 5 High Speed ferry is a catamaran with two very sleek hulls. It slices through the water pretty well. The seas were a bit rough during most of the nearly 2 hour cruise. There was a point where numerous people nearby go sea sick and quickly made their way to the rest rooms just adjacent to us. The smarter of the passengers sat in their seats and napped during the trip. We knew we were close to Santorini when the barren islands of Christiana and Askania came in to view. less than 10 miles to go. As the ferry slowed, once passed Christiana and Askania, we were allowed to go back outside on the rear deck. The views were spectacular as the ferry entered the waters of Santorini's caldera. The ferry swung around and backed into the dock. There was a mad dash for everyone's luggage because the stop was announced to be very, very brief. They didn't want to be late for their following stops to some of the other Greek islands. We made the dock and Sofia checked for our driver. After waiting a few minutes for our diver, the crowd of visitors from our ferry and another that had just docked began to dissipate. We found our driver and loaded our luggage into the limo van. Now it was a pretty steep drive up the hairpin switch back road from the docks up and over the caldera cliffs.
Aerial view of the switchback road up the caldera cliffs from the harbor.
Once to the top of the cliffs, we drove along the ridge road above the caldera. We went a few miles and then stopped at a vista point to wait for George and his tour group who had been traveling in the north of Greece when we were in the Peloponnese. One of the first things we noticed is that Santorini is an ATV friendly place, which is big business for Tourist rentals.
Our driver pulled off the road at the entrance to Panorama Cafe Restaurant. We all eagerly hopped our and began snapping photos, and I shot some video. The minute we stepped outside, we were greeted with the typical wind gusts of Santorini. The Panorama Cafe Restaurant is on the south part of Santorini sitting directly on the inner top of the caldera rim. The views of the caldera were spectacular from this vista. The remnants of an old stone windmill were right next to the vista area, so we had to climb some of the rock footing to take a look. S0me of the wooden inner working of the windmill were still there to see.
Garrett having his first Santorini moment.
The 15 minute wait for George and his group to arrive passed very quickly. As soon as their limo van pulled up, we hopped back inside and followed them to a nearby vineyard owned by Gaia winery. The vineyard, as are the majority of vineyards on Santorini, is truly unique in the world. A training system called kouloura is the method everyone uses on Santorini to grow the Assyrtiko white grape variety . The vines are woven into a circular nest-like basket close to the ground to retain moisture and shelter the grapes from the typically strong winds. I could easily write more, but in this case I don't have to because Zachary Sussman, from our group, did it for me in a fantastic article he wrote published by Punchdrink.com. Santorini Rediscovers Its Forgotten Wines, by Zachary Sussman
Here is the link: www.punchdrink.com
Yiannis Paraskevopoulos, an Agriculturalist and PhD in Enology from the University of Bordeaux II, joined our two groups in the Assyrtiko grape vineyard to talk about the variety, the kouloura training method, and the uniqueness of viticulture on the island of Santorini. He and his partner, Leon Karatsalos, co founded Gaia winery in 1994. Assyrtiko makes up the vast majority of not only grape growing on Santorini, but also of all agriculture on the island. Yiannis was extremely informative and quite a fun personality to hang around with.
The ringed vines of the kouloura basket.
Young Assyrtiko grape clusters
From the decomposed rock soil to the kouloura baskets, everything about this Assyrtiko vineyard was truly unique. I even noticed something that seemed odd to me. Everywhere around the decomposed rock were bleached white snail shells in nearly pristine condition. They seemed like they were from the sea, but they were actually land snails. I picture snails always being in and around ivy and moist soil flower beds, but not in a very arid, rocky soiled place.
We piled back into the limo vans and were off to see a new young vineyard of Assyrtiko on our way to Gaia winery.
Santorini is magical. I was amazed by the fantastic picture I shot of the church in the picture below. I shot it with my arm hanging outside of the moving limo van while making our way past on a pretty bumpy road.
We made a very short stop at Gaia's recently planted vineyard of Assyrtiko. The wind was blowing pretty good. Yiannis pointed out that all of the new rock walls surrounding the young vineyards were done by hand labor.
Gaia winery was just a short distance away from the young Assyrtiko vineyard, and just at the south end of the Santorini airport, which is on the east side of the island. The very first striking feature about this winery is that it literally sits directly on the beach front. The winery is housed in an industrial stone building that used to be a tomato factory, which was built in the in the early 1900s. Local cherry tomatoes were processed into aromatic tomato puree until the 1970s when the factory was closed
Here is a link to the Gaia winery website - www.gaia-wines.gr
We did a little exploring around the grounds before entering the winery.
After we were done looking around, Yiannis took us inside the winery and told us about Gaia's production. There was a very good flow chart of their Assyrtiko process from picking to bottling.
Now it was time to sit and do some wine tasting. I've had the very good fortune of tasting wine in many wonderful settings. This was the first time I did so right on a beach with spectacular views. We sat at a long table inside a cabana style room with a reed canopy and an open view to the sea. The wines of Gaia, Estate Argyros, Domiane Sigalas, and Hatzidakis were the Santorini producers. The majority of the wines were made from Assyrtiko, but we also had a few made from or blended with the Athiri, Aidani, and Mavrotragano varieties. The first wines were all white. Yiannis had lunch catered for us, which was prepared by Selene restaurant on the island. After we were finished tasting the white wines, we made up plates and sat to enjoy the wonderful lunch and began tasting the red wines. If one has to work in the food & beverage industry, this my recommendation as how best to do it!
Yiannis recounts a time in 1998 when Darrell had a major influence on his idea about wine.
We went from food of the gods directly to nectar of the gods...
The last four wines of the tasting were very special sweet wines. Estate Argyros Vin Sa'nto barrel aged 4 years, 12 years, 20 years, and over 30 years. Vinsanto is the most traditional wine of Santorini. It can only be called Vinsanto if it is made with at least 51% Assyrtiko, the remaining 49% is can be made up of Athiri and Aidani and some small amounts of locally grown white varieties. Estate Argyros Vin Sa'nto is made with 80% Assyrtiko, 10% Aidani, and 10% Athiri. Late harvested grapes are dried in the sun for 12–14 days. They are then crushed and fermented and are aged for a minimum of 24 months in oak barrels. Vinsanto must achieve a minimum of 9% alcohol by volume. These were truly late harvested grapes that have been dried in the sun for 12–14 days. They are then crushed and fermented and are then aged for a minimum of 24 months in oak barrels. Vinsanto must achieve a minimum of 9% abv. Truly nectar of the gods! I must admit that of all the work trips I've taken, work tastings I've been to, and all of times I've told customers, friends, and family that I was really working, this was one place where I relent to saying "ok, so maybe this really isn't so much work as it is pleasure."
Lunch was delicious and plentiful. After we finished, some of us left the table and headed towards the waves. Garrett was one of the first. As I approached, he pointed out the very cool and unique sound of the smooth beach stones rolling towards the receding waves after they crashed up on the rocks.
Our very enjoyable time at Gaia winery came to an end as we loaded the limo vans, but we weren't finished with Yiannis just yet. Yiannis, along with a Serbian brewer, an English brewing enthusiast, and an American make up the multi-cultural group who recently began the Santorini Brewing Company. He wanted to show it to us. The brewery was very close by, so we stopped in to take a look and sample some of the beer. The Santorini Brewing Company currently offers three craft brews. Yellow Donkey, Crazy Donkey, and Red Donkey. Sampling the beer was literally just the refresher we all needed.
Here is a link to their website for more information - www.santorinibrewingcompany.gr
To keep up with our schedule, Sofia had us load up after the wonderful beer samples. We had to make our way to way north across the longest stretch of Santorini, then west to our hotel in the famous town of Oia (pronounced EE ya). History of the earliest settlement go back to the beginning of 13th century. The town was influenced by Ottoman and Venetian rule. The name Oia was given in the mid 1800's. Oia is noted for its white buildings, many with blue domes. One explanation for this is that during the Ottoman rule of Greece, the Greeks were not allowed to fly their white flag. In defiance, in Oia they painted their all of their houses white to represent the Greek flag. The drive was picturesque, but not free from some traffic when passing through the town of Thera, which is a tourist Mecca.
We made it to Nikos Villas, our hotel for the next two nights. We were amazed at some of the staff, who came to grab our luggage. They are trained to minimize trips, so they preform quite a display of muscle, agility, and stamina by carrying four, five, and even six pieces of luggage at once. Here is a link to their website - www.nikos-villas.com
We checked in, went to our rooms, and were granted a little over two hours of free time. Our rooms faced south directly towards the caldera. The views were absolutely stunning. I chewed up 30 minutes just gazing, shooting photos and video, and trying to keep myself from floating away from the beauty surrounding me. I finally went inside my room through its very blue door to change into shorts.
Once changed and still very much in awe of my surroundings, I had a decision to make. Do I grab a towel and head down to the water, along with some of the group, to take a swim in the caldera, or do I grab my equipment and head across this amazing town to get footage of the only intact windmill on the island? It was a hard decision, but I came along to capture the experience. That notion in mind, along with my fond remembrance of the Disney film "The Moon-Spinners" in which there is a wonderful and suspenseful scene where a young Haley Mills escapes out of a Greek windmill on the island of Crete circa 1964, led me to choose the windmill. I headed west along the stone walkway. From the winding walkways, steep stone stairways, and singularly unique diversity of buildings to the eclectic shops, and the faces of wonderment plastered on most of the people walking around I would say that Oia is a true one of a kind in the whole world.
Yes, those are the tables of a restaurant in the picture below. Quite the breath taking place to dine.
Among the eclectic shops, I noticed a few spas which specialized in pedicures. One of the spas engaged in what is a new rage on the island as there are a number of them that offer a "Garra rufa fish" treatment. These tiny middle eastern fish, which mainly come from Turkey, nibble away dead skin and exfoliate in the process. An American tourist just finished her treatment as I poked my head into the spa in the next video.
It took a good 45 minutes to finally get up close to the windmill. I could have made it sooner, but with all of the distracting visual amazement along the way, I had to stop, stare, and shoot quite often. When I got close enough to see the windmill, it was a guessing game of which stone path to take among the maze like walkways. Luckily, I only had to backtrack once to get to the windmill. Success! Not only did I capture the windmill, I also got in part of the famous old fishing village dock of Amoudi Bay from above.
You can see the steep zig-zag path of the nearly 300 uneven steps leading down from Oia to Amoudi Bay.
With more than enough video and photos of the windmill and surrounding sights, it was time to make haste and get myself back to my room at Nikos Villas to shower, change, and not be the last one on the van headed to our next tasting at 6pm. The was a good amount of tourist foot traffic, so I made double time. I got back to my room with barely 20 minutes to freshen up. I met Darrell at the pool and actually sat for a few minutes to catch my breath.
We loaded up the limo van and made our way to Domaine Sigalas for our next wine tasting. Sigalas Winery S.A. is located just a short distance north west of Oia. It was founded in 1991 by Paris Sigalas, Christos Markozane and Yiannis Toundas.
Here is a link to their Website - www.sigalas-wine.com
We tasted 15 wines from Domaine Sigalas and the Hatzidakis winery. The majority were made from Assyrtiko and the most interesting were the Nikteri wines. "Nikta" means night, so this are produced from night harvested Assyrtiko grapes, vinified in stainless, and given oak aging for a minimum of three months. This gives the wine a slightly fuller body to combine with its acidity.
Paris Sigalas, Chef Pano, and Darrell
The wine tasting at Domaine Sigalas lasted through dusk. Once finished, we thanked our hosts and loaded up the limo vans for dinner. Our destination was the Sunset Fish Club at the edge of Amoudi Bay.
Here is a link to their website - www.sunset-ammoudi.gr
Amoudi Bay is the original port of the Town of Oia. It is also a port for local fishermen, a favorite dinner spot, and one of the best sunset views on Santorini.
A few of the presenters at the Sigalas tasting joined us for a delicious Sunset Fish Club dinner of fresh caught seafood and local fare paired with wines from the tasting at Domaine Sigalas.
Dinner lasted well past 10:30pm. It was a long day filled with amazing diversity of sight, sound, and taste. We left the Sunset Fish Club and carefully made our way along the waters edge to our awaiting limo van for the ride back to our hotel for a good nights sleep.