Santorini Day 4: Hike from Oia to Imerovigli and Wine tasting

Almost every travel guide about Greece mentions the Oia to Fira hiking trail as a must do for people who are able from a physical standpoint. It is a 10km path that starts at the castle in Oia and extends to just outside of the town center in Fira, passing through several scenic cliff towns. Most guides recommend going from Fira to Oia because it is all downhill after an initial ascent to Firastefani (the crown of Fira). Because we wanted to stop in Imerovigli for lunch due to a late afternoon booking with a traveling wine expert, we decided to go the 'hard way'.

Beginning in Oia, we started way down at the castle point. The views there are great, however, for those of us who are no longer enthralled with 'people-y' places, we didn't stick around long. A cruise ship had just docked and 100s of really annoying people were en route. Ascending through the town of Oia, we stopped for take out coffee to start the journey, then headed to the entrance of the trail. It is not really marked, but you can see it ahead, so just cross that weird industrial parking lot and get on it.

If you are not in decent cardiovascular shape, I am going to suggest you don't do this hike. Also, if you don't at least have running shoes or good day hikers, a fair amount of it is on loose gravel at a pretty good pitch. The initial ascent out of Oia is pretty steep and leads to a small church and shrine before tracking along a cliff overlooking the caldera. At the end of this cliff, there is a snack hut with fresh lemonade, beer, water, snacks, which is really nice at that stage of the game to take a little breather. You then continue on the ascent past another small village and then up to Imerovigli.

https://santorinidave.com/santorini-map Santorini Dave strikes again and his maps were very helpful throughout the trip and on this hike to make sure we did not miss anything.

In Imerovigli we were in search for sustenance and maybe a beverage. After a weird experience trying to be seated at Avocado, which had been recommended, we opted for a family owned place called Taverna Kofini, where I finally got my hands on some amazing moussaka and a lovely rose from the family vineyard. Again, using the hotel taxi service, we what's app'd our location and within minutes, heading back to the hotel to rapidly shower and change for wine tasting.

The santorini wine experience can be done in many ways. We chose to hire a guide to go to some wineries a bit off the beaten path and with a little more variety. Our tour was the Santorini Wine Tour: Small Group organized through Get Your Guide. There were 3 other couples in our group and all of the locations required masks, had outdoor seating, and used all COVID precautions.

Anhydrous: Anhydrous wines is a relative newcomer but started by one of the best wine makers in Greece. He was intrigued by the most famous variety of grape on the island, Assyrtiko, which honestly, looks like a bunch of weeds growing on the ground until they are pruned into basket shaped vines to protect them from the elements. Santorini is a dry place and often has significant wind, so rather than prop vines on trellises, they grow low to the ground to protect the fruit.

Anhydrous has 5 varietals, all of which exploit the dry and low pH nature of the grapes. Really pleasant and lovely.

Argyros: Argyros is almost 120 year old establishment on the island and is the second biggest winery outside of Santos. They have several lines of products to range in quality and rarity. They make a great Assyrtiko and Movratragano (dry red) as well as the best Vinsanto we tried on the island.

Venetsanos: carved into the mountainside like a traditional cave home, this amazingly picturesque winery has one of the best sunset standpoints on the island. Producing since 1947, the facility has some great vintages as well as a really interesting wine production museum that is open to the public.

The transport back was a little wild because the driver basically just decided to trek all over before deciding to drop us off (was kind of weird), but the overall experience was great.