Day 1 / (cont.) Santorini / Boutari Winery

The manager at the guest house where I was staying met me at the airport at 7 am and took me back to the hotel, where he told me to rest on the couch in the common room. The San Giorgio Villas, where I stayed, reminded me of the guest houses I had once stayed in in Thailand, sparsely furnished, but functional units with air conditioning, refrigerator, and clean beds. Again, I had given up a reservation on Best Western for this: but more important than comfort was location. And being in Fira, the geographic center of the island, was important, since it gave me access to all other major parts of the island by bus.

I slept for two hours in the common room, then opted to take the local bus down to the Boutari winery, just fifteen minutes south of Fira. The welcome center was staffed by two employees, one person who appeared to be in charge of the winery itself and a Greek-Canadian employee who took me on a private tour of the winery (meaning, basically a trip to see the underground fermentation tanks and the barrels they use to age the wines).

Then to the degustation! Two wine varieties, one aged more than the other, and finally, vinsanto (evidently a wine variety loved by the Venetians (!), who had controlled the Santorini wine trade way back when). Unfortunately without check-in luggage, I was unable to buy a bottle or two, but I promised the guide that I would buy a couple bottles at the airport and would also get in contact with the distributor in Japan.

In the afternoon, I decided to take a nap -- a good idea, seeing as the hottest time of days, and the worst solar radiation, is during these hours. I woke up refreshed and took a packed bus (at 17h30! way ahead of sunset!) from Fira to Ia. In fact it was so crowded that people stood in the aisles the whole way. Amazing! But at 1,20 EUR it was a true bargain, and much, much safer than taking a moped or ATV (all-terrain vehicle) up those dark, unlit roads.