This private Santorini tour combines the top sites on Santorini including the village of Oia, the Prehistoric Museum in Fira, a panoramic driving tour and a wine tasting.
You will transfer from the ship by colorful local kaiki (tenders) to Fira port, where you will meet your private guide. Together you will go up the cliff to Fira by cable car where you will be lead to meet your driver and private vehicle.
Your private guide will explain the history of the island as your drive to a local winery. Wine making has become popular in Santorini and you will learn about the interesting techniques used to grown grapes in an island that only receives about 15 inches of rain per year. Vines here are trained into a low basket shape called kouloura, coiled close to the ground so the fruit grows sheltered inside, protected from the island's constant winds and salt spray while trapping what little moisture the volcanic soil holds onto overnight. After learning about local techniques, you then enjoy a wine tasting of 2-3 wines (typically white, red and dessert).
After a guided tour of the winery, you are invited to sample some of the wines with local cheese and traditional snacks. One of the wines you'll likely taste is Vinsanto, an amber dessert wine made from sun dried grapes that has been produced on the island for centuries. Santorini growers once exported enormous quantities of it to Russian Orthodox monasteries, a trade that collapsed almost overnight after the 1917 Russian Revolution closed most of Russia's churches, pushing island farmers to turn much of their land over to the small, intensely flavored Santorini cherry tomato instead. You will be impressed not only by the flavors but by one of the best views on the island.
Next you enjoy a panoramic driving tour with a stop at the highest point on this most beautiful island. You enjoy wonderful views from this vantage point as your guide explains the island's unique situation. From here you gain a full understanding of the unique volcanic shape.
Next you drive to the northern most point on the island to visit the village of Oia. This dramatic village, built on a steep crest of the caldera, has many of its dwellings nestled into niches hewn from the volcanic rock.
The village was once the home of wealthy seafarers, a fact still evident in their two story mansions painted pastel colors. Much of Oia had to be rebuilt after a major 1956 earthquake damaged large parts of the island, and many of the cave style homes you see tucked into the cliffside today were restored or reconstructed in the decades since. Your guide will walk with you among the narrow cobbled streets where you'll come across many tiny shops of local ceramic art, paintings and semi precious jewelry. Coffee shops perched on the edge of the cliffs offer spectacular views of Fira and the volcano below.
While you are in Oia, you enjoy free time for lunch (meal not included). If you want to try something distinctly local, look for fava, a smooth yellow split pea puree grown on the island and topped with olive oil, capers and onion, or tomatokeftedes, fried fritters made from Santorini's small, sweet cherry tomatoes.
Later you return to the capital city of Fira where your guide will lead you through the Prehistoric Museum. This museum is considered one of the best museums in Greece and the top attraction in Fira. You'll see the treasures that have been discovered at the excavation site of Akrotiri.
Akrotiri is the main town which was buried in the volcano that erupted around 1450 BC. The excavation site is not open to the public, but this museum shows its amazing discoveries.
Highlights include an oven, bath tub, the beautiful House of Ladies frescoes and the Gold Ibex Figurine. This tiny figurine is small and in some ways may seem unimportant, but when you realize that the town of Akrotiri dates to the 16th century BC, making this object about 3,500 years old, you will be able to appreciate its beauty.
When you are done with your tour, you may choose to remain in town at your leisure, or return immediately to the ship by taking the cable car to the pier far below the cliff's edge.
Review Location- Santorini 
