Half-Day Santorini Sunset Private 8 Samples of Wine Tasting Tour

Santorini Winery Private tour

• Firostefani
• Koutsogiannopoulos Wine museum
• Pyrgos Village
• Santo winery

The tour will start with a walk at the well- known Firostefani village, where you will have the most breath-taking views and you will admire the picturesque church in Santorini.
The settlement’s name is the compound of “Fira” and “Stefani” – the Greek word for the crown – and indicates its location on the edge of the region.

We will continue our tour with a visit at the Koutsogiannopoulos wine museum, where you will learn all about wine making.

Being the only one of its kind in Greece, the Wine Museum occupies a natural cave. It is eight meters below ground, 300 meters long and has a labyrinth-like shape. The Wine Museum presents the history of wine and the life of vine-growers in Santorini from 1660 to 1970.

After your visit at the Wine Museum, you will reach Pyrgos village. It’s the highest village of Santorini, giving you the opportunity of getting the most amazing views of the island.
Pyrgos island with the narrow paths and the traditional stone houses is a must-see of Santorini.

Lastly, you will be visiting one of the famous wineries of Santorini, the Santo Winery, where you will sense the unique taste of Vinsanto and the other Protected Destination of Origin wines, while enjoying the Sunset with breath-taking views of the caldera!

Private Tours are personal and flexible just for you and your party.

Inclusions:

According to studies and excavations on Santorini, the first human presence on the island dates back to the Neolithic Period. Santorini hosted an important civilization around 3600 BCE. Discoveries made in an important city near Akrotiri and the famous Red Beach show the existence of an ancient Minoan colony. The city was very similar to those found in the island of Crete, with many wall ornaments and pottery showing naturalistic landscapes of animals and humans of the same ancient Minoan style. In ancient times, Santorini Island was known as Stongili, which means round in Greek. Strongili was the victim of an enormous volcanic eruption in 1,500 BCE.

The eruption was so huge that many consider it to be the main cause of the destruction of the great Minoan civilization on the island of Crete, situated 70 nautical miles away. Specialists believe that the explosion was so great that it created gigantic waves that reached the shores of the surrounding islands and Crete. After the explosion, the center of Santorini sank, and the many earthquakes that followed destroyed a big part of the rest of the island. Many studies and research have been presented about the volcano of Santorini, including a series of documentaries by National Geographic. In some ancient myths, the destruction of the island is closely associated to the legend of Atlantis. According to history, Phoenicians settled on ancient Thera around 1,300 BCE and stayed for five generations.

Then, around 1100 BCE, the island was occupied by the Lacedaemonians. Around 825 BCE, the inhabitants of the island, then named Thera, were using the Phoenician alphabet. In the 7th and 6th centuries BCE, Thera had commercial and trade relations with most of the islands and cities of Greece. During the Hellenistic Period, Thera, because of its central position in the Aegean, became an important trade centre and an important naval base, due to its strategically perfect position. Between 1200 AD and 1579 AD, the island was under Byzantine rule and the church of Episkopi Gonia was founded. In 1204 AD the island is surrendered to the Venetian Marco Sanudo and becomes part of the Duke of the Aegean. The name of the island was given by the Venetians after the Santa Irini, the name of a catholic church. During that time there is a strong battle between Venetians and pirates. During the Turkish rule (1579-1821) the island succeeds in trading development with the ports of Eastern Mediterranean. The period that follows is quite prosperous.

Due to the wars of the 20th century, Santorini’s economy declines and the inhabitants abandon the island after the catastrophic earthquake in 1956. The tourist development in Santorini begins in the 1970’s and today it is one of the best tourist destinations in the world. Over the years, Santorini has also developed as a wedding and honeymoon destination, while many international meetings and conferences take place there in summer, at the Nomikos Conference Center or in luxurious hotels.

All cancellations must be confirmed by Olive Sea Travel.

Regarding the Day Tours:

Cancellations up to 24 hours before your service date are 100% refundable.

Cancellation Policy:

• Licensed Tour Guides and Hotels are external co-operators & they have their own cancellation policy.
• Apart from the above cancellation limits, NO refunds will be made. If though, you fail to make your appointment for reasons that are out of your hands, that would be, in connection with the operation of your airline or cruise ship or strikes, extreme weather conditions or mechanical failure, you will be refunded 100% of the paid amount.
• If your cancellation date is over TWO (2) months away from your reservation date, It has been known for third-party providers such as credit card companies, PayPal, etc. to charge a levy fee usually somewhere between 2-4%.
• Olive Sea Travel reserves the right to cancel your booking at any time, when reasons beyond our control arise, such as strikes, prevailing weather conditions, mechanical failures, etc. occur. In this unfortunate case, you shall be immediately notified via the email address you used when making your reservation and your payment WILL be refunded 100%.