Eats in Greece: Part III, Santorini continued…

We were in Santorini for a five nights, so I have a few more eats to share with you!

Here’s what I typically ate for breakfast in our hotel – Greek yogurt with some raisins and walnuts and a little drizzle of honey. And whatever other nibbles struck me that day – this particular morning I had some tomato slices and a stuffed vine leaf. The only yogurt option here was full fat, so I tried not to eat too much of it!


We took an excursion on a sailboat to visit the caldera, or volcano that Santorini is famous for. Our tour included a barbecue lunch buffet. I took mostly salad, a skewer of chicken, another meat kabob of some sort, tzakiki and eggplant salad. There were some other things like sausage and potatoes and rice that I didn’t take. This meal was just ok, nothing too special. I only took a couple bites of the other meat – it was stuffed with cheese and not really my thing.

Later that evening we headed into Fira and found a little cafe that was a perfect spot to watch the sunset. Before we arrived in Greece I had no idea if Greeks were into iced coffee – sometimes even when traveling in the states outside of New England, my beloved iced coffee is hard to find! Fortunately in Greece the iced coffee beverage of choice is pretty good. They drink the “frappe” – or instant coffee which gets all foamed up with a frothing machine and topped with milk. Only, this particular one has Bailey’s 🙂

After the sun was down, we strolled around some more and finally decided on a place to eat dinner. Here’s the bread we started with.

We shared the tourlos, or baked eggplant with cheeses and tomatoes. Did you know I love eggplant? Is it obvious yet?

And, a salad with apples, avocado, picked cukes, and an herb-caper vinaigrette. Yummy! It made me wonder, though, where does Greece get its avocados from? Mexico, just like the US? Or do they grow somewhere else closer by in the Mediterranean as well? I asked our waitress if avocados grew in Greece, but she didn’t know. I’ll have to go google that at some point.

We shared two entrees. One was the stuffed lamb wrapped in vine leaves. I thought it was just a tad overcooked, but we still enjoyed it.

And we ate the spaghetti with tuna. It had plenty of peppers and capers, but I would have liked it a little spicier.

I seem to be missing lunch for the next day. I think it was another gyro, and an ice cream cone! For dinner, we walked to Firastefani, the village just north of Fira. Fira is loud and bustling, and Firastefani is just a 15 minute walk away but a little quieter with seemingly nicer restaurants. We chose a Greek tavern that was so full we had to wait a few minutes to be seated – the first time we encountered a wait! Since the tourism season is not yet at its peak, all the restaurants have been relatively empty. But we took it as a good sign that this place was full. Indeed, there was good reason – this place served traditional Greek fare that was tasty and not too expensive.

We started with the fava appetizer – a little different than the previous one we tried because this was topped with sundried tomatoes and capers.

We totally lucked out when we sat down and discovered the special of the day – which was not listed on the menu we read while waiting outside. It was lamb youvetsi! This is our favorite dish to order when we eat Greek food at home, but we hadn’t seen it on any menus yet. It’s a lamb shank braised in tomato sauce with orzo topped with grated cheese. And it’s simply delicious. I love the hint of cinnamon in the tomato sauce!

And we chose the shrimp in ouzo sauce. Ouzo is a very popular Greek liquor, and it’s a lot like sambuca. Shrimp in ouzo sauce is a lot like shrimp in vodka sauce – creamy and slightly sweet. Yum. I liked that it was just served with fresh vegetables as opposed to pasta, so even though it was a creamy dish, it wasn’t too heavy.

And that’s all, folks! The next morning we headed to Mykonos. More to come soon!

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8 Responses to “Eats in Greece: Part III, Santorini continued…”

  1. 1

    Jen — June 10, 2010 @ 2:31 pm Reply

    Loving your recaps. Thank you for sharing – everything looks delicious and it seems like you're having a great trip! Can't wait to see what Mykonos brings 🙂

  2. 2

    Jennifurla — June 10, 2010 @ 3:11 pm Reply

    man, your pics are food heaven.

  3. 3

    dinnersanddreams.net — June 10, 2010 @ 11:36 pm Reply

    Santorini, Oh Santorini…I promise to visit you soon.

  4. 4

    grace — June 11, 2010 @ 9:07 am Reply

    i drool and drool and drool some more. incidentally, slipping some cinnamon into my tomato-based spaghetti sauce need happen only once–now i'll never not include it. 🙂

  5. 5

    Kerstin — June 13, 2010 @ 5:09 am Reply

    I don't know where to start – it all looks so good! I think I'd start with the baked eggplant with cheeses and tomatoes though – yum!

  6. 6

    Lizzy — June 13, 2010 @ 10:31 am Reply

    So you are in Greece now? We just got back from a Mediterranean cruise and we went to Athens and Mykonos! Hope you are enjoying yourself!

  7. 7

    Barbara — June 13, 2010 @ 5:13 pm Reply

    I was only in Santorini 2 nights but I was in heaven. With the island, the view, the architecture and the food!

  8. 8

    Dawn — June 15, 2010 @ 3:43 pm Reply

    Everything looks so amazing. What a wonderful cullinary trip!

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