Ammoudi Bay sits at the very northern tip of the island of Santorini, occupying a dramatic setting just below the town of Oia, which clings to the clifftop overlooking the bay. Right at the rocky shoreline sit four restaurants and if you’re visiting Ammoudi Bay for lunch or dinner you have to decide between them. The good news: there’s no wrong choice. One of those restaurants, the Ammoudi Fish Tavern, provided what may be one of the best dining experiences we’ve had recently. By a stroke of luck, we arrived just as they were opening their dining area and were the first patrons of the day, scoring a table for two perched mere inches above the Aegean Sea. A quick glance at the menu told us this was a serious seafood joint – not a chicken, lamb or pork item could be found on its extensive menu. We opted for a starter of roasted beets and candied walnuts dressed with a yogurt sauce and basil oil, followed by a heaping bowl of steamed mussels in white wine and garlic along with a plate of grilled sun-dried octopus, drizzled with olive oil and dusted with herbs. Chewy sourdough rolls, with more oil and an olive tapenade for dipping, rounded out the meal. We savored every bite, washed down with a crisp, local white wine while watching the sun-dappled sea. Afterwards we strolled through the other restaurants along the waterfront, savoring the smells and sights of plates of grilled sea bass and grouper; bowls of pasta heaped with lobster and prawns and platters of crisply-fried calamari.

Santorini was the starting point for our six-week European trip. Having visited the island twice before, we planned on spending just four days here, mainly for the chance to rest up from what turned out to be a grueling day of travel – and by ‘day’ I mean twenty-seven hours. At the last minute our first flight of the journey was canceled, prompting a five-hour drive to New York City before our overnight flight to London, where we spent seven hours before boarding our flight to Santorini, which then sat at the gate for another one and a half hours before departing for the four-hour trip to Greece. Arriving well after dark, we were happy to find Kostas, from Cool Cars, who was supplying our rental car, still waiting in the airport parking lot. After a brief inspection of the vehicle, signing a few forms (it’s all Greek to me!) and paying with the Euros we had just gotten from the airport ATM, we were off to Perissa beach, on the island’s southern shore. Rolling down the windows we let the warm air wash over us as we passed by the quintessential whitewashed stone buildings that are so iconic of Santorini. Arriving at our guesthouse we checked in, dropped our bags and fell into bed, eager for sleep and looking forward to a few days refreshing all our Greek memories: grilled fish at the seafront tavernas; gyros wrapped in warm, pillowy pita; crisp white wines; terraced vineyards baking in the sun; lonesome blue-roofed chapels tucked into mountainsides, ruins of old windmills . . . When I woke the next morning the sun was already streaming through the open windows of our room, the brilliant blue of the sky was visible and a slight breeze ruffled the cedar and olive trees. It was so good to be back in Greece. My reverie was broken moments later when a cry arose from next to me “GET ME COFFEE!!!”.

While our lunch at the Ammoudi Fish Tavern was the headline highlight, we won’t soon forget the other culinary experiences from Santorini. On our second day we explored the southern coastline, visiting the beach at Vlychada and the lighthouse at Faros before parking the car at the entrance to the beach outside Akrotiri. Much like Ammoudi Bay, there are a handful of tavernas overlooking the sea and we chose to settle in at The Cave of Stolidas for lunch. Our server suggested we start with the saganaki, a traditional dish of fried cheese made with local kefalograviera cheese, followed by dorado, a white fish grilled over a charcoal fire. No argument here! With a couple cold beers to start, we were content to look out over the sparkling sun-dappled water until our food arrived.

One of the attractions of Santorini is the fact it’s located on the rim of a former volcano and the views from the caldera looking over the sea to the west, especially at sunset, are breathtaking. One of the best places to take in that view is from the terrace of the Venetsanos Winery, which offers a tasting of its wines along with plates of locally-sourced food. We grabbed a table about an hour before sunset and our personal ‘sommelier’ poured us a sampling of the four most popular offerings – a crisp white, a complex rose, a minerally red and the islands famous ‘vin santo’ dessert wine.

No sooner had we caught up on our sleep, started to get a little color on our skin and I had developed a taste for an after-dinner ouzo, it was time to move along. Our next stop would be a return to one of our favorite islands – Naxos.