This afternoon, arrive in Athens and settle into our group’s hotel.

In the early evening, we’ll meet for a welcome drink and introductions at a bespoke cocktail bar and then take a stroll to our first dinner together. Over several courses of traditional Athenian cuisine accompanied by local wines, we’ll start getting to know each other and discuss what the coming week holds in store.

To put the week and its cuisine in proper perspective, we’ll spend a day in downtown Athens, the Greek melting pot. Here you’ll discover an array of regional cuisines, hailing from the Greek islands to Asia Minor and even the Eastern Black Sea. We’ll visit Athens’s Central Market, where we’ll taste olive oils and all that is good in Greece, and have the chance to meet small, local producers, including a cheesemaker and a producer of wild honey. We’ll eat lunch over the course of a series of stops at charismatic yet lesser-known backstreet restaurants. We’ll finish the day with a tasting of Greek wines with one of the city’s top sommelier. After much eating and strolling, this evening is yours to rest and relax, or continue exploring more on our own.

In the morning, we will visit some of Greece’s most famous historic sites, including the Acropolis as well as some of it’s lesser known treasures on a walking tour with a local historian. We’ll then check out of our hotel, hop into a private van, and head to the port. From there, it’s off by fast ferry to the island of Tinos! (About a two-hour ride). We’ll check into our hotel and enjoy some rest before our first feast in on the island.

At a lively taverna, which happens to be run by one of the island’s best cooks, we’ll be treated to a bountiful feast of Tinos specialties, including local artichokes and roasted doves.

This morning, we’ll head out to the village of Ktikadi. Along the way, we’ll stop by an artichoke farm and join the farmers in the fields to learn about one of the island’s heritage crops.

Upon reaching Ktikadi, we’ll be welcomed into the workshop of two local women who specialize in the island’s food products – they dry, preserve, and jar just about anything that springs from the land, including, of course, artichokes. We’ll roll up our sleeves and join them for a hands-on demonstration and tasting of their products followed by feast with our hosts.

In the late afternoon, we’ll have a well-deserved glass (or two) of wine with a local winemaker, committed to preserving the indigenous grape varieties found on his stunning property.

After a lazy morning, we will brunch in a charming spot in the village of Agapi, fueling up on cheese pies, home-made yogurt, seasonal fruit and Greek coffee before a short hike through the forest to Volax, a village known for its hand-painted doors bearing messages of love.

A stroll through the village will bring us to a picnic with a local bee-keeper who will introduce to us his work and treat the group to his freshly harvested honey. We’ll enjoy the late afternoon light snack at one of the island’s hidden beaches where we may swim in the crystal blue sea and relax before a casual beachfront dinner.

Before we say goodbye to Tinos, we’ll make a morning visit the island’s cathedral, a pilgrimage site and one of the most important churches in Greek Orthodoxy. Our final meal together will be at a special restaurant on the Island where inventive chef Antonis Ghion takes traditional Tinos cuisine into the contemporary realm. After a restful ferry ride back to Athens and checking into our hotel for the night, perhaps a farewell nightcap toasting an unforgettable week is all that’s left to do. Until next year!

Our trip done, group members will either head home or continue on their onward journeys.