As one of the most famous Greek islands , Santorini sees an average of 3.4 million tourists annually, many of whom make a beeline for Oia—renowned for its legendary sunsets—and Fira, the island’s capital. Google Santorini and most, if not all, of the photos you’ll see feature dreamy images of the Cubist-looking white houses and blue church domes stacked on top of each other on the caldera. What you don’t see are the crowds of day-trippers who come off of cruise ships and clog up the narrow streets of these towns, the shops selling cheap souvenirs, and the fast-casual joints hawking kebabs and pasta to tourists who aren’t interested in authentic Greek cuisine.

But as I learned on a recent visit to the island, there’s so much more to Santorini than flying dress photo shoots and tourist

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