Eats: Santorini, Santorini, Greece

No matter how near or far you are from home, a recommendation for a good restaurant or bar is always nice to have. EATS is a collection of places that I’ve enjoyed during my travels.

It’s an unwritten rule that every visit to Santorini must include a sunset dinner in Oia at least once. I did a lot of research to find the “perfect” place, one with an unobstructed caldera view (obviously) that wasn’t overly pretentious or expensive, and found just that with Kastro near the western-most edge of the town. As with any sunset reservation in Santorini, you should book well in advance and the easiest way to do so is to email the restaurant directly (you can also ask your hotel for assistance). Restaurants will typically specify the reservation time that will allow you to get there and settled before the big show. When we arrived at Kastro we were excited to be seated at a table on the edge of the patio with a great vantage point, although it was still very warm and bright in the direct line of the sun (a small price to pay, but don’t forget your sunglasses).

Kastro offers a reasonable fixed-priced menu for 2 people with multi-course options including dessert. While tempting, it seemed like it might be too much food for us so we decided to order à la carte instead, starting with a carafe of house white wine and a plate of bread and olives. The service at Kastro was on point as the rest of our meal arrived relatively quickly so as not to interrupt the sun’s forthcoming performance - a Greek salad, eggplant rolls stuffed with feta and topped with tomatoes (which was by far one of the best dishes of our entire trip) and grilled shrimp with steamed broccoli. Just as the final sliver of sun dipped below the horizon, applause erupted from the massive crowd that had gathered on every available wall, step or ledge surrounding the restaurant. We ended our meal with iced espresso and a slice of baklava to share, which was served warm and significantly larger than we expected. You can only have one first, and this one will go down in the books for sure. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).