The best of Greece, without the touristy crowds? Here’s where I found the gems of Athens, Santorini and Crete

As you’ve probably heard, Europe is very busy this summer. Greece is seeing such a rebound in visitors, some locals tell me it feels like record numbers. Popular attractions — the famous sunset spot at Oia on Santorini, the ancient ruins of the Parthenon — are jammed with people making up for lost time.

So, how do you spend a vacation here, without raging at the long lineups and general unpleasantness of sweltering afternoons spent jostling for a better photo?

My best advice: Be like Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and good times. The culture in this small Mediterranean country has long emphasized the importance of breaking bread and enjoying a bottle together. Even during the financial crisis, Greeks still went out, met at cafes and restaurants, and had legendary food and wine — just, perhaps, less of it.

And this is the perfect way to escape the crowds. Food and wine tours tend to be small and friendly, giving an opportunity to chat with real Greeks — the tour leader, the shopkeepers — and taking you to tucked-away corners. Which is how I find myself digging into a Greek salad on an Athenian afternoon that’s as hot as an oven.

Our guide, Josephine Perdikidou of Alternative Athens, takes our group of about 10 through four different downtown districts, the tour being as much about food as it is the history and culture of this bustling city of three million.

At one stop, a quiet, old-school cafe displaying Greek icons and artifacts, we sip strong, black Greek coffee. At another, a stylish, modern bakery, we try chewy loukoumades, doughnuts that originated with the first Olympics, in 776 B.C. (Officials awarded them as prizes.)

We stroll the small, family-run food shops lining Evripidou Street and through Varvakios Agora, the city’s central market for fish, meat and produce, timing our visit with a less frenzied, off-peak hour.

Just before our lunch in Psyri, a neighbourhood that was once upscale, then derelict, and is now dominated by artisans and other makers, we stop in Malotira Deli for simple delights like graviera cheese, apaki (a cured pork dish) and olive oil. Greece is the world’s largest producer of the latter and consumes more of it, per capita, than any other country.

“This is the food of peasants, and wise men,” says shop owner Errika Chaidemenaki, also a certified olive oil sommelier. “Here, if you’re an unsophisticated person, they call you a butter eater. Olive oil is everything.”

From the capital, I take a 45-minute flight to Santorini, the most popular of the Greek islands. Shaped by a massive volcanic eruption in the 16th century B.C., there’s no other island like this, its whitewashed buildings perching precipitously on the rim of a caldera that still steams to this day.

In the evening, the village of Oia, on the northern tip, is overrun by those looking for a perfect sunset photo — people sometimes stacked five-deep on overlooks, drones in the air.

But you can skip the sunset mayhem and opt for a quieter pleasure: a bottle of Assyrtiko. Just 10 minutes down the road from Oia, I sit on the patio at the boutique winery Domaine Sigalas, enjoying a glass. The grape, rooted in Santorini’s mineral-rich volcanic soil, gives this white wine a distinctive acidity.

The winery is surrounded by strange-looking vines. It looks like the soil is dotted with baskets. I walk out to the field with a sommelier named Nikki, who explains they expend great effort to create those natural wreathes, called kouloura.

Santorini is a harsh place, very arid, whipped by winds from the sea, with little shade from the merciless sun in the summer. So workers wind these vines, wrapping them around and around, using the leaves to protect the grapes. “It takes three to four years of hand-pruning,” she explains, as I shield my eyes from the sun.

Seated again, I enjoy a five-course lunch that includes cured sea bream and sea bass ceviche, the fish paired perfectly with Assyrtiko, cutting through the acid. A waiter lingers, telling me about the slow pace on this island. Away from the main tourist spots, he says, life still marches to the beat of a traditional drum.

My trip finishes on the largest of the Greek islands, Crete. It’s big enough to have a distinct culture of its own, including a cuisine based on the mountainous landscape and traditional methods that developed over centuries here.

At my beachside resort, Cretan Malia Park, chef Lefteris Iliadis leads a small group of us through a crash course on Cretan cuisine in the open kitchen at Mouries, one of the hotel’s restaurants.

Some 3,000 herbs grow wild here, and Iliadis notes that people have long trekked up mountain trails to gather them — foraging, before it was sexy. In frequent lean times, they baked bread from flour, water and olive oil, making it last as long as possible.

“Here, fine dining is about the experience of it,” he says, as we chop veggies from the hotel’s organic garden, knead dough, and pop phyllo and buns into a brick oven. “We get together with friends. We pour wine and enjoy each other’s company.”

The cooking done, a feast awaits, and even here among strangers, this feels a bit like family. It’s the weekend. The embers in the oven are still glowing. The wine and rakia, a fruit brandy, start to flow. The conversation rises. As we dig in, the day stretches out before us. I know Dionysus would be proud.

Writer Tim Johnson travelled as a guest of Moxy Athens City, Istoria and Cretan Malia Park, which did not review or approve this article.

If you go

How to get there: Air Canada operates non-stop flights from Toronto to Athens seasonally (from March until about mid-Nov.). From Athens to Santorini to Crete, you have two main options: flight or ferry. The latter can feel like a little cruise ship, sailing by mountains, beaches and villages in the Cyclades.

Where to stay: In the capital, the new Moxy Athens City offers spacious rooms and one of the area’s best hotel bars, within walking distance of all the major attractions.

On the quiet side of Santorini, Istoria feels like an exclusive oasis, with just 12 suites and a huge pool situated under palm trees, all of it steps from a black-sand beach.

Just a 30-minute drive from Crete’s capital of Heraklion, Cretan Malia Park is a bright, stylish resort with multiple pools, and rooms reminiscent of a little beach house.