Looking back across Megalochori from the hillside above the village.
Megalochori wasn’t the reason we came to Santorini. We were staying at Vedema Resort Santorini, which sits within the village itself, and spent a couple of visits wandering the surrounding streets. Between an evening stroll after dinner and a longer walk the following morning, we found quiet lanes, distinctive churches and reminders of the wine-making history that shaped this part of the island.
The village entrance sits at the top of the hill above Vedema. We reached it after wandering uphill through the village.
Most cafés and restaurants were still quiet when we wandered through earlier in the day.
Small courtyards and cafés appear throughout the lanes around the center of Megalochori.
Scenes like this were a reminder that Megalochori is still a working village.
Megalochori’s clock tower was one of the landmarks we found ourselves navigating by.
Standing directly beneath Megalochori’s distinctive multi-tiered bell tower.
From Vedema’s terrace, it is obvious how closely the resort and village are connected.
At first glance, Megalochori feels like many of Santorini’s inland villages: whitewashed lanes, cafés tucked into small courtyards and churches appearing around unexpected corners. Spend a little longer here, though, and its connection with wine becomes much harder to miss. The vineyards surrounding the village and the restored winery buildings are reminders of the wine trade that shaped Megalochori long before it became a place visitors came to explore.
One of Vedema’s restored winery cellars, a reminder of the village’s long association with wine production.
Barrels line another section of the old winery beneath Vedema.
The final photographs were taken in Megalochori the evening before.
We first stepped into Megalochori after dinner, when the restaurants around the square were just coming to life.
One of Megalochori’s quieter lanes in the evening.