Maneas sat down with Ouzo Talk to help kick off the podcast’s own island series, in a wide-ranging discussion about Santorini’s including the history, gastronomy, tourism and more.
For Maneas, the island holds special memories that he believes anyone can experience during their own visit.
“Santorini is a special place because it’s got so many memories for me,” says Maneas.
“You sit on your balcony, you’ll open up a bottle of ouzo, you’ll grab a tomato, cut it up – bit of olive oil and rock-salt, and then you’ll start waiting for the sun to set,” says Maneas.
“You’ll look around you to your left and your right, and you’ll see this cliff-face crowded with villas and hotels, and people start gathering. Before you know it, you’re talking to your neighbour.
“I remember when I was in my early twenties – there was this couple next to me and I told them to come on over. Before I knew it, when the sun was setting, there were 20 people on my balcony.
“We had a wonderful, wonderful time. It was such a great experience.”
“It’s just got so much to offer. People talk about the ‘postcard’ thing that it is, but there’s so much more to Santorini, and people only discover the surface of it when they go, even though it’s a small island.
“It’s the number one honeymoon destination of any island in Greece, and now today in the 21st century for Instagrammers, it’s like the Instagram capital for photography because you really can’t get a shot wrong when you’re taking a photo there.
“There’s all the ‘beautiful people’ taking photos of themselves on every dome, on every white building, on every cliff over volcanic magma that’s gone off over the last 3000 years.”
Tourists have voted with their feet in 2022, with Greece recording record arrivals in the region of 40 million tourists according to Maneas.
“It superseded the record by like 15%, which is a lot of people, but they keep taking them in. there’s so much to do because there’s so many places that they (tourists) haven’t seen.
The new season of My Greek Odyssey will premiere on the Seven network (channel 72) this Sunday 11 September at 3:30pm. You can also subscribe and watch the series on Vimeo.
The Ouzo Talk podcast is available on all major podcast streaming apps, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify,Google Podcasts, SOUNDIS.GR and more. Subscribe on your favourite platform so you never miss an episode.
