Food Tours

We Take Food Very Seriously.

Along with the sites and itineraries, good food plays a key role in the design of all our tours and cruises. For us, meals are much more than a practical necessity: they are a pleasure to be shared with our guests, and moreover a central aspect in experiencing the local culture and the area’s gastronomic wealth. In that sense, each of our itineraries, whether it’s one of our specific food tours or one of our general trips is a culinary exploration.

On our gulet cruises, the on-board chefs freshly prepare a wonderful variety of dishes in the ship’s galley using fine local ingredients. These daily delights are complemented by shore meals in excellent and atmospheric restaurants and tavernas along the itinerary.

On our land and city tours, you’ll enjoy meals at a range of carefully selected venues, usually our guides’ personal favourites, based on in-depth local knowledge. They represent the full scope of the region’s culinary achievements and specialities, ranging from authentic “home cooking” to truly gourmet food, always rooted in local tradition and based on the strengths of the area’s produce.

There are countless delights you will taste on our tours: succulent fish, freshly grilled or barbequed, accompanied by a whole array of refreshing dips and salads; stuffed roast lamb prepared especially for us on a small Greek island; original pizza served in a tiny Neapolitan restaurant; fresh pomegranates, cherries or peaches just picked from the tree; subtly seasoned Turkish meatballs on a rooftop terrace overlooking Old Istanbul; delicate stuffed zucchini flowers in a Cretan mountain village; traditional Sicilian cheeses at a local dairy farm; organic olives and their aromatic oil; handmade Turkish baklava; the sweet baby tomatoes of Santorini or the whole range of handmade Italian pasta…

If gastronomy is a special interest of yours, you should join one of our designated culinary itineraries – but every one of our tours is a pleasure for all the senses!

Wine: Ancient Tradition and Local Culture

Mediterranean wine culture goes back to the Bronze Age and was a central aspect of Greek and Roman life, society and culture. Today, wine still holds a distinctive and evocative role in the areas we travel. Italy is famed for its venerable vintages; Greece has recently rediscovered and redeveloped its ancient tradition of advanced viniculture; Turkey has a fledgling but dynamic wine industry.

On all our tours, we serve a select range of wines representing the products of the country we travel. When we visit wine-producing regions, we also organise wine tastings at hand-picked estates, for example in Cappadocia, on Santorini, in Northern Greece and in Sicily. It is our firm conviction that savouring and enjoying the local wines is a key way to appreciate a region’s culture – an experience we love to share with our guests.

Designated Food Tours

For the “foodies” among our guests, we offer a growing range of special gastronomy-themed tours and cruises. Like all our trips, they are centred on expert-guided visits to important and beautiful ancient sites. At the same time, our food tours offer you a deeper and more hands-on engagement with the local culinary tradition. By exploring local markets, picking wild foods, visiting traditional producers and participating in the preparation of delicious meals, you will gain a profound insight and specific knowledge of a region’s culinary culture.

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