The Serpent of Santorini & The Industrial Tomato Museum

Yassou! Another day, another adventure on beautiful Santorini. 

Near to Cape Exomitis, on the southern slope of Gavrilos Hill, are the little known rock-cut tombs known as Ancient Echendra believed to date from around the 4th Century BC. They aren't easy to find as, typically for Greece, there are no markers or signage. To get there we followed the road from Perissa to Vlychada, turned onto an inconspicuous path behind a white house and picked our way through a fava field to get a better look.

Alongside the tombs, an altar and the remains of a catacomb, we also saw the Serpent of Santorini, a bas-relief depicting a snake crawling on the rock (Echendra being the Greek word for viper). Archaeologists believe that the archaeological site may have been part of the ancient city of Eleusis and one of the most important ports of ancient Thera, mentioned by Ptolemy amongst others. In addition, rectangular niches carved into the rocks can be seen within a large fenced area stretching between the Gavrilos hill and the road.

 

I've no idea why there was a deer in the enclosure beside the tombs but he/she seemed most content basking in the September sunshine with a herd of goats. 

We continued our walk along the coast road to Vlychada and, having walked 6 km in 35°C heat, decided to treat ourselves to an ice cold frappe at a hip beachfront cafe.

Suitably refreshed we continued our journey.

Back in the 20th Century, Santorini had one of the largest tomato production lines in Greece. Before the 1980s when tourism barely existed on the island, Santorini's economy was mainly agricultural. The largest factory of its kind in Greece, the Santorini Tomato Industrial Museum is a must see to anyone interested in Greece's social history.

The museum is set up in the former factory of D. Nomikos which operated on the site from 1945 until 1981. The factory closed when most of the tomato crops were eradicated on Santorini and the factory’s activities ceased to be profitable. In 2014 the factory was transformed into a museum. An engaging audio guide talks the visitor through the whole process of the traditional production of tomato paste, from cultivation to processing and packaging. On display are antique machines, tools, old labels and documents as well as archive photographs and a documentary film presenting the history of the factory and its workers. 

If you're a fan of The Black Country Museum (and other living museums of that ilk) then I'm pretty sure that you'll enjoy The Industrial Tomato Museum as much as we did. There's even an opportunity to seal and label your own can to take home and to taste the red caviar (aka D. Nomikos's delicious tomato paste) as well as a snack bar where you can indulge in a Bloody Mary with or without vodka. 

I'm happy to report that the museum gift shop was excellent with lots of quirky tomato themed goodies, Jon bought a fantastic screen-printed tomato paste tee shirt which I'm sure will make an appearance on the blog before too long. 

After Russia closed most of its orthodox churches in the wake of the 1917 revolution, Santorini was faced with a problem: Russian orthodox monks were their largest export market for wine! Looking for a new cash crop, merchants turned to tomatoes. 

Whilst they may look like standard cherry tomatoes Domati Santorini are the unique product of the island's climate and geology. Their flavour and texture come from a combination of the local soil, brimming with nutrients from millenia-old volcanic ash and the fact that the plants thrive with minimal water. Like many crops on the island, they pull all their moisture from the morning mist and require no irrigation. The resulting tomatoes have slightly dry flesh, an intense aroma and a distinctively sweet taste. I was tempted to smuggle a few seeds back in my bag but didn't want to incur the wrath of the HM Border Force back at Birmingham airport!

We were interested to learn that most of the former employees lived in Emporio (the subject of my last blog post) and would walk to and from work, a round trip of over 7 km per day. Workers worked a twelve hour shift, seven days a week from the beginning of May until the end of August. Most met their husbands and wives at the factory and spoke with great fondness of their time at the factory.

 

The factory also produced peas canned in citric acid.

The Industrial Tomato Museum opens from April until November, the visiting hours are from 10am - 6pm Tuesday - Sunday

Admission €10 (includes an audio guide)

The museum is on the beach - once the tomatoes were processed the tins would be loaded onto boats and transported across to Aegean throughout Greece and the Balkans. We couldn't resist wandering a little further to marvel at the almost lunar-like volcanic rocks.

As luck would have it, the land train had just pulled up so we hopped aboard and headed back to Perissa. The train runs hourly between 10am and 7pm and follows the coast road from Perissa to Vlychada. You can flag it down anywhere along the route. A single fare costs €5 and a return trip €7 - a cool and breezy way of getting between the two villages if you're not as energetic as us!

We had lunch at The Volcano, one of the oldest (and prettiest) tavernas on the seafront. Needless to say, we chose a Santorini tomato salad with an obligatory beer!

If I hadn't have been travelling light I'd have packed my vintage Mexican tomato dress especially for our museum visit but I had had to make do with wearing it back at home for my walk down to the swimming baths on Tuesday morning.

Thanks for reading, see you soon!