Christina Antipa's Wine Odyssey aims to bring out to tourists that there is not only sun and sea in our country, but also the Greek wine, which can take them on an equally exciting journey.
She introduces newcomers to a different Greece, the one with the green vineyards and the delicious wines produced in charming wineries. After all, she wants to show them that there is not only sun and sea in our country, but also that Greek wine that can take them on an equally exciting journey in this land's charms.
Wine Odyssey is a travel agency based in Thessaloniki, Northern Greece, specializing exclusively in wine tourism, founded in the summer of 2022. At its helm is Christina Antipa, a woman who forged her professional identity in tourism, initially studying Hotel & Tourism Management in Switzerland, working in France and then moving back to Greece, where she continued her career in the hotel industry for 20 years. Seeing the prospects of wine tourism, she decided to venture out and create her own travel agency focused on this field.
Wine Odyssey currently organizes day trips to wineries all over Northern Greece, from Metsovo in Epirus, to Maronia in Xanthi and from Florina to Halkidiki. The winery visits can even be combined, to food & wine tastings, visits to archeological sites, local landmarks or nature’s attractions.
At the same time, she designs a series of experiences through collaborations with third parties, such as wine and music pairing, or bird watching in the natural reserve lakes of Porto Lagos and Kerkini, or cheese making in Kavala farms. Wine touring in history, wine and wildlife adventures, wine trips by the lakes are just some of her suggestions.
The next step
The next step is to expand the tours chronically, including overnight stays, with an even more enriched program for tourists, but also geographically, covering a larger area than that of Northern Greece. "Both wine and tourism, but also my own new endeavor is an odyssey, that's why I chose to name the travel agency Wine Odyssey" Christina Antipa tells Voria, who wants to see her project grow and the agency to introduce as many tourists as possible to the Greek vineyard, making them ambassadors of Greek wine when they return to their countries. Of course, Wine Odyssey is also aiming at Greeks who want to explore the wine routes of Northern Greece.
So far, American, Austrian, German and Cypriot tourists have used her services and they have particularly enjoyed the fact that during their visit to boutique and family owned wineries, they had personal contact with the winemaker himself. "That personal element is what they really like, in fact they look for. They want personal experiences and that's what I try to offer them," explains Christina Antipa.
Read the article in greek at voria.gr: Wine Odyssey: Το ταξιδιωτικό γραφείο από τη Θεσσαλονίκη που κάνει… πρόποση στον οινοτουρισμό
