Here’s an ideal tour if you’re keen to discover some of the local flavours and produce of Greece, as well as get to know the most authentic places to find them.

Our local guide Georgia first took us through the bustling dry and wet markets of Athens that offers an impressive range of beautifully fresh fruit and vegetable, as well as plenty of seafood and meats to choose from.

Tasting began at a liquor shop run by Polykala Distillery, a 125 year old enterprise that is now being run by its fourth generation. The liquors and liqueurs available here are truly unique and numerous in kind and flavour. Whether your palate is partial towards strong or light stuff, fruity or floral flavours, honey or even chocolate, there is something in here for everyone.

At the next stop, we tried a variety of olives (the Greeks pride themselves for producing the best olives and olive oil in the world) – the famous Kalamata black olives, the rounder Amphosis black olives and Halkidiki green olives (which were my favourite), and fresh Kalamata olive oil. The pistachios from the Aegean islands of Greece were sublime – so fresh and light and crunchy, as were the wonderful dried figs from Evia island. The thyme honey from Crete was pretty good with the bread, too. We also got to try some kourambie which is a Greek butter cookie – so fine and crumbly that it almost melts in your mouth as you bite into it. We washed all of this down with a bit of sour cherry refreshment that had also been produced locally.

Next, we sampled some meat slices and cheese. The feta cheese was as good as expected, but what was really impressive was the graviera cheese whose name is derived from Swiss gruyère cheese. Made in a chunky wheel form, its texture is almost cheddar-like, while its taste is smooth yet more prominent and defined in a slightly sweet saltiness and milkiness. Very good.

The pork sausage slices, beef salami and spicy beef ham were also full of flavour and went very well with the cheese, olives and local red and white wines presented.

Along with this platter came a bread basket of a very light and crisp bread that was so good that it could be eaten by itself. One variety of bread was incorporated with herbs and olives, and the second had tomato in addition to these two ingredients.

On the way to our next stop, we tried some koulouri – one of Greece’s favourite snacks. This is a simple ring of bread baked with sesame seeds, but when done right and consumed warm and fresh, I can understand why it is so popular among the locals.

Of course, a tasting tour in Athens would not be complete without their (extremely) popular souvlaki. Quite frankly, it’s hard to find a restaurant in the city that doesn’t serve some form of souvlaki. During this particular tour, we sampled souvlaki at Misafir, and I must say that they do a pretty good job. Think of a shawarma. Now make it a little Greek – with a thicker pita, an option of chicken or pork kebab or meat pieces (gyros), along with some tzatziki, fries, tomato and lettuce. And you’ve got (seemingly) everybody’s favourite Athenian food.

We rounded things off with a bit of loukoumi – which is essentially Greek Turkish delight. The Greeks are adamant that it is quite different from its more popular Turkish counterpart (the Turks probably concur). I would say they’re quite similar, but perhaps a little softer in texture and slightly more herby in flavour in Greece. At least the ones we tasted were. And we washed this down with some mountain tea which also had a noticeable herby and almost lavender-like base to it – aromatically and in taste. An interesting brew.