Melbourne Greek girl goes to Santorini, falls in love, and creates the vegan hotel of her dreams

Christina Boutros and her partner Argyris have built an eco conscious, plant-based haven for guests, curating everything from the food to the amenities while staying true to their environmentally friendly ethics

Nelly Skoufatoglou
20 February 2022 3:34pm

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Call it a movement or a lifestyle, veganism is soaring in popularity every day, crossing from fringe into mainstream. While major city centres, especially in the western world, are blessed with an abundance of options, when it comes to vegan restaurants and products, for people living in small towns, islands or in countries with a heavily meat-based culture, resources are limited and prices are high. This is also something that many holiday makers struggle with, when visiting exotic or not easily accessible destinations.

Santorini, one of the world’s most beautiful islands that welcomes over two million visitors a year, now has its own fully-vegan hotel, where everything from the food down to the furniture and cosmetics is plant-based, cruelty-free and ethically sourced, courtesy of Melbourne born and bred Christina Boutros.
Sitting proudly at the top of Firostefani is MOD Santorini, a dream, and the product of a love story that has come to life during the most challenging of times.

When Christina, first went to Greece at age 20, she fell in love with the people, the culture, the landscape and the history. She would travel back to her parents’ country of origin year after year, exploring her roots and different destinations. All until she set foot on Santorini, the petrified, volcanic jewel of the Aegean; a romantic haven. True to its reputation, the island changed both her life and her perspective. She unexpectedly found true love in the eyes of a local man, Argyris.

Melbourne gal Christina and local Argyris fell in love on the island and have been building their Santorini dream project together ever since. Photo: Supplied

“In 2018, I met Argyris, my partner, and… here I am,” Christina says laughingly in her pajamas with Argyris waving in the background. It’s around 7pm in Melbourne and 10am in Greece when we start our call on Whatsapp.

“We did do back and forth to Australia for about six to seven months, before I decided to sell everything, my car, my house, my business… and my family business,” she tells Neos Kosmos.

Argyris’ family owned a hotel which had been closed from the early 2000s – but it had a lot of potential. Argyris had started doing renovations but it wasn’t until Christina decided to join in on the project halfway through 2019 that the true identity of MOD Santorini came together. Having studied interior design, Christina curated and designed the hotels suites choosing all the textures and materials; the colour schemes and amenities giving it the most earthy and organic feel, true to the island’s character. As Christina went on her own dietary journey, her needs ands realisations started bleeding into the hotel project.

Holidays may be a much-needed escape from our day to day, but that doesn’t mean that we need to disrupt our healthy lifestyle when travelling. That is what Christina realised as she was transitioning to veganism. Often, her ideal experience when holidaying would be undermined by the limited culinary options at the hotels she was staying.

Stone, wood, plants and recycled plastic complement the rooms. Photo: Supplied

Stone, wood, plants and recycled plastic complement the rooms. Photo: Supplied

An all natural space to relax and ground. Photo: Supplied

Everything is vegan and cruelty free. Even the cosmetics and cleaning products. Photo: Supplied

“I started doing it for health and then I started digging deeper, watching documentaries. Now it is very much a holistic approach. However, my true vegan journey started when I moved to Santorini. On a beautiful, albeit isolated island with volcanic terrain, what grows naturally is limited. Say in Crete or Naxos, they have everything all year round. Here it’s a different story.”

Growing up, Christina was blessed with parents who grew their fruits and vegetables in their garden. Food was always cooked at home, both parents cooking amazing Greek and Egyptian cuisine. As an adult she would always source her food from local organic shops or South Melbourne Market. At super and mini markets on the island, she couldn’t always find information about where the meat, fish and dairy was sourced; especially during winter.

“To this day, my family have a thriving property with amazing organic produce ready to nourish our bodies. It is important to me to know what I am putting inside my body, not only with food, but with cosmetics and personal-care products, as well as cleaning products,” she stresses.

With that in mind, she came up with the idea of a vegan hotel, about a year before the hotel’s official opening and took to social media to both investigate other vegan establishments around the world and start building momentum. MOD Santorini’s account on Instagram gained about 5000 followers in a few days, among those, other vegan hotels from around the world.

“In the beginning we had our doubts. Is this going to be viable? Are there other vegan hotels in the world? How are they doing?,” she admits.
“Then vegan hotels from Hawaii, Germany, Spain, Chile – even another newly opened vegan hotel in Greece followed. So, I was like, ‘this is a thing. This idea can succeed’!”

Having a vegan hotel is about all aspects, the animals, the food, the environment, to be conscious of every decision, Christina and Argyris tell Neos Kosmos.
“We just knew there would be like-minded humans who share the same passions as we do, and for us owning a hotel is more than just a hospitality service, it is a joy we get to share with our community every day.”

Everything is curated, down to every detail. A vegan feast with a view, courtesy of Christina. Photo: Supplied

Vegan international breakfast with several options. Photo: Supplied

Vegan international breakfast with several options. Photo: Supplied

A healthy, nutrient dense breakfast. Photo: Supplied

Vegan products from local producers available at MOD. Photo: Supplied

Mezedes and snacks. Photo: Supplied

Sides featuring Santorini potatoes, tomatoes, olives, fava and more. Photo: Supplied

Fresh smoothies and detox juices. Photo: Supplied

Everything is curated, down to every detail. A vegan feast with a view, courtesy of Christina. Photo: Supplied

Everything is vegan and cruelty free. Even the cosmetics and cleaning products. Photo: Supplied

“Protecting and preserving the environment is of utmost importance. We have adopted sustainable operating practices and minimised our plastic consumption and carbon footprint while being a low-waste, eco-conscious, boutique hotel property. From the initial steps of construction to our daily practices, we incorporate our respect for our planet and our guests into everything we do, creating an eco-friendly hospitality experience, where wellness is a given, where every day is devoted to the simple things that matter the most.”

As the couple moved forward with the project and came closer to opening, other businesses around them and especially their suppliers started getting more educated on ethically sourcing materials and bringing in or creating more vegan options.

Inspired by the island’s superb products, and as local gastronomy has evolved over the years, the hotel’s kitchen will be incorporating modern techniques and ingredients from around the world, to create a world of culinary wonder with Santorinian character. From golden velvety fava beans to ethereal white aubergines and from juicy cherry tomatoes to fiery capers, Santorini’s products are delicious as they are rare.

“We have the traditional Santorini and national dishes that are naturally or accidentally vegan – we will be preparing dishes the likes of vegan pastitsio, mousaka, gemista, dolmadakia, fava on special occasions; we will also offer more international flavours that everyone loves like pancakes, falafel and so on, on a regular basis.”

“Wholesome meals prepared with bio and sustainable ingredients, energy-boosting smoothies and fresh-pressed juices will cleanse your body from unwanted toxins and stress,” she says, explaining that she wants to offer her guests the absolute best.