Small villages all over Attica are strongholds of traditional baking, and the quest for the right loaf is the ideal excuse for a short trip. Varnavas, a village of 1,300 inhabitants, is one of the most sought-after destinations for baked goods aficionados, which makes it a particularly suitable place to host a Bread Museum.
The Museum, which is part of the Interactive Folk Museum of Varnavas, is housed in a refurbished traditional mansion; exhibits include 520 types of decorated bread from 23 countries, which visitors can follow as a visual map of the widespread practice of bread decoration. Methods and techniques vary significantly according to the region and the occasion, while some decoration types and themes can even be unique to specific families. In the free workshops organised by the museum, local decorating traditions are kept alive and passed on to the next generations.