Your Guide to Chios
What to See and Do

A Fascinating Foray Around The Capital of Chios Island

Mastic of Chios, the precious resin tears originating from Greece

Chios: Aegean Winemaking and Undiscovered Adventures
Beaches, Beach Bars and Activities

Chios’ Coast: Gorgeous Beaches of the North Aegean

Beach Bars on the North Aegean Island of Chios

A Tour of the Enchanting Island of Chios

Useful Telephone Numbers – Chios

Getting There and Around – Chios

Your Driving Tips for Chios

He arrived in Chios as a military man in 1993. Soon he meets his future wife and in 1996 he quits the army and together they take over the family business, a bakery in the village of Volissos.

7

Hailing from Vytina, Arcadia, Aris Zafeiropoulos learns the business from his father-in-law, who then retires. “Before I even left the army I had already started helping in the bakery. I learned the job and since June ’96 I have been baking every day.”

The smell of freshly baked bread

It is early morning and our path brings us in Volissos. We walk to the settlement. Arriving near the police station, the smell of freshly baked bread spreads everywhere. I see an old lady coming out of the bakery holding two bread loaves, wrapped in a piece of paper. It is the simplest bakery I have ever seen in my life and, at the same time, perhaps the most beautiful. The yard is full of wood, which Aris tells me he uses to fire the oven. “I collect the wood here so I can use it every morning. It’s a process that is as constant as the taste and quality of the bread.”

On a table, next to the smoke-blackened mouth of the oven, dozens of uniform bread loaves are spread out. There is no choice. There is only one type of bread, made with semi-white flour, and the only additional product one can find here are rusks.

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Aris Zafeiropoulos/ Photo: Dimitris Stathopoulos
The view from the bakery/ Photo: Dimitris Stathopoulos

Since 1955

“Klossas’ bakery”, as it has been known since 1955, operated by his father-in-law, may not have windows, may not sell various types of bread cheese pies and pastries, but it is the bakery we would all like to have in our neighbourhood. “We have many customers who come all the way from Hora – the main town on the island-, as well as many visitors to the island come here to buy some bread to take with them before they leave the island”, Aris tells me, as he hands me a nice warm bread loaf. I can’t bear to wait; I cut the first steaming piece by hand. The smell overpowers all resistance. From the small window of the bakery I can see the school of Volissos, a real architectural jewel that has housed students since 1928. Today it is the only school that operates in all 19 villages of North Chios.

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“Bread, €2”/ Photo: Dimitris Stathopoulos
Aris Zafeiropoulos in action/ Photo: Dimitris Stathopoulos

From 4 am

The conversation continues and the bread is slowly running out. The price is written on a piece of cardboard, “2 euros”. I ask him about his daily routine at the bakery. “I wake up quite early. Especially in the summer season, around 4 in the morning. I prepare the dough and then, together with my wife, we put it on the baking board. I fire up the oven and bake. In the summer I can make about 400 loaves of bread. In winter, much less. However, every season has its own beauty. We shouldn’t force things.”

I leave the bakery and gradually move away from the village. The bread is running out, but a beautiful memory remains. A warm loaf of bread that fills us with memories and recollections. The bread from the Volissos bakery contains all the warmth we seek in food. We will return.