I can never resist visiting a museum which sounds interesting and when I heard about the Folklore Museum on the Greek island of Samos I simply had to go and take a look.

Samos is a European destination with many attractions and, as I was there only on a day trip from the Turkish port of Kusadasi, I had to make a choice. The comparative shortage of time (5 hours) between arrival and departure of the ferry, necessitated the use of a taxi rather than the local bus to get to the town of Pythagorion on the opposite coast.

Although the museum is of great importance to the traditions and history of the island, it is little known, even by the locals.

The happy go lucky taxi driver understood ‘museum’ and ‘Pythagorion’ just fine and took off in the right direction.

However, he dropped us in front of the archaeology museum which is brand new and not even open to the public.

Luckily the curator who just happened to leave the building, knew what we wanted to see and explained that the Folklore Museum is actually located within the complex of a luxury hotel, The Doryssa Bay seaside resort and spa. Who would have thought about that?

Equally luckily the resort was only a 10 minute walk away and we finally arrived at our destination.

The Doryssa Bay resort looks very impressive and quite nice. We made our way to reception and  asked about the museum, still not 100% sure if we had come to the right place. It’s really neither advertised nor indicated anywhere, so it’s quite an insider tip.

A lady who introduced  herself as  a historian came forward, lead us through a few archways and – lo and behold – we were greeted by a very pretty sight.

Little white and blue painted houses surrounded a courtyard and she explained that these were reproductions of old Samos houses. Then she continued on to another building and we entered the museum proper. It was certainly worth all the roundabout ways to get to this place.

There are about five rooms and each one holds exhibits of a particular part of life on the island of Samos before WWII. And that’s really what the museum is all about. To maintain and recreate arts, crafts and customs of the times.

Not a single piece is allowed into the museum which has not been used or produced in Samos.

A room is recreated which shows what living and sleeping accommodations looked like, with storage space for food on the upper gallery.

Old traditional clothes are exhibited on mannequins and tools for fishing, harvesting and cooking are arranged in another room.

I admired the finest hand made lace which is typical of traditional dresses.

She continued to explain that the museum also runs workshops where people can learn how bread is baked in the traditional way or how tiles are painted and glazed.

The museum was founded and is funded by the Nicolaos Dimitrion Foundation and you are not asked to pay an admission fee, but a donation of your choice is appreciated.

We finished out tour by looking at the quaint houses again and then returned to modern times by sitting on the terrace of the hotel and enjoying a complimentary coffee and freshly squeezed orange juice.

If you visit, be aware that the museum closes at 1.30 pm, a ‘deadline’ we nearly missed because we had such problems finding it.

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