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Blink and you'll miss it. That's how the location of Gioras Wood Medieval Mykonian Bakery was described to me by a local who had, indeed, blinked and missed it several times, despite being a regular. On the windswept island of Mykonos – where tourism is the main source of income and locals are often wildly outnumbered by visitors – there is little left that is authentically Mykonian. When the international jet set "discovered" the island in the 1960s, it brought much needed revenue to a poverty-stricken people. Rapid development followed to attract international tourist dollars, but despite the sudden influx of wealth, the Mykonian population started to fall because the cost of living became too expensive. Traditional fishing villages fell by the wayside and hotels popped up alongside tavernas designed not for locals but for foreigners. Today, it can be hard to find anything from old Mykonos, despite the island's 3,000-plus-year history, but there are some holdouts from the past, like Gioras. Run today by husband-and-wife George Vamvakouris and Cloe Papaioannou, Gioras' woodfire ovens were lit for the first time in 1420, when Henry V still sat on the English throne and the Byzantines ruled Constantinople. It has the distinction of being the oldest woodfired bakery in Greece and has been in the Vamvakouris family since the Venetians left the island in 1718 and handed the business over to George's great-great-great grandfather. According to Maria Loi, an award-winning Greek chef and documentarian, it is known as "the Parthenon of all Greek woodfired bakeries". It was a specific bread upon which Gioras once built their culinary foundation. "Different regions of Greece have distinct culinary cultures that can be seen reflected in their local breads," said Loi. "They are influenced by local culture and the availability of ingredients in each region. The bread in Mykonos is typical of the Cyclades, called paximadia: hard rusks made of barley or wheat, twice baked and seasoned with local herbs, olive oil and anise." Like the rest of the town of Mykonos, the walls on approach to the bakery are whitewashed by design and time. The bakery itself is down a steep flight of stone stairs. It's an airy, homely space filled with the delicate scent of sweet almond and cinnamon, caramelised sugar and freshly ground coffee beans. In Gioras' early years, some 600 years ago, the bakery was simply a big oven built into the side of a hill to keep the space somewhat cool while the fire burned throughout the day. "The bread they baked was known as 'sea bread' and sold to small ships," explained Loi, who recently visited Gioras while filming season two of her documentary series, The Life of Loi. The sea bread, a kind of paximadia, was intentionally long-lasting to endure days and months at sea. It could be preserved up to a year, making it perfect for long voyages.