I have a very vivid recollection from my childhood. It was summer and we were traveling, with my parents, at Crete. It was a time long before smartphones and GPS and if you haven't had a map, you simply got lost. And that's exactly what happened to us, even though Crete is my father's birthplace and he never thought we will!
There is an old saying in Greek that can be translated like: asking will get you to the town. So we entered an unknown village and stopped the car in front of a coffee shop. My dad lowered the driver's window and asked for directions.
There were a lot of men there drinking their coffee and an elderly one spoke for everyone.
Turn off the car engine and get out of the car,
he said. My father tried to say that we are in a hurry but the man insisted in a very pushy and almost demanding way.
We are not going to tell you anything
he claimed, with a loud, gruff voice. A second of awkwardness until he continued his phrase:
until you all sit with us and let us treat you something :)
That was the way that Greeks use to behave before the coming of tourism and the excessive amount of money that come along. Till then every stranger was a guest that had to be treated with care and respect. According to their mindset it was almost offensive to let us go without an act of hospitality.
Fragments of this mindset still exists but in a lesser way and mostly away from the main tourist attractions. I have experienced though, even nowadays, beautiful acts of hospitality from people I hardly know and every time I remember this story and I am glad that the so called civilisation hasn't steamroller all the old mentality!
The pictures are from a day that I spent at a semi-mountainous part of western Crete when I was working for a travel magazine. I was with a reporter and the editor in chief and although it was part of our job, it felt more like social visits! The objective was to make a story about what the area has to offer (nature, guest houses, taverns etc) but the unaffectedly friendly manner of the people made it feel so authentic and natural. Of course it was in their best interest to be nice to us since a positive reference on the magazine would be potentially good for their business but you can't fake an attitude. I could see splinters of the old mindset in the way they prepared a snack or offered us a drink. It was beyond calculation and personal gain, it was simply what they felt it was the right thing to do!
All the pictures and the words are mine.
Thank you for reading and if you want to know more about me you can check out my introduction post.
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