Greek Filoxenia is a magic word and lucky is the one who enjoys it. Filoxenia in Greece is where a ‘stranger’ is treated like a ‘friend’ and where the guest returns home with a basket full of goodies.
Homemade fyllo-pie with spinach and other greens. The best homemade apricot marmelade ever – I had to turn down a huge jar of it for there was not place in my luggage. Bio tomatoes from the garden and eggs from free range hens, both collected early in the morning before I left. Farmer’s bread that was still warm.
They didn’t have to give me all this stuff to take back home but they did.
Filoxenia is the A and O of the traditional Greek hospitality. And I was thinking it was dead. It’s not. It’s just that we in the big city are too distressed and frustrated and concerned about the present and the future, I dare say, we spend hours in traffic jams to go from place D to E, we fight daily the bureaucracy and the lack of service, are nerves are flying like worn-out ribbons, we shout and push and swear to release our inner tension.
But Filoxenia is there. Alive but not Kicking. It’s gentle and generous, full of warm smiles.
I recently had two short vacations in the countryside, in a village in Pelion and another by Nafplio. I was invited by friends I had not seen for quite some time due to “issues” that had me stuck in Athens.
Places full of green and fruits, vegetables grown with respect and sea for the soul to float.
The daily program was strict-relaxed with lots of food, chat, walks up and down and activities I would need more than half a year to do them in Athens and not within a 24-hour time space.
The program would start as it should: with good coffee, breakfast and swim…
lunch at a tavern or home-cooked…
Two hours of holy Greek, summer nap 3 to 5 in the afternoon ( I have been hating naps since I was a child and still do)
Afternoon coffee and ice cream or sweets and then driving around just for fun…
…before going to some cultural event or visit friends of the friends or just sit in the yard to have friends of the friends and neighbors drop by for a Hello and chat.
Driving in the dusk, there was always some fox cub or a young badger rushing into the bush, a pair of hoopoe or some …cat – most likely abandoned by humans in the wildness. This wildlife was much quicker than than me so there are no pictures. Exception was two dogs waiting at the entrance of a village.
The day would close with light dinner and sleep. Same program every day until I got sooo lazy even to take out my mobile and take a picture of whatever I found interesting.
Ι was overwhelmed by the warm and generous Filoxenia from the very first moments. And I even got a bit “offended” in the end because they did not allow me to invite them to dinner or lunch, buy them ice cream, a coffee or even a small bottle of water.
And every morning I open this sunny shining jar to spread the apricots on my breakfast bread I recall the beautiful moments I had with my friends who are blessed to live in a green paradise away from the concrete of Athens and its polluted air.
Lovely photos, KTG!
And that is what I, and most of the other tourists (and some just dont even notice the fenomena, they take it for granted) come for, the special thing about Greece FILOXENIA!! Of course, your country is extremely beautiful and your food is delicious but the friendliness is something most other countries just cant compare with. Nowadays, I am afraid that the heavy burden of the tourist invasion will wear that special fenomena out! Been travelling in Greece for over 30 years now and have been lucky enough to see and experience the filoxenia from the north to the south, islands and mainland. It is there and natural! As a tourist you feel so welcomed and taken care of…
thank you
Nice description KTG. Filoxenia is precisely why many of us foreigners choose to live our lives in Greece. It is not the gifts themselves, since they gradually dry up as you become part of the community, but the fact that you are completely accepted.
I could be wrong but I think the reason your gesture of a meal was rejected was because it involved you making a payment. If you had been able to offer something you had grown/made yourself it would have been gladly accepted. Obviously, when you are traveling, that is not really an option.
all i can bring is homemade Pesto with basil from my balcony.