The other day I remembered a passing incident from the mid 90s and realised something profound about the character of local experiences. I had succeeded in becoming a shareholder (probably by looking and dancing so Cretan!) of Vamos SA, a village company for preserving local livelihoods in Apokoronas in Crete.

Without being an insider it is very difficult to give ideas to Greeks, I was told, something I have found to be true on many occasions (one of the local experiences!).

The village idea was to promote sustainable tourism and revive old traditions through guest houses. All this was splendid in the village, especially thanks to construction engineer Artemis Papadakis, and Vamos was a forerunner of old-style furnishings and stone constructing in the whole of Greece (without blue shades and white walls but more original, natural – see for yourself www.vamossa.gr).

But, as I told the locals, something was still missing. You should give your guests a chance to see behind your curtains and your everyday life, I suggested. Invite us to your wine harvesting! “No, we cannot afford to pay the guests for the work,” they said. No, no, they will pay to work in the fields and you give them food and sing with them, I replied. “That is really a crazy idea. who would come? It is very dull work,” they continued.

But after two years of pursuing this, they gave it a try and saw how much fun it was. Not for all groups, though. If mass-tourism groups came to the village and treated it like it was an amusement park, it did not work; but with those who truly valued what they experienced, ot worked very well!

The ultimatum goal of these experiences was for visitors to take part in everyday Cretan cooking. I asked the elderly ladies to show how they cook the divine delicacies I had eaten. This was arranged and the first ‘tour’ is one of my fondest memories ever.

We were a group of about 15 people from Finland and we gathered one morning at the village meeting room, where there is a kitchen. We solemnly entered the place, as if it was a church. Kiria Marika was there ready waiting for us with all the groceries she had gathered for our pot of lamb with wild greens, oven-baked aubergine with tomato and cheese, cheese pies and other things. We were there ready to wear our aprons and start filling the pies, but, to my astonishment. Kiria Marika was there wearing her Sunday best, complete with jewelry. She was acting shy and blushing. Of course. This was a great moment in her life!

Then Kiria Marika started to prepare the dough for the pies. Wow! Such skillful movements with the stick and artistic flippings of the thinnest, round dough! Cameras were clicking, flashing dazzling and Marika beaming. All these people had flown over 4000 kilometres from a northern place that people cannot even see in the Greek school maps, I though. They came especially to see how Marika makes most ordinary food. Most of the time, she is in her kitchen alone, with no one watching, admiring, asking about details, sighing and laughing.

This is it, I realised. A local experience can be great fun and and provide interesting insight into a new culture. But most of all, it lifts an ordinary person to greatness, makes her someone to admire. Kiria Marika saw this for a flashing moment and could clearly cherish it. She is GREAT! We are all great personalities, we know many interesting things that we have learned from our ancestors. Our everyday life is divine.

This knowledge is what a traveller comes back home with – if everything goes the way local experiences are meant to be.

This article was first published on the Localexperiences blog