Had to take a Dubai-Doha and Doha Athens flight. At the Doha airport they stopped me and said that I could not proceed to Athens as I didn’t have a valid Visa. I showed them my Schengen Visa page, and they inturn shows me a stamp that said- Entry only through Germany. (this happened since I had applied through the Germany consulate, not telling them that I was visiting Athens). So now I had to either go back to Dubai and reschedule my trip, or just head back home and believe that this trip was not meant for me. The expensive option was to fly to Germany and take a flight to Athens, as this was permitted on my Visa.
When I called my boss to explain this confusion, and the fact that any move of mine would mean money for the company, he asked me to relax and take the decision that I thought was right. I did a fair amount of home work and decided to fly to Frankfurt. Managed to reach Frankfurt Airport, with absolutely no cash in hand, no money in my Debit/ATM and only a credit card that could save me! (had no cash in hand because I spent the entire thing in buying my $700 ticket from Doha to Frankfurt.) Oh by the way, in Doha I had about 2 hours before my flight. In spite of all this Vias confusion, I called up my friend Mithila and managed to get a visa for a day and met her. Went to her place where she cooked me some food. Man.. all the while I was really amazed at my luck, and could not believe the fact that I was going for a 5 day trip to Europe with absolutely no backup plan on my finances. Anyway I was enjoying the pressure and stress the situation was creating- felt like an adventure already!
Got to Frankfurt and bought a ticket to Athens. Finally reached Athens at about 3 o clock at night. Got to my hotel and just crashed. Before I realized I had to wake up and run for my meeting.
Fortunately the meeting went off well and didn’t have too many hitches in my presentation. Then walked around the stalls at the exhibition and generally gossiped with people about the market and blah blah balh. Repeated the stall visiting activity the next day as well. Finished the exhibition at 4 in the evening to check out the Acropolis. It was a beautiful place, great climate, and a very European touch to all the towns around. I had decided that I had to come back the next day and spend a good half day walking around this beautiful place.
At night I chose to walk down the busy streets of Syndigma Square. There was a place with a lot of youngsters, eating joints, hotels, pubs, etc.. There I met an Italian, who walked up to me for some clarifications in directions. He was an overfriendly guy who had invited me to visit him in Torino, Italy, and this warm invitation came up in just 5 minutes from the first word he uttered. This was surely suspicious and I had a good feeling that he was a con man. However I decided that I should not act like a stuck up fellow who thought he knew the world. I should give things chance, which would allow me to explore and learn. The Italian then said that he knew of a place where they server good alcohol and played great Spanish music. I am aware of the golden rules a tourist must follow- Do not trust people! Yes I did not trust him, but was very interested in discovering what could be him plan. I quickly evaluated in my head-
- Will I be killed in this adventure? No.
- Will he beat me out of shape? Unlikely.
- Will they mug me? Probably
- Is this going to be a memorable experience?! 100% YES!
That’s when I decided that I should go along with Fredo, my Italian buddy, and have a drink.
After walking through some shady lanes, where I could see the answer to the second point above turning to ‘Probably’, we reached ‘Newyork Bar’! This was small place with just 2 tables and 2 ladies who server the drinks.
I chose to have the traditional Greek drink- Ouzo. This is a drink with 46% alcohol, and has a touch of sweet to it. It’s a drink that most non-drinkers will also enjoy, I guess. While I was speaking to my friend Fredo, the ladies came and sat beside us. I was very conscious and uncomfortable. I was praying to god that these 2 ladies will sit beside me, with their hand tied to themselves, and the only communication we would have would be a few words in English. Fortunately they did only that. The lady that was sitting with my friend(Fredo) asked him if he could buy her a drink, and he agreed. She bought a glass for herself and sat down. Immediate the dumb looking female sitting beside me also asked me if she could get a drink for herself, and I agreed. We all said ‘Whooappa’(cheers) and started to drink. Honestly, I was very uncomfortable all the time, first- because there was a girl sitting right beside me, and second- this place didn’t seem to have any visitors! So both ladies finished their drinks, and the dumb one turned to me and asked if she could fetch another drink for herself. I straight told them that I have no money and was on very tight budgets. As soon as I completed explaining what a tight budget meant, the lady got up from the seat and got me the bill. They produced to individual bills, one for Fredo and one for me.
My eyes popped out looking at my bill!!! Euro 170 for just 2 drinks! (that’s about Rs. 11,000!) I started to laugh after looking at the bill. A laugh that confirmed that I was screwed and that this adventure was a costly affair after all! I then looked at the bill and told those ladies that I could simply not afford this. In the mean time a hefty looking man came into the bar, who seemed to be one of the guys working at the bar. He also came up to me and showed me the menu card and explained why the bill was so high. Apparently the stupid female drank a Champaign at my cost. So my Ouzo costed Euro 10/- and her Champaign costed a bloody 160Euro!!
I chose to contest and told those people that I just could not pay this amount. After a few rounds of negotiations, we agreed that I pay Euro 100, and my dear buddy Fredo would pay the difference of Euro 70! This was now confirmed that he was a rip-off-artist. Why on earth would be want to pay for my drink?!
Finally I got up and thanked the ladies for the royal rip-off! They said that I should remember this as a souvenir from Athens! I was smiling all the while feeling like a complete jack ass, but later realized that this smile was because of the glass of concentrated Ouzo over an empty stomach!
Thanked Fredo for the memorable time I had and assured him that I will remember him for a long time now! He again told me to visit him place in Toroni, of course without giving me any contact details.(not like I wanted it anyway!). I then walked into Mc.Donals and bought the cheapest burger they had on menu. My initial plan was to have some traditional Greek food, which was now out of questions.
Next day I walked around the famous Acropolis. Saw a lot of the Greek structures around the place and also walked into a few towns. Was enjoying my time walking around, at my own pace, with memories of the previous night and several other thoughts. The chill in the air, slight drizzle, partially cloudy sky and everything around made me feel good. This was an experience I knew, and I was living it.
Soon I walked towards the Ancient Olympic stadium. This is the stadium where the first modern Olympics was held, in 1896. Just for some trivia, Olympics was an event started by the Greeks in early 500BC. The modern version of this was first held in Athens in 1896, commonly referred to as Modern Olympics. In the recent past Greece was suffering with economic problems and lack of infrastructure. It was the Athens Olympics in 2004 that picked up the spirits of the Greeks!
Anyway coming back to my visit to the modern Olympic stadium, guess who I bumped into?! My friend Fredo. He was walking with a tourist map in his hand and seems like a genuine tourist today. I didn’t know if I should ignore him or greet him. Another thing that was running on my mind was- Why was Fredo here? Was he finding another dumb tourist like me to con? Or did he follow me and think that I was stupid enough to fall for him again?!
Finally I greeted him and he looked pleased at meeting me. He started off on his friendly tone and he sounded like we were friends since a long time. In conversation I told him that last night was a big blow for me. That’s when he has something very interesting to say. He told me that after dropping me off last night, he went back to Newyork bar and had a few more drinks with his lady. He walked out of the bar once he finished and left his hotel name and room number behind.. The lady visited him later that night.. and the rest…. As they say.. is Censored.!!
My curiosity forced me to ask a few more questions. He also told me that he didn’t have to pay an additional penny to the lady for the time she spent with him. That’s when enlightenment struck! I realized that the cost of Euro 170, was not just for the drink, but for the merry time that came along with it. Therefore I was a stupid customer who had paid for a full service, but availed only the drink in this colourful package. Hehehe.. This was a great learning I thought. Now I know what it means when a girl asks you to if you can buy her a drink- the higher the bill, the wilder you can dream!! Haha.
Thinking about all of this, I could not stop smiling to myself. I felt like a wise man now. This was an expensive learning of course, something that a movie or friend could have taught me. However this expensive learning had given me an experience that’s making me want to write this note to you all.
The same evening(my last night in Athens), I walked around a busy street with pubs and bars. This time again a person came up to me and asked whether I was from Bangladesh or India. As soon as I said India, he said a few words like Delhi, Mumbai, Tajmahal and thought we were making conversation. This person said that he owned a pub 2 streets away and that I should join him for a drink. I stopped and asked myself whether I was ready to go down this lane all over again? This was questioning my pride and wisdom I just thought I discovered. That’s when I said that I should go and see what more can happen to me.
He also had a smooth pitch and told me general things that you would not mind nodding for. We walked into a side lane that was dimly lit. I was just praying that he does not take me back to NewYory Bar.
We walked across the street and entered a small door, which opened into a bar that had 3 tables, one formally dressed manager, one bar tender and 3 women. This place looked better as I saw another group of people who looked like customers. We both sat down on a table and a lady came to sit beside me. Again I started to feel a bit conscious and uncomfortable, but this time I kept telling myself that I know the game. As soon as they asked me if I wanted to have a drink, I said that I was full and was done with drinking for the day. The girl looked disappointed and said that maybe I should buy her a drink and chat for a while. That’s when I had a smirk on my face and looked straight at her and said this-
“Ma’am, I really cannot afford to buy anyone a drink for a long time now. I just got ripped off last night while I tried buying a lady a drink at Newyorks Bar. Right now I don’t have money for anything of this sort.” She told me that her bar was very fair and would charge only according to the menu card. I explained to her and said a polite thank you before I got up and walked out. As soon as I stepped out of the door my chest felt inflated. I felt like a wise man who knew how to handle this type of situations. I smiled to myself again, this time not in amusement alone, but with a sense of achievement! J
After these happy moments, I went back home and just put things together for my flight that was next day evening. Didn’t plan any adventure for the last day. I felt like I had saw and learned enough at Athens. Just relaxed and got the flight back to Doha and then Dubai. Surprisingly no confusion on my way back!!
This ended another memorable trip of mine.
