My Greek Olympics: Ari tour...

Ari Tour:

A zoo at the acropolis

One of the first "group activities" we did was what was to be called the Ari Tour. Ari, our consultant and partner, would take groups on a little tour around the Plaka and Acropolis and tell many interesting little stories. We had one planned for a Saturday morning and at the appointed time, we all gathered at the annex. It was most of the people working on the project at the time, corporate types and office people, plus some contractors. Ari would start at the statue of the last emperor of Greece, which was next to the annex in the Metropol square. Some of the other SAIC shit heads came along and we could tell how stupid they were. One guy was wearing his tee shirt inside out because he was told that he could be "targeted" as an American because of the logo on his shirt.

Ari would describe sites with a description that would go something like this; "Here is the statue of Emperor X, he was not a good emperor, more like a playboy than anything. Though he did stand up to the Turks, he was killed on the walls of the fort and his body cut up and put out on display." We then would walk up the street towards the Acropolis and stop to look down a street. "That building was owned by a British general in charge of training the Greeks to fight. He was a terrible leader and couldn't understand how the Greeks fought or how the Turks fought, but the Greeks like him." Then the prostitute street or the main drag, this is where three thousand years ago all the hip people would go to be scene. On up the hill past other sites and churches, then we would arrive at the "rock". St. Peter came and spoke to the Athenians on this spot, the Greeks listens politely then left. This was the description of the events, always the Greeks were superior. 

On The tour..

Once on the Acropolis, Ari would start the talk on the buildings and surroundings and history. On one occasion, Ari was "taken to the police" because he was accused of providing an illegal tour. There were specific people who were licensed to give tours and they were very protective. The reason why he was taken was not because of what Ari did, it was because of the things the others said and did. A lot of mocking and gesturing to the tour guides who came to complain. A few pictures were taken, some jokes made and the big no-no, the open hand to the face. It was the ugly Americans for sure, I walked away from the group since I didn't want to have anything to do with it. Soon the police came and Ari was accused of leading a tour for pay and was taken to the Police.

We ended up going to lunch after the police took Ari, Jay also went with Ari to the police station. There was nothing we could do and it took several hours to resolve. We sat and ordered while the phone would ring every few minutes to let us know what was happening, Jay would call David and he would fill us in. Ari used his connections and a powerful lawyer to convince the police that it was a mistake. Ari was able to turn the tables on the complainant and in the end the tour guides were begging for his forgiveness. We all were having lunch and listening to the phone conversation going on between Ari and Christiana (Ari's Wife). Ari's daughter called and Christiana said, "your father is in jail, but don't worry he will be here soon". Ari arrive to the triumph of all and he gave a wonderful accounting of the events. Jay seemed to have enjoyed it as well and was having a good time, though it wasn't what we wanted to do on a Saturday afternoon.

After the Acropolis, the tour would usually wind around the east side and through less traveled paths on the east side. This would end up taking us back into Plaka or Psara restaurant for a big lunch. I ended up doing about ten Ari tours during my stay, but I would join then in progress or leave early on the later ones since I had heard it all before. It was a nice way to waste an afternoon, but after a while I became jaded with the tour and I wanted to do other things. As we got closer to the Olympics, there would be no time to spend on weekends, we just worked every day.