Wed night and Thursday ~ Athens with the tour

Dennis & Sandy, Dale & Nancy (above) and Martha (l)  and John ( at end of table ).

Wednesday night, dinner with several from our tour group at a great neighborhood restaurant, whose tables spilled out onto the park across the street.  We enjoyed Greek cuisine from "gyro pitas" to lamb chops.  It was delicious - the food and the fellowship!

Thursday morning, we headed 

 THE acropolis - the most famous - and the temple of Athena and her Parthenon.  Here, human life was traced back to the 5th C b.c.  Athena was the goddess of wisdom and war. 

Many, many tourists swarmed over the hill; I was thankful we were here in Oct and not in July!

Dates to 447-438 B.C.  It was used as a church in the 6th C A,D,, a Frankish cathedral in the 13th C.  The Venetians blew it up in 1687, for it was a storage center for Turkish ammunition, but it was restored 1834-44 and since 1983.  It IS amazing!    

The limestone Areogapus, or "Mars Hill" where  Paul addressed the Athenian thinkers.  Present day Athens in the background.

 

                                                                                                

The odeum, or music theater, as seen from the acropolis.

The Erechtheion - built to honor the founder

of the city.  The  Porch of the Karyatids is the most famous part of the structure, where statues of maidens were used as columns.  These are replicas - originals are in the museum.

Obviously, renovation continues --

                                                                                                  

                                                                                 

Our group with Evie

Wayne & Larry with an agressive peddler, eager to sell Wayne a tablecloth!  She accompanied him most of the way back to the bus in the acropolis parking lot!

The Marathon Stadium (this one's for you, Wade) -- on site of ancient Greek stadium which in  409 B.C., was the finishing point of a 42 k run 2500 years ago.  

The Acropolis from the Marathon Stadium

                                                                                                            

                                  

Corinth and back to Athens

We left Athens this morning, via our trusty coach, driver George and guide Evie, and headed for Corinth. Impressions as we left the city: smog, lots and lots of cars ( reportedly 3500 in the city) producing clogging traffic on terrible roads; fascinating graffiti ("it's Greek to me"). Four million out of the total Greek population of 11 million, live in Athens, which has its share of illegal immigrants ( Albanians ). The Turks occupied Athens from 15 - 19 C a.d.and in 1830 it was liberated. In 1834, Athens was deemed the capital of the new Greek state. In less than two centuries, it became an independent state. Otto was the first king - but there has been no Greek king or queen - all descended from royal famlies of Europe.

Presently, Greece is a parliamentary republic. The position of President is largely symbolic/ceremonial - he serves a 5-year term and is elected by Parliament. The prime minister has the real power and is elected by the people.

A couple more Greek facts: There are two national highways: one, from Athens to Corinth; the second, from Athens to Thessaloniki. There is a rainy season which starts in November. there are 158 million olive trees; Greece is the 3rd largest producer of olive oil, worldwide, after Spain and Italy.  And, Greece is the 6th coun try in the world for seismic activity with the last major earthquake in 1999 measuring a 5.7 on the Richter scale.

Soon after we left Athens, we pulled off the road to look at the Canal of Corinth, built in 1893. This was cut through the Pellaponesia peninsula to enable ships to avoid having to sail around the peninsula, or portaging the ships along the diolkos (pathway for ships before the canal was dug). The canal is four miles long and twenty-five meters wide. The cliffs on either side are eighteen meters tall. The water kepth is 7-8 meters. 11 million cubic meters of dirt was moved!

And, on to Corinth - one of the oldest cities in Greece at 3,000 years old.  It has had the same name all that time.  The "bloom" of the city was in the 7th and 6th C AD.   The American School of Classical Studies began excavating in the 1890's.  What treasures they discovered!

This guy looks remarkably like Abram!

12 Twelve temples to pagan gods were found in Corinth. The population in Paul's day consisted of 250,000 free men and 400,000 slaves.

Beautiful pottery in black and red tones. 

Paul wrote Romans while he was in Corinth, which is located 78 km southwest of Athens.; he visited the city in 51 AD.   When Paul came, a common language and a Greek Old Testament ws already in place.  Same alphabet is used today; has been in palce for 3000 years.  It was derived from Phoeniian alphabet - Syria/Palestine.  Alexander the Great spread the Greek language throughout the Mediterrean basin.

       

                                                                    The "bema" where Paul preached in Corinth -amazing!

We left Corinth with a sense of wonder at what had been documented and saved, authenticating Paul's presence and teaching there - almost 2,000 years ago.

Monday night and Tuesday

Monday night – A late night supper (with part of our group) of traditional tomatoes and cucumber salad (Marty) and mousaka (Larry) and shared baklava (everyone at our table) in the village after checking into our chalet-type accommodations – then a walk back up the mountain road under brilliantly shining stars and a full moon! Beautiful! A surprise SKIPE call from friend Roger Polkinghorne from Australia was a bonus to the evening! Finally – to bed.

Tuesday – Delphi and on to Athens

The day started with a bang – literally! First there was much barking of dogs – on and on – and then it seemed that Larry began having a restless leg and the bed began to respond with shaking and rattling of the headboard – or was it someone knocking on the door – or the closet door banging? I didn’t know – but soon everything seemed to quiet down and I drifted off to sleep. Next thing I knew, the alarm was going off and I had forgotten about the incident. .. that is until we went down to breakfast and Dale Linvill asked us if we had realized we had had an earthquake over night!! My first! He said when he heard the dogs barking, he realized something had either spooked them or they were anticipating something to come. Then, when the “whole lot of shaking going on” began, he put two and two together and nailed it! Turns out, this is an area where tremors are not uncommon. In fact, it is speculated that the tremors and the vapors yielded as a result, were the source of the frenzy the oracles experienced at Delphi.

Then, John Currid greeted us with the news that the Dow was up to 936 at the close of the day yesterday! All the ladies got excited and decided perhaps they could do some shopping after all on this trip J

Add to all this, then, an email from brother Jack saying that the Bowden era was over at Clemson!

Whew! What a way to start this day!

Ann and Aubrey, Jane enjoying breakfast at Delphi.

After a wonderful breakfast from a bountifully laid table of fruit, granola, yogurt, eggs, meat and cheese, juices, tomatoes, coffee, tea, etc., we checked out of this lovely hotel and made our way through zig zaggy mountain roads, switch back after switch back, to the marvelous excavation site and museum at Delfi.

My, oh my – this was just amazing! Another very able guide led us through the museum where we were in awe at the pieces of statuary and other excavated stone pieces from pre-Christian eras. We learned of the myths of the era and gained a real mental understanding of the difficulty Paul had in presenting Christianity and fighting the belief system of the day and how Paul's message so contrasted the thought of the common people of Greece.

And walked up the paths behind the museum to the vast excavated areas at Delphi. Nancy and Dale were part of the crew who walked all the way to the top of the site to the stadium – a real accomplishment - we all cheered for Nancy as she made her way back into the bus!

As far as we can know from scripture, Paul did not go to Delphi – but because he was well-read in Greek literature and was well-versed in Greek history and culture, there was every reason to believe he knew of it. It is representative of what Paul was up against in bringing Christianity to Macedonia - and he addresses this situation of many gods here in both Acts and the letters to the Thessalonians. It was a great way to gain understanding of the impregnation of the culture with false gods and deities. How rich are these experiences and how much depth is added to our understanding of our New Testament scriptures.

Among other things at Delphi, we learned that the Greeks considered this area the center of the world – thus, the sculptures signifying the “navel of the world” are unique here! A large domed piece depicted just that! (This internet connection at the Oscar Hotel is so very sketchy, I cannot get pictures - the ones that say 1,000 words! - downloaded - will try later.)

One example of The "navel of the earth"!!

From Delphi, we headed to Athens – another long bus trip tempered with Bible teaching and great discussion. From exposition of Acts 17 and the Q&A following, to a sharing of Dr. Currid’s experiences in the excavations in the middle east, to a discussion about child sacrifice – the time was filled with learning opportunities and good fellowship. During this afternoon, we attempted to get the various civilizations down pat – which came when, what happened because of what, who was instrumental thru each – whew! Good stuff – and so good to get it straight!! Why didn’t I pay more attention to my world and ancient history classes? Before we knew it, we found ourselves at the last rest stop before Athens – into which the arrival reminded many of us of driving into Atlanta at rush hour!

Athens is a big city, full of graffiti and lots of cars and people – the latter two things attempting to move very fast in the slow lane – quite like big cities all over the world, from that perspective! We all continued to be very impressed and thankful for our bus driver John – and hated to say good-bye to him when we unloaded at The Oscar Hotel.

Larry has a fresh cold tonight which drove him to bed with the covers over his head soon after we got settled in. I went to get a light supper with Dale and Nancy and fellow traveler Wayne Creel. We found an outdoor café a couple blocks over (many of the rest of the crew headed via subway to a large shopping area – I really didn’t want to get too far away with Larry under the weather) Fortunately, D & N were looking for lighter and closer fare, too – and we found Wayne wandering around the lobby as we left, so he joined us). We had traditional Greek gyro pitas – lamb cut off the spit (Marty), chicken (Nancy and Wayne) and beef (Dale) – man, it was delish! A spirited conversation about the work of the Spirit added as much joy as the good food and fellowship – but we didn’t linger as I broke the dining off. I was eager to get back to the hotel and the ailing husband! Hated for Larry to miss such a good conversation and good company.

No luck with the sketchy internet connection L so gave up and called it a night. Only to get up about an hour later to get these thoughts together before they left me!

So, it was another great day – with the exception of Larry feeling so rugged. Hopefully, Lord willing, he will be much improved tomorrow! We will be on to a ½ day excursion to Corinth tomorrow and then have the rest of the afternoon free to explore the shops in Athens. A tour of Athens and environs on Thursday and then to our ship and head to the islands. Hope to get online tomorrow – and will add more then! …..

Thessaloniki - and to Delphi

This morning, we took a closer look at Thessaloniki, which was founded in the 5^th C  BC – the monuments, a museum and the largest and oldest basilica ( the Basilica of St. Dimitries) at the acropolis – which, we have learned, means to highest point in the city, thus the number of “acropolises” around this country. A huge fire in 1917 destroyed 2/3 of the city, with just the old city remaining; 73,000 citizens were homeless. Great pains have been taken to maintain the flavor of that area with a historical society giving guidance to renovations and any new constructions.                                              

We exited the bus and walked around the old town – what a great idea and a must to really get a flavor of the area. Climbing narrow streets between two story private homes, colorful with the hues of the Mediterranean, balconies with potted plants and clothes hanging outside windows, aged women in black with lace collars sitting in doorways here and there, cats meowing in Greek, wonderful wrought iron balconies, narrow stairways – all leading up to marvelous views downward to the Agean and tantalizing smells wafting out lace-covered windows. 

At the top of the hill, was a very small church that was originally public bath! The daughter of a muslim mayor was a Christian and duped her father, spending his money to build a bath which was simply a front for a church!

Thessalaniki was named

 for the wife of the founder. She and Alexander the Great had different mothers but the same father. Niki means victory – Her father had just had victory against the enemy, the Thessali.

The flag of Greece is blue and white striped with a white cross in the upper left corner. The blue and white colors call to mind the sky and the sea – in a country of 3,ooo islands, that makes sense. The country is Christian, thus, the cross. The 9 stripes mirror that 9 syllables in the Greek phrase from the Greek-Turkish war, “liberty or death”.

Sights in old town Thessaloniki:

Our group overlooking Thessaloniki and the Agean Sea

  The White Tower, symbol of

 Thessaloniki - formerly a dungeon ->

<-  Statue of Alexander the Great at seafront

Paul always went to the temple first when he visited a town.  The story is that a Greek Orthodox monastery is now located at the place where the temple was in Thessaloniki.

<-  Cathedral of St. Dimitris, Thessaloniki ->

As we headed toward Delphi, we had a Bible study from Philippians and from 1 Thessalonians given by John Currid and Dennis Ireland. What a rich trip this is already - and we've just begun! Just don't have the time to do justice to a journal/blog - hope to get some pictures downloaded soon! It's midnight after a long day - and we start early in the morning!!! So much of Greece - so little time! 

GREECE, at long last

Well, after traveling 18 hours, we were met at the airport in Thessaloniki by a tour organizer and our bus - what a wonderful sight! Others, including the Linvills, joined our group of 13 who flew from JFK, and we traveled the last 30 minutes to our home away from home for the next two nights, the El Greco Hotel. ( Drew - do you remember the night you and Dad and I took off for the first "field trip" in France - and Dad awoke the 2nd morning, announcing that it had been the worse night he had ever spent?!!! I was afraid we were going to have the same experience, as our room was on the 2nd level, facing the very busy street - with the balcony window open. ) But, we soon discovered that we would close it, turn on the ac and we had a quiet night before us! Boy, were we ready for it! I don't even remember my head touching the pillow!! But, let me back up ...

The picture above is of Jane and Connie in the Athens airport - but in the background is our first sighting of priests from the Greek Orthodox church. Typically dressed in long black robe upon robe, tall hats, long hair pulled back into low pony tail, they make quite a showing to a westerner. Altho we saw many ( 97% of Greek citizens are of the orthodox faith ), it never ceased to be quite a sight!

Dinner at the hotel was ready for us when we took our things to our rooms ***** so we had a table with another couple and a single man. The food was fine - not wonderful! The interesting thing was that we were served a first course of large baked potato, sliced long ways and soaked in olive oil! We learned today that there are over 125 million olive trees in Greece - and they are the third larger producer of olive oil in the world. The Mediterranean diet is full of olive oil and Greece surely reflects that!

**** This is interesting, so typical of learning the ropes in another country! Our plastic card key has a dime-sized metal protrusion on the back side - which you slip into a holder just inside the door. This activates the electricity for the room!!! So, as soon as you get it, you slip the card into its holder and the lights come on. Then you can turn on the air conditioning, if desired.
The beds are wonderful (or was it that I was so tired?) two club chairs and small pedestal table, a 13" tv mounted high on the wall - and a lovely balcony outside, terrazzo floors with throw rugs. The hotel is small, beautiful art on the walls in the lobby, clean, typically European and the rooms numbered 10-something are on the 2nd floor, just like in France. A good choice.

<-  Nancy in the lobby of the El Greco Hotel in Thessaloniki.

This morning, we set out at 7:30 for a full day of learning about the area. Our Greek guide Patty went to guide school (sounds like an institution for dogs!!) for three years and was very knowledgeable about her country - at least the script! She was asked follow-up questions and stumbled a number of times! But, no matter, we sure learned a whole bunch - and she will continue with us tomorrow. Very personable and I think she enjoyed our group, as well.




Patty in Thessaloniki Greek Orthodox Cathedral of St. Dimitros; Marty and Larry in front of the theater ruins in Philippi.

We headed out toward Kavala, a port city south east of us, about a 2-hour drive. Along the way, we learned about the history, industry, people groups, terrain, etc., of this interesting land that has spawned the likes of Aristotle, Phillip the 2nd, Alexander the Great, Socrates, Euripites.


Just before we reached Kavala (the entry place into Macedonia, of Paul, Timothy, Luke and Silas, formerly called Neapolis ), we spent quite a bit of time at the excavated site of Philippi. This was absolutely amazing! It hit us that we were walking right where the Apostle Paul had walked, talked, taught and was jailed. What a privilege!

Philipi was the site of the first Christian church.  The excavations were just the first of many we would see, but maybe because it was our first exposure to such a thing, they were breathtaking.  To think that there was a city here - and that so much of the layout of the town was discernible
was so interesting.  We started in a small museum where many of the found treasures were protected, then went to the excavation site:       

<-  Larry at Philippi theatre

                    

                         

                            Column with Corinthian 

<-  Site of prison where Paul was held

Philippi was named for Phillip the 2nd, and was located on the Via Egnatia, the main highway leading from the eastern provinces to Rome.  

Shrines like this one dotted every road we travel-

ed on throughout Greece. Some of the shrine locations may have endured as long as the roads themselves. "Shrines to pagan gods were built in the same spots and for the same purpose - to provide the traveler with a moment of rest and prayerful reflection." And they serve a related purpose for the travelers who will stop for a quick photo opportunity and end up gazing at the endless olive groves disappearing into the distance, or find a glowing-red cyclamen or yellow crocus unexpectedly bursting through the grass at their feet. Pausing at these heartfelt roadside shrines immediately connects the visitor with the enduring life of Greece. They were either marking a place where someone was killed in a traffic accident or placed in honor of a pagan god or church saint, complete with pictures, candles, etc.


A real highlight of the day was seeing the Gangites River where the Lydia gathered for prayer with other believers and was baptized by Paul. There was a Catholic service going on there at the time, by the river. A few yards away was a Greek Orthodox baptistry - a beautiful, icon-filled building where people were baptized. A young child was being baptized and it was obvious it was quite a special affair.

The building for baptisms ->  

Neopolis (new city) or Kavala is the 2nd most important port in Greece and was the entry point for Paul, Luke, Silas and Timothy, when Paul answered the challenge of the Macedonean man in  his vision.   

A late lunch/early dinner was enjoyed at the port at Kavala- and my fried shrimp came with heads on - with eyes looking at me!!!! What a surprise!

Whatta day! Glad to be back and looking forward to more tomorrow!