Fall 2008: 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!