June 26, Saturday Going Home

June 26, Saturday Going Home

We flew from Thessalonica to Munich to Chicago to Sioux Falls. The flights went very well and we had no problems going through customs or making each connecting flight. We were happy to be arriving in Sioux Fall a few minutes early. However, just as we had problems getting out of Sioux Falls on May 12, we also had problems getting back into the Sioux Falls airport. A thunderstorm hit minutes after we landed and before we could get into the gate. What was supposed to be a short 10 minute wait sitting in the plane on the tarmac, turned into a 1 hour and 40 minute wait as the thunderstorm became more intense with winds of up to 50 miles per hour. We were happy to finally get off the plane, and were welcomed home by Paul, Joni, Emily, Matthew, Sarah, Rosa and Gary. We were ready for a good night of sleep in our own bed after being up for 26 hours, gone for 46 days, sleeping in 20 different beds, traveling through 8 countries (Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Greece, Turkey) and 3 continents (Africa, Asia, Europe) via 10 planes, 17 trains, 10 buses,1 taxi, 1 tradesman’s van and 1 lumberjack’s truck!

From the plane on the ground in Sioux Falls

June 25, Friday Philippi and Kavala (Neapolis)

June 25, Friday Philippi and Kavala (Neapolis)

Leaving Thessalonica we traveled eastward to the biblical city of Neapolis (now called Kavala) where Paul landed with Luke, Timothy and Silas (Act 16:11-12) before he went to Philippi.

We saw remnants of Via Egnatia, the original Roman road that spanned Greece during Paul’s time, as we drove out of Kavala.

As we came to Philippi we enjoyed seeing the place where Paul met Lydia by the river and baptized her. Standing by the river our group sang and prayed together. In the 5th or 6th century there were severe earthquakes in this region, leveling Philippi. Nothing has been built over this area so it is a great place to see the ruins of the Acropolis, Market Place, Basilica and the Theatre.

Our guide James tells us about the grave site at Philippi

The River Zygakites where Paul met Lydia

The theatre in Philippi

The prison of Philippi may be behind these ruins

The mosaics indicate that a church was built here by 320 AD

which makes it one of the earliest in Europe

June 24, Thursday - Vergina, Berea, Thessalonica

June 24, Thursday - Vergina, Berea, Thessalonica

As we left Meteora and traveled northward into Macedonia we enjoyed the beautiful countryside.

Berea (called Veria today) has a monument built to honor Paul in 1950. We walked down into the Jewish quarter or ghetto area where there is an ancient synagogue where Paul may have addressed the Bereans, called the "more noble" church. (Acts 17:11) Very few Jews remain here today, as most have moved to Israel.

Monument to honor Paul built in Berea

Ancient Synagogue

We visited King Phillip's (the father of Alexander the Great) tomb in Vergina. This is one of the most outstanding finds in all of Greece since it was found intact.

Crossing the Macedonian Plain to the city of Thessalonica were fields of corn, wheat and sunflowers.

By the harbor in Thessalonica are the old city walls and towers, much of it from Roman times (168 BC – 379 AD) and some from the time of the Turks (1430 - 1923). Thessalonica once had the most Jews of any city in Europe but because so many were killed in WWII concentration camps and others later immigrated to Israel very few remain.

Gate through which Paul may have walked

June 23, Wednesday - Thermopylae and Meteora

June 23, Wednesday

Greece is a beautiful country of mountains, hills, plains, trees and water. We spent five hours traveling in the bus, going northward from Athens through the Theban plain to Thermopylae. This is the site of the famous Spartan battle in 480 BC where 300 Spartans died (actually about 1000 with the support troops) trying to hold off a huge Persian army.

Aegean Sea coastline

Wheat fields of Greece

The battle of Thermopylae took place onthe wooded hill

The Aegean Sea would have covered the road

We continued through the mountains of Greece to Meteora to see the famous Byzantine Eastern Orthodox monasteries that are perched precariously on summits of gray rock pinnacles of varied and beautiful shapes. The history of the monasteries goes back to the 14th century when the monks first sought refuge in the cliffside caves. Later they built monasteries on the peeks of the rocks. We climbed over 300 steps to tour one of these monasteries and enjoyed a great ice cream treat when we got back to our bus.

The rocky formations of Meteora

We walked down and up into this monastary

It was a great ice cream bar!

The city of Meteora seen from the top

June 22, Tuesday - Corinth - Greece

June 22, Tuesday
Our first stop after leaving Athens was the Corinth Canal. The Romans in 60 AD, under Nero’s influence, began to dig this canal but no one completed it until the Greeks finished it in 1893. The canal is 600 meters long and the water is 8 meters deep. It connects the Aegean and Ionia Seas. An interesting thing at this site is that there is a bridge that drops down into the canal (in contrast to a draw bridge that opens upward) to allow large vessels to pass through the canal. As we walked over the bridge, looking down at the canal, we were surprised to connect with two couples from Sioux Falls who were travelling through Greece with the Augustana Alumni choir.

We then traveled to city of Corinth and walked through the ancient ruins where Paul stayed for a couple of years. We saw the Market Place, the Bema (where speakers stand to address their audience), the Temples and the stone path that the Apostle Paul walked in 52-53 AD. He wrote the book of Ephesians here. Later Paul would write the letters, 1 and 2 Corinthians, to the believers at Corinth to encourage them to grow in their faith and to warn them about pagan influences. Near the city is the big acropolis, Acrocorinth, on which was built the temple of Aphrodite with all of its pagan rituals. The Archaeological Museum contained many wonderful artifacts from that period of time. We saw the stone carved inscription that mentions Erastus.(Romans 16:23)

An earthquake had leveled everything

This is a part of a reconstructed temple

Corinthian marketplace where Paul walked and taught

The spring of water in Corinth

The temple to Aphrodite was located on

the Acrocorinth (the large hill)

Next we traveled to Mycenae where the remains of the ancient city date back to the Bronze Age. We saw the famous Lionesse Gate, climbed to the top of the citadel and went into the Tomb of Agamennon, which is in the shape of a Beehive.

Tomb of Agamennon

From there we traveled 2 hours back to Athens.

The hills and valleys and mountains of Greece

June 21, Monday - Athens

June 21, Monday


From the island of Santorini we sailed through the night to Athens. The bus took us to the base of the Acropolis where we climbed lots of marble steps (which were a bit slippery) to see the Parthenon and Erectheum.

The Parthenon on the Acropolis

The Parthenon

We then climbed Mars Hill, overlooking the city of Athens. This is where Paul spoke with the leaders of Athens (Acts 17),
 

Mars Hill
 

 Standing on Mars Hill where Paul spoke

View of Acropolis from Mars Hill

Other places we saw include the Agora (ancient market place and center of Athenian public life), the House of Parliament, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Olympic Stadium, and Presidential Palace. We went to the open café on the top floor of our hotel to see the Parthenon in all the splendor of the night lights and bright moon.

Changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

The Olympic Stadium

The Parthenon light up at night

June 18 – 20, Friday – Sunday - Ephesus - Patmos - Crete - Santorini

June 18 – 20, Friday – Sunday

The bus took us through the city of Athens to the port where we got on our cruise ship, the Aegean Pearl. We settled into our room and then enjoyed the sun and good conversation with others as we ate our lunch on the deck. We landed in Mykonos, also called Little Venice. A bus took us from the ship to the edge of Mykonos and then we walked into the city. It was a relaxing evening, enjoying the waterfront town, old windmills, beautiful water and shopping in the stores of local artists.

Mykonos

Windmills on Mykonos

The ship sailed through the night as we tried to sleep in our tiny cabin. The next morning we were at the port city of Kusadasi, Turkey where we got on a bus to go to Ephesus. We walked through the ruins of ancient Ephesus, including the theatre from which Paul spoke to the Ephesians. We also saw the prison where they most likely took him when he was arrested.

The Holy Street of Ephesus where Paul walked 

The Library of Ephesus in front of which Paul proclaimed the gospel

Behind us is the 24,000 seat Ephesian theatre

The ship sailed again in the afternoon, taking us to the island of Patmos. Here we walked up a steep cobblestone street to the place where John may have received the vision from Jesus, recorded in the book of Revelation. We toured the Greek Orthodox Church which is believed to be built over the cave where John lived.

View of Patmos and the harbor from the area of John's cave

The fortress monastary built over the site of the cave of John

Saturday night was Greek night on the ship with a Greek meal and show. We sailed through the night, docking the next morning at Heraklion, on the island of Crete. After a tour of the Palace of Knossos we again sailed, this time to the beautiful island of Santorini. The ship came into harbor, surrounded by cliffs created by a volcano. Smaller boats tendered us to the island, where we got on a lift to get to the top of the island for an incredible view, lots of walking and a bit of shopping.

Palace of Knossos - King Minos'  room

Palace of Knossos

The first paved road according to archeologist is this Minoan road

Thira on the Island of Santorini

View from the city of the ocean crator

Temperatures have been in the mid-nineties. We continue to climb lots of steps, walk lots of hills, hear a lot about the Greeks and Romans and get a clearer understanding of the impact history has had on Christianity.

June 14 - 17, Monday – Thursday - Switzerland

June 14 - 17, Monday – Thursday - Switzerland

After heavy rainfalls during the night, we woke up to less clouds and a beautiful view of the Alps. We spent the morning on the deck reading in the sunshine, encircled by the mountain peaks. After lunch we went for a walk to the Tourist Center and spent several hours there working on our pictures albums, since internet connection is better there than in our chalet.

The view from our deck when the clouds broke

We hopped on the city bus for a tour of Leysin, picked up some groceries for a good pot of chili and fresh baked bread. Another heavy rain shower came through shortly after we got back.

Our Swiss coffee pot

Our last two days in Leysin were cloudy and cool. Internet connection did not work well even at the tourist center so we spent much of our last day reading, playing a few games of Quibbler and packing for our last tour.

View from our deck -- a flag that says "Relax"

Our departure from Leysin proved to be another adventure! Jim had reserved a taxi to pick us up at 7:30 am. Who would have thought that we would resort to hitch-hiking in a foreign country? Well, when our taxi had not arrived by 7:35 we walked to the main road with our luggage, hoping the taxi was “just around the corner.” Our train was leaving in 20 minutes (yes – the “Little Engine That Could” cog train that we arrived on a few days earlier) and we knew we could not pull our 80+ pounds of luggage up the hill to the station. A man in a vehicle stopped and spoke enough English to understand that we needed to get to the train station. So the lumberjack cleared enough space in his vehicle for us to sit, threw our luggage in the back and got us to the station on time.

Train station in Leysin

The train ride to Geneva was alongside Lake Geneva, but the cloudy conditions blocked our view of the lake and the mountains. When we got to Geneva we took a city tour via bus and mini train -- in the rain. We saw some of the historical sites in Geneva, like the Red Cross and United Nations headquarters. However, the one thing we most wanted to see, the Reformation memorial, was half covered by tents which were set up for another event. The rain and distance prohibited us from going back on foot to spend more time at the place where John Calvin is remembered. We ended our time in Geneva with a great fondu meal at a local restaurant.

Reformation Memorial Wall

On Thursday morning our flights went well and we were happy to arrive safely in Athens (via Vienna) and see our Pilgrim tour guide waiting for us with a vehicle to bring us to our hotel. And so our R&R in Switzerland ended – with memories of cog trains, hilly streets, clouds, rain and lots of time for rest.

View of the Alps from the airplane