Athens & Summary
It was a lovely morning in Athens! The church bells were ringing all morning and it was sunny and cool. Most services are what we would consider late, around 11 am.
We started the morning with nasal swabs - ugh! - but we are all negative so praise God we will be flying home tomorrow!
We visited Hadrians arch and the Temple of Zeus this morning after Craig did a little drone flying around the acropolis (made Marge and Jacob anxious, but all went well). The Temple of Zeus is outside of the forum and the agora, and it is massive. There is a major restoration project going on right now.
On Sundays, the Evzone guards at the tomb of the unknown soldier wear even more traditional uniforms, so we went back there to watch the changing of the guard. Then we spent a leisurely last couple of hours riding in the top of a double decker hop on - hop off tourist bus ( we were not up for another 11 mile walk today!). This is a free travel tip - you can ride all day, and manage to end up close to wherever you are staying
We’ve been reflecting on how much of Paul’s travel in Greece we’ve able to follow:
1. Landing at Neopolis (Kavala) after answering the call to bring the gospel to Macedonia
2. Walking the Via Egnatia , Paul’s transportation between the port and Philippi and Thessaloniki
3. Phillipi - seeing the spots that are likely sites for Paul and Silas imprisonment. Seeing the river place of prayer where Paul met and baptized Lydia of Thyatira.
4. Amphipolis and Apollonia - stops on the via Egnatia that the Bible tells us Paul traveled through on the way to Thessaloniki
5. Thessaloniki and the Roman forum of Paul’s time and the many churches and monuments to Paul’s evangelism there
6. Berea- a monument to commemorate Paul’s escape from the Jews trying to imprison him
7. Methoni and Pydna - close port cities from which Paul would have sailed for Athens alone.
8. Athens - the Agora and the Areopagus where Paul reasoned with both philosophers and God fearers.
9. Corinth where Paul spent the vast majority of his time in Greece, meeting and working with Pricilla and Aquila and leading many, both Jews and Greeks, to the knowledge of salvation thru Jesus the risen Messiah.
10. Cenchrae - the port from which Paul and Pricilla and Aquila sailed for Asia Minor (Turkey) and Ephesus.
Plus so many beautiful churches and basilicas that came after Paul as a direct result of his work in founding Christian communities in this area. Also so many other archeological sites that put the time of Paul into perspective and give us an idea of sites he would have seen during his travels.
We are so thankful and blessed to have seen these things and have had fun sharing them with you. We are also exhausted and are eagerly waiting our return flight tomorrow! God Bless, PB and Marge
