Philippi, Kavala: Day 5

Heading for Philippi we stopped along the way to view the massive statue of the Lion of Amphipolis. This statue erected in the 1930s, having been rediscovered then, is thought to have been commissioned by Alexander the Great and dates back to the 4th century BC.

We pressed on with a long journey to Kavala, the site of Paul's seabound entry into Macedonia. From here he would make his way inland to the Roman colony of Philippi along the Via Egnatia, which is the Roman road that stretches from Rome for 500 miles eastward. Our bus trip only took a few minutes to reach the archeological site of ancient Philippi. This is a vast area that has among other things a forum, four churches, Bishop's house/palace, shops, houses, library, streets, baths. The mosaics that have been uncovered inside the octagonal church are a highlight.

Also at this archeological site is an ancient theatre seating many thousands of people - now sometimes used for performances. In an adjacent area a group of chaps were setting up for a concert.
It would be a spectacular view no matter how good or bad the concert.

The group relaxing by the site said to be the meeting place of St Paul and Lydia

  After a traditional Greek lunch (yum) we visited the beautiful shady riverside site said to be the place where St Paul met Lydia and her companions. Next to that site there is modern Greek Orthodox Baptistry, possibly the only one in the country. It is beautifully decorated with frescoes and icons. This completed our visit to Philippi and so we made our way back to the Golden Star Hotel for prayers and dinner, including a farewell to our wonderful guide, Voula.

Meteora to Thessalonika: Day 4

The Kalambaka Meteora Hotel is situated just outside the little village and overlooks the amazing rock formations that are Meteora. Many members of the group enjoyed a swim in the hotel pool before prayers on the terrace and then our fantastic multi course extravaganza of a meal.

Great Monastery at Meteora

We woke early keen to see the sun shining on the monoliths on the other side of the valley. We were soon in the bus and on our way back up to the top of the mountains this time to visit the Monastery Valaam perched atop the monolith. This is the second largest of the monasteries and according to our guide the most beautiful. After climbing the 190 steps we were able to enter this mystical world of the Greek Orthodox hermits. This is a working monastery with a church that is almost impossible to describe. It is so beautiful. It was great to see the winching room, to spend time looking at the view, to visit the monastery shop and museum.

The most amazing aspect of the whole place are the frescoes icons artwork in the church, the narthex and nave and around the monastery. These date from  4-500 years ago and still retain great colour and clarity.

Our slow trip down the mountain and once again we observe the other monasteries perched high on their rocks. Meteora is surely one of the great wonders of the world!

We then travelled for a considerable distance to Thessaloniki having lunch in the village of Berea  along the way. Cheese pie was the order of the day, and about all they had left in the shop. This was followed by an apple for everyone having purchased a case. This place is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles another stopover for St Paul in his journeys.

Thessaloniki is Greece's second largest city and is located by the sea. On our arrival we took in a panoramic view of this great city with its ancient walls that pierce through the modern city.  Below us we could see the Church of St Demitrius which was our last visit for the day before the short bus trip to our very smart hotel, Golden Star in the seaside village of Perea. Our hotel is situated right on the beach with deck chairs and real sand, not pebbles. We all hope to use this facility on our day off on Saturday.

View of the beach at Perea

Athens to Meteora: Day 3

The alarm sounded in every room at 6.00am, this didn't please all members of our group! However, there was some pleasure for some to discover that the Vicar woke to the sound of his phone alarm at 2.50am - a set reminder call for Wednesday morning church back at Albert Park.!!!

We boarded the bus loaded with the help of our delightful driver Panos. Voula, our super guide filled in hours of travel with an amazing array of information, commentary and even a the occasional mini sermon.
 

Panos our bus driver

We had a couple of pit stops along the way to the mountains of Meteora and the town of Kalambaka. By mid afternoon we had come close to our destination and so the group agreed to stopover at an Icon making workshop. It was a special privilege to see icons being made in the traditional way and for us to meet the local priest and his wife and team. Many within the group purchased icons to take home as gifts and to remind them of their time in Greece.

Pilgrims at the icon workshop

We ran out of time to get to a monastery so instead Panos took us on a sight seeing tour of the incredible monoliths that house the six monastries of Meteora. This is undoubtedly one of the wonders of the world.

Then we had a quick walk around the town of Kalambaka and then on to our hotel for a quick refreshing swim before prayers and dinner. The meal was fantastic and the day relaxed and thoroughly enjoyed by all.

Corinth, Athens: Day 2

After a hearty breakfast in our hotel we met Voula our very personable and knowledgeable local guide. Soon we were setting off in our comfortable bus for the Peloppenese and our first stop at the historic Corinth canal. This stretch of man made shipping  canal is not very old and is a marvel of human engineering. It impressed the tour engineer and our consultant on all things engineering, Don White.  The canal is 6 km long, just over 20 metres wide and deep enough for small ships to be towed from the Ionian Sea to the Aegean Sea.

Then on to Corinth and a visit to the Agora, Temple of Apollo, the Roman Odeon and the Bema where St Paul confronted his accusers - those who thought him to be a trouble-maker. Corinth stood at the crossroads of commerce and that combined with the local cult prostitution racket made this city a place of significance and sin. Paul bravely battled on for 18 months in the city and eventually left via the Port Cenchrae for Ephesus where he wrote letters to the Corinthians.

The group by the Corinth Canal

Lunch was taken in a lovely family run taverna, it was relaxed and sumptuous.

Then on we went back to Athens with most of the pilgrims having a snooze in the bus on the way.

Voula then took us on a tour of the city and to the  Acropolis to visit the Parthenon and the  Erectheion. From Mars Hill, also known as the Areopagus the view is fantastic. We could see the distant hills where the marble was mined to build the adjacent mammoth structures. We could see the old town which included the synagogue, the town square and on the other side of the hill the Forum it is incredible.  This part of today involved a fair bit of climbing on slippery marble stairs and everyone managed very well.

Our final segment of the day tour was to look at a bit more of the city including the changing of the guard outside of the old president's palace, now the parliament. This is straight out of the John Cleese  book of silly walks; you have to  see it to believe it.

Back at the hotel we met with Ross and Caryl McCready who had unfortunately missed the first day because their plane in Sydney had been cancelled!  We had prayers, a brief discussion and benefit to complete our first full day.

Athina (Athens): Day 1

After many hours flying our group of 10 arrived at Dubai at 4.00am. We had a five hour wait for our next flight and during that the stopover many of us had showers and a bit of shopping (Rebecca's two favourite "s" words). The group eventually swelled with the arrival of Hume, Peter and Judy who had been in Dubai for two days. They have had a terrific time using the on-off bus and visiting lots of the high points of the city. At the transit lounge we caught up at long last with Don and Sally from Queensland the sisters from outback NSW, Dorothy and Sue. We were expecting to see Ross and Caryl McCready but apparently they had flight connection problems in Sydney, we think they will join us now tomorrow.

Jim flat out thinking in Dubai

Eventually we arrived in Athens almost five hours more travel, Emirates looked after us all well all the way, the food was good and the staff constantly helpful.

Tig and Rebecca flat out enjoying Athens

On arrival at Athens airport we were met by Smora, a lovely Greek lady with a pile of personality. She was very helpful, positive and kind to all.

We have time for a swim and a relax before dinner and then for most of the group it will probably be an early night before we get into the tour proper under the guidance of Voula.