April 1, 2012
We got up around 6:00 this morning and got ready for the day. Breakfast was a buffet in the hotel dining room. Our hotel, the Grand Hotel Palace, was a very nice hotel!
We were on the tour bus and on the road by 8:30 a.m. Thessaloniki is a very large city!
Greek Orthodox Church
Countryside in Greece:
olive tree orchard
Our first stop of the day was at Lydia's Baptismal.
She was Paul's first convert in Europe.
A group made this beautiful mosaic map of Paul's travels on floor of the church. You really hated to walk on something so cool!
Brenda and me near the site of Lydia's baptismal - this is the river she was baptised in...
Sheepherder
Next we visited Ancient Phillipi. It was quite a large Roman city!!
This is the jail where Paul was imprisoned.
"This traditional place of Paul and Silas's imprisonment is of dubious authenticity, but it remembers the attack on these men and their subsequent flogging and imprisonment. In the course of the night, a violent earthquake shook the prison and the jailer feared that all might have escaped. After learning that none had fled, the Philippian jailer put his faith in Christ and was baptized with his family." (Bibleplaces.com)
Egnatian Way
"The Via Egnatia was built beginning in 145 BC and at its greatest extent connected Byzantium with the Adriatic ports. This route was Rome's primary artery to the east and Philippi was an important outpost along the road. The Egnatian Way made it easier for Rome to move troops throughout the empire and it was the route that Paul traveled on from Neapolis to Philippi, Amphipolis, Apollonia and Thessalonica." (bibleplaces.com)
You can see the chariot wheel ruts on the stones...
The Agora of Phillipi - shopping district
Kavala- Paul landed here (previously called Neapolis) on his first journey to Europe. It was a beautiful town situated along the coast.
Of course, there is a monument commemorating Paul's landing...
This is a well preserved aquaduct in Kavala. The present structure dates back to the 16th century.
We ate lunch at an open air restaurant - yummy!
Finally, it was time to head back to Thessaloniki for the night. We were suppposed to take a walking tour but could find no place to park. So we had a driving tour instead. Very busy city!
Coffee time is a very big deal in Greece! They usually meet for coffee in the late afternoon/early evening. Dinner is later in the evening. Meeting face to face is very important to the Greeks - they love to visit with each other. There were many, many young people out for coffee today!!!
More of Thessaloniki...
Beautiful end to the day!!
After arriving back at the hotel, we had a short time to wait before dinner. Brenda and I worked on repacking our luggage. We went to dinner at 7:30 p.m. and ate dinner with Don, one of our tour members. After dinner, we finished repacking and then hit the sack!
