Act 6 | Greece

Greece: Five days, four locations. (This is what i trained for.)

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Speaking of trains; I crossed my first international border by rail (from Turkey into Greece); We'll I think I did, I was asleep at the time, curled up in bed while the customs officials did their thing with my passport. (Why can't all the border crossing be that comfortable, is it not the 21st century .?.?.)



Not long after getting on board I discovered that my first experience with a squat toilet was going to be on a moving train, with loose (explosive) bowel movements, and poor sphincter control. (I chose not to photograph the results.)

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Philippi

I visited the ancient ruins of Philippi, where I read the book of Phillipians (among the old church foundations) and the passage in Acts that describes Paul & Silas singing in prison after being whipped, and before an earthquake shook down the walls . (They claim to have uncovered the prison cell (see the photo below).)


Even better than the ruins of Philippi was the river outside the city limits where the first Christian baptism took place (that of Lydia); The river in front of the small, but uber-cool, orthodox chapel has been tastefully developed to accommodate others who wish to be baptised in this sacred place (before a live audience).

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Thesseloniki

I spent some time cruising the streets of Thesseloniki - the modern city bears little resemblance to the ancient one - only the marketplace of the old city has been preserved and excavated in one of the downtown blocks.


The Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thesseloniki has one of the best collections of icons in the world; I was there for hours and exhausted by the end of the exhibition. (I reckon the icon below of the 'Madonna & Child' could be just the thing the western church needs to rekindle and maintain the interest of teenage boys in Christian religion.)


There are a number of very old and beautiful church buildings in Thesseloniki, I chose two of them to read the two letters addressed to them (by Paul) which have been preserved in the bible.

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The weirdest encounter I had while in Greece, resulted in me buying a couple of Italian made jackets and a designer watch that belonged to a frantic man who needed money to visit his sick mother in Italy urgently. (Turns out you still get quite angry when you confirm that you've been swindled (by noticing that some of the buttons on the watch don't work (because they're plastic) and by peeling off the Italian made labels that had been stuck over the real labels) even when you suspect it at the time.

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Athens

On a day that seemed to be wasting away on the streets of Athens, I found myself the victim of retail therapy and the owner of a new hat.



The only biblical event that is based in Athens is the discussion Paul had with the local philosophers on Mars Hill concerning their monument to 'unknown God' (Acts 17); I got to spend some time on the same hilltop early one morning before checking out the rest of the sites scattered throughout the city - some ancient, others modern.

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Corinth

The last place I had to see while in Greece was Corinth; The remains here are not as well preserved as other cities from the time of Christ, but knowing that Paul spent many years in the area making tents and establishing the church, and that the letters Paul later wrote to the church at Corinth have shaped so many lives and churches, more than made up for what was lacking in the rubble.



The stones behind me are where Paul was brought to face the Roman tribunal (Acts 18).

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Later that day, in likemanner with Paul, I set sail for Rome (my ferry was probably much larger and more comfortable than the boat Paul was shipwrecked in).