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Published: November 17th 2008
The Pacific Princess docked by 6:00 AM in Piraeus, Greece. This is a teeming, modern port filled with cruise ships, ferries and a wide variety of vessels. It’s a very modern port with nice passenger terminal facilities.
After a final breakfast and a time of waiting for our check out, there was a bit of sadness in our group as we departed from the ship which had been our home for nearly two weeks.
Out Athens tour company representative was right on time and met our group and helped us to load our luggage into the bus for a short trip to the hotel Stanley. When we arrived at the hotel, it was busy with what appeared to be some kind of taxi union meeting.
After checking in, the group decided to go to St Paul’s Anglican/Presybeterian church for Sunday services. We used Athens’ modern subway system to get the church location near the Acropolis and Athens’ Plaka district. We were too late to go into the church for services so we held our own in their courtyard under some lovely trees. Pastor Linda read scripture about Paul’s preaching at Mars Hill (not far from where we were), and we sang the doxology.. We were invited into the church by the Priest who would be called a Senior Pastor in our tradition, who oversees St. Pauls, and several other churches for the Anglicans.
He told us about the history of St Paul’s which was build in 1843, just after the Greeks had gained independence. He spend more than 30 minutes giving us what is the current state of the church in Greece. He was gracious with his time and enlightening with the sharing of history and current affairs in the church’s status in Greece and Europe.
After a nice, but a little long, lunch, it was decided to attack the hike up to the Acropolis to see the Parthenon and the other antiquities at Athens largest antiquity site. During our walk we passed by Mars Hill where Paul had preached during his time in Athens. It was a long and a little steep climb, but everyone made it to the top and the reward was fantastic. Much restoration is taking place at the Acropolis, but it’s still possible to see the amazing buildings done by the ancient Greeks several hundred years before the birth of Christ.
After a fairly long day of hiking about the city, it was decided to go to dinner at Alexander the Great’s restaurant, near our hotel. Excellent Greek food, good music, conversation and even a little Greek dancing by five our our group ended a very nice day.
Tomorrow, Corinth, Mycenae and the last day in Athens.
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Vicki Koehl
non-member comment
Thank you for doing this everyday!
Linda and/or Rich - Some tell me it's Linda, but a reliable source also told me they believe Rich did much of the writing. Whoever is responsible, I just want to say how very grateful we are for your efforts and energies in telling us about each day of your trip. Although ever so slightly, it has been so fun to feel practically like we were along with you. I wouldn't have missed a day and it's indeed been inspiring to hear of the sites and history you've seen and learned about. I can tell this was a powerful experience. The pictures posted were awesome. I am only hopeful that we too, can one day experience this glorious trip. It's been obvious that God has been with you all on this trip and some of it's challenges and we will continue to hold you up in prayer for your travel back home. We are anxious to have you all back soon. Enjoy the last day or two and be safe!! We look forward to seeing everyone in the flesh and again, thank you for doing this. Thank you!! Many blessings and much love!!