Northern Greece Tour

We left home at 8am to drive to Delphi, the center of the ancient world- the "omphalus" (navel) of the earth. The weather was very cold, but we were all bundled up well while we toured the ruins and the museum. We ate lunch at a local restaurant which has beautiful views over the mountain ranges, which were topped with snow. Is this really March in Greece? James, our guide, said they had just announced that this was the coldest and longest winter since they began keeping records. After lunch we began our drive to Kalambaka down the mountain and along the rocky, hilly coastline. Did I mention that it was snowing heavily? And that it was foggy? And that our bus driver, Costis, said he'd never seen anything like it? Not exactly reassuring to say the least. There are miles of hairpin curves. Miles and miles...where was Terry during the excitement? Why, sleeping soundly:)That evening we stayed at the Hotel Meteora at the base of Meteora. The views of the monasteries on the mountain tops was perect from our bedroom terrace.
The following morning we drove up the mountain and visited one of the monasteries. The girls enjoyed putting on the skirts provided by the church to wear during their visit:) Jordan and Christian liked the heavy woven net that is used to lift the monks, and supplies us the mountainside by pulley. I bought a small brass candlestick and sone beeswax candles to take home with me. From there we drove North to Vergina, the first capital of Macedonia, where the tomb of Phillip II of Macedonia, the father of Alexander the Great was found. We have read much about this time in history this year with the boys, about tomb raiders, etc., so that the boys seemed to enjoy this museum more than others. After lunch we drove to Thessaloniki, where we stayed at the Golden Star hotel right on the water.
Wednesday was a wonderful day. Christian and I took the day off from touring (he had been sick on the bus three times the day before:( we hung out in the room, and walked along the boardwalk and had lunch together. He watched a Manchester game in the afternoon and was ready for the group to get back. They returned at 6pm and had had a good day at Phillippi, the site where the apostle Paul came and worked, establishing a strong church. They sang at the church near the river where Lydia is thought to have been baptized.
Thursday morning we started our day with a tour of Thessaloniki, before going to Berea. We walked to the Old Jewish Quarters, where this is an old unused synagogue still remaining. There were 60,000 Jews in Thessaloniki before WWII, and only 2000 came back from the camps. They then immigrated to Israel. There is no longer a Jewish presence there. I am currently finishing the Bodie Thoene series "The Zion Chronicles" which I began reading while in
Jerusalem. It has really effected how I look at this time in our world's history. What a dark time. We then drove on to Dion, on the lower slopes of Mount Olympus, the home of the ancient Greek God's. After lunch we stopped at Thermopylae, to see the statue of Leonidas (Shelley Salza- I thought of your little Leonidas:)it commemorates the historic battle between the 300 Spartans led by Leonidas and the Persian army of Xerxes in 480bC composed of 1000's. We then drove home to Porto Rafti, arriving about 7pm. Ed and Dixie Hicks had arrived from Montgomery, so we all shared a meal together at Dimitri's and headed to bed. It was a wonderful, full, four days.We fly to Izmir, Turkey on Thursday, and then it will be time to start closing up the semester. We are so grateful for this adventure, shared with some wonderful students.