This morning we docked at the port of Pireas, which is the port of Athens. Athens is the ancient and modern capital of Greece. We can read about the apostle Paul in Athens in Acts 17, but there is no biblical record that Paul established a church in Athens.
We met our new tour guide, Lula, and began to see the sights of the city. Our first stop was the Acropolis, the 512-ft. high rocky mountain in the center of the city with the Parthenon on the top. On the way up we met another tour group, and our friend, Judy, from Athens, Alabama was with them. I could not help but take a photo of Judy and Virginia…two Athens, Alabama ladies who ran into each other in Athens, Greece. Small world!
Virginia and Judy
We took many photos of the Parthenon. Benjie said these were valuable photos since for thousands of years the view had been unobstructed, and when we get there scaffolding is all around it. It is still impressive, though. From the Parthenon area we walked to Mars Hill, and climbed to the top of the rocky hill where Ferrell talked to us about the events described in Acts 17, and most of us learned more in his 15-minute discourse than we had in years of Bible classes. It was even more impressive in the setting where we were.
The Parthenon...Mars Hill (note size of people on top!)...the "brain trust" (Jared, David, Norm)
We went for a visit to the National Archaeological Museum, where we took a group photo of all the ABS alumni on this tour. (That is the Emperor Hadrian looking over their shoulders!) The group sends long-distance congratulations to the baseball team.
ABS Alumni: Steve, Harriet, Virginia, Ferrell, Billy, Peggy
After the museum visit, we were delivered to our hotel we had an afternoon free to do whatever we chose. Olen and I chose to go walking, and probably covered over five miles in the afternoon. We walked west of the acropolis for an "afternoon shot" since the light was better in the afternoon for photos. Then we continued north to the area of the agora (ancient marketplace) and continued eventually through small, winding streets and shops until we reached the city market where they sell meat and fresh fish. It is a primitive market by our standards. We watched them unload huge slabs of meat (half a cow, for instance) into an area with no refrigeration. (I hope it sells quickly!) We saw rabbit meat hanging up for sale, with the fur still on the paws. I guess they left that much fur on to prove to the buyer that the meat was actually rabbit and not some other unknown meat. (I ate peanut butter crackers for lunch, myself.)
Somewhere in our wanderings we passed an internet café, and I happened to have the information and photos from yesterday’s events on memory stick in my purse, so we went in and posted information on the blog. We got a bit confused about where we were and ended up in a beautiful part of town called Plaka. Plaka has lovely shops and picturesque outdoor cafes. By the time we wandered back to the hotel we had walked all the way around the base of the acropolis area, which is quite a journey. It was a lovely, but tiring afternoon. It is warm here today, but the sun is perfect for photos. We have taken thousands…literally.
Here is hoping your day is picture-perfect, too.
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