Northern Greece

Hey everybody! Sorry this entry is so late. I just haven't had that much time to do it until today. We have a free day today, so I'm gonna write about Northern Greece and Egypt. Have fun reading!!
Our guides name was Catarina, but it was a different one than the one we had for the Athens tour. My roommates on this trip were Adub and Jonathan Murray.
Thursday, June 5th
We started off the trip in Delphi. We saw an inaugora which was totally smooth and didn't have any friezes or capitals and it was in the Roman style. Next, we went to the Oracle. It was a place dedicated to Apollo. No one could stay inside except for priests. The road that led to the Temple of Apollo was called the "Sacred Way". Next, we stopped by the Treasury of the Athenians. This is where the pilgrims would place offerings based on their location. It was built before the Battle of Marathon in 490 B.C. This is also the place of the center of the universe. Catarina told us the story of how Zeus sent out two eagles in opposite directions to find out where they met and that would be the center of the universe, and this is where they met. I thought that story was pretty interesting. We then saw the Portacle which is where they would put their trophies from their victories. Next, we saw the Theater of Delphi. It was built in the 4th century B.C. They had musical contests here and sports events. It could hold up to 5000 people. I thought that the theater was very neat. We then saw the stadium. It wasn't near as big as the Olympic one, but still pretty impressive. It was 178 meters long, and could hold 5000 people as well.
After we saw the Stadium, we went into the Museum. We saw a sphynx with a woman's head, eagle's wings, and lion's body. I thought that was very neat. We then saw the Kylax of Apollo. It was symbolized as a girl and it was very well preserved. Next, we looked at Antinoos. I thought this piece was very interesting. It was a man about 19-20 years old, and he is famous for the beauty of his face. He was discovered in the Nile. It was a very beautiful piece. The next sculpture we saw was probably my favorite. It was of the Charioteer of Delphi. It was by far the highlight of the museum. It was made in the 5th century B.C. It was metalic statue, and it was the gift from a tyrant offered to Apollo. It used the "lost wax" technique. It's where you put a clay core, then wax over it, and then add clay over the wax. I thought that was pretty neat.

Friday June 6th
We woke up, and went to Meteora. It is the place of the monistaries. I thought they were astonishing. They were about 400 meters high and built in the 11th century. We looked at some of them from afar like St. Nicholas', but we actually got to go into The Great Meteoron. It was the main church and it was placed in the middle and it was founded by St. Atharoasis. The cellar was an old carpentry shop which I thought was pretty interesting. The next room was probably my favorite. It was the ossuary. It was filled with skulls from all the monks. It was really cool. Next, we went into the main church part. The Narthix is the room for unbaptised people and Catarina talked to us about it for a little while then we headed into the main room. It had the shape of a cross on top and the four corners depicted Matthew. I thought it was really neat to see.
After we looked at the monistaries, we headed to Vergina which is the place that had Phillip II's Tomb. It was discovered by Andronikas. It looked a whole lot like a temple. It had two chambers. I thought that the tomb was very astonishing. We saw the Tomb of the Prince in here too. Many think it is Alexander II's tomb. They know it is a prince and not a king because there are no golden artifacts in it. After Vergina, we headed to Berea. This is mentioned in Acts 17:11. I really like when Captain tells us where it is in the Bible because it just makes it that much more meaningful. We looked at Apostle Paul's Altar. It is the corner where Paul gave a speech. He didn't stay there long, and neither did we. That night, I had a dream that I wrote down in my moleskine because I didn't want to forget it and I wanted to share it with you all. Ashton, you're pretty good at interpreting dreams so maybe you can tell me what it means. Or maybe I can send it to Coach Coleman and pay him 27 cents to interpret it..hahaha..Anyway, Dimy and I were going to look at the house we were going to buy except it wasn't in Searcy, it was in Paragould, and it was right across the street from Jon's house. So, right before we walked in, I told her I wanted to go say hey to Jon. So, I ran over to his house and all of my friends were there. Even the ones that Jon doesn't really know, like from church and stuff. Even Sterling, which is a guy here at HUG was there playing poker with everybody. So, they were all surprised to see me. They thought it was too soon for me to be back, and it seemed like I had just left. So, we all hugged, and talked, and I told them I was looking at the house we were going to move into across the street and asked if any of them wanted to look at it with me, and they all refused except Sterling and that's when I woke up.

Saturday June 7th

On this day we went through Thessaloniki. It is the 2nd largest city in Greece. It has 2 provinces: Achaia and Macedonia. The city was liberated after the Balkan Wars. After we drove through Thessaloniki, we were in Philippi. This was probably the thing I was looking forward to the most on this trip mainly because Philippians is one of my favorite books in the Bible. Philippi was the first Christian community in Europe. We saw the commercial market which is probably the place that Acts 16:16 takes place in. Paul had a very special relationship with the church in Philippi. We saw Basilica B first. It was a standard church building. When it collapsed, they decided to use the old Narthyx as the main church. The Palestra is where they people learned and they also had public toilets here which I thought was really different. We all took pictures on them. It was pretty funny. We also saw the old baptistery in the basilica. Next, we walked on the Egnatian St. It was 560 miles long. Paul used it when he wanted to get to Macedonian cities, so I thought it was really neat to walk on the same road as Paul did. We saw an octagonal church that was built in the 5th century B.C. Next, we saw the Basilica A. It was pretty much the same as Basilica B. After Basilica A, we went and looked at the theater. It was built by Philipp II. The first row was abolished because it was turned into an arena. It also became more glamorous. After the theater, we drove over to Lydia's River. This was probably one of my favorite spots on this trip. It is where she was baptised in Acts 16:6. She was the first European woman to be baptised here, and the jailor was more than likely baptised here too. We sang a few songs here, and it was pretty moving. Other people sat beside us and listened and took pictures and videos, so that was pretty cool. Next, on the way to the hotel, we stopped by the Lion of Thepolis. It was built in the 4th century and it symbolized power and strength. It was a really awesome statue. We got a group picture by it making claws and growling at the camera. It was pretty funny.

Sunday June 8th

In the morning, we had a service in the TV room. It was very interesting. I really liked it a lot. After the service, we took a city tour of Thessaloniki where Catarina just told us some facts about it. It has 1.5 million people. We saw the Bayhamom, which is the oldest Muslim building. It was built in 1444. We saw the White Tower. This was an amazing tower. Some of us went into the city during the week and saw it. It was astonishing. It was built by the Phoenicians and it was the place for prisoners, so they called it the "Bloody Tower."
After the tour, we went to Pella, which is the birthplace of Alexander the Great. Here we saw the House of Dionysus. It had a garden and it was so luxurious. It had two yards and no windows. The floors were decorated with beautiful mosaics. We looked at a little bit of the Agora at Pella, but it had rained the night before, so they didn't want us to go too far back because it was so muddy. It was much bigger than the other agoras we've seen. The western side had workshops and the northern part was the administrative buildings. They used the Ipodamian system. It was the ideal system to build. It was definitely a planned neighborhood. We saw the House of Abduction of Helen. It had 2 mosaics. the first was a mosaic of deer hunting, and the next was a mosaic of the rape of Helen. It was very neat and very gorgeous. After the Agora, we headed to Thermopylae. This was probably my favorite spot of the whole trip. It was under Xerxes and it is where the Spartans came to fight the Persians. It is the place where the movie 300 takes place. Catarina told us the story about it. Philitas was the traitor of the Spartans who led the Persians around the mountain to catch the Spartans off guard. Leonidas was the leader of the Spartans and 300 of them stayed. Their motto was "Come home with your shield or on it." After she told us the story, we all went out and took pictures of the Leonidas statue. Paul listened to the 300 soundtrack on his iPod the whole time we were there. It was pretty funny. We then climbed up to the place where they had the dedication of the Spartans who fought. This part was just really neat and interesting. We then drove the 8 hours back to campus and went straight back to work.

Well, that pretty much sums up the Northern Greece trip. Hopefully you enjoyed reading about it. I miss and love you all. See you in about 40 days! Love, Ryan