DAYS 1-2 – MONDAY-TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11-12
Flying over the coastline of Greece between Athens and Thessalonica
Our day of departure finally arrived! Gathering at the Philadelphia Airport, we boarded our flight to Athens. Landing in Greece’s capital around 8:45, we met Tasos from our travel agent. He escorted us to our connecting flight to Thessaloniki. After a couple hours of waiting, we boarded this flight and headed north.
Arrival in Athens
After this short and scenic flight across portions of the Aegean Sea and the beautiful coastline of Greece, we met our guide (Lotini) and driver (Yonas) at the Thessaloniki airport. On the way to our hotel we made a brief stop at the Citadel. While enjoying the panoramic view, we read from I Thessalonians 1, celebrating this early church’s faithfulness to the Gospel. We even came across a couple taking wedding pictures. We also made a stop at the Church of St. Demitrios Church (a Greek Orthodox Church that dates back to the 4th century AD). Close by was the Forum dating back to the Apostle Paul’s day. Paul visited this city on his second missionary journey (Acts 16).
The agora (market place) of ancient Thessalonica
Checking into out hotel at about 5, we freshened up for dinner at 6:30. We are excited to be here in Greece. We also look forward to the entire group being together (six in the group unfortunately missed the Philadelphia-Athens flight and will be coming tonight/tomorrow.). We pray for their safe arrival.