Sunday, September 16th began EARLY, we were on our way to the airport in Tel Aviv by 3:30 am! Amazingly, the airport was extremely busy when we arrived but we made it through all the security checks, bag check in, passport control and got to the gate in plenty of time for our 7 am flight to Athens. The 2 hour flight was smooth and we were relieved to see both of our bags on the luggage carousel upon arrival in Athens. After a 30 minute taxi ride, we arrived at the Amalia Hotel just after 10 am and were thankful that we could already get into our room. After settling in, we walked from the hotel to the Acropolis and Mars Hill. There had been a hard rain before we arrived so there were a few puddles under a cloudy sky and the temperature was very pleasant.
The ruins were within walking distance of our hotel, we enjoyed walking the grounds
We walked through an area with many shops, a flea market and many cafes, it was a beautiful and interesting area where we enjoyed doing a little shopping.
We had a relaxed lunch at an outdoor cafe'
On our way back to the hotel, we walked past the Olympian Temple
After our walk through the city, we returned to the hotel where we met with our tour group before dinner. We met our guide, had an informational meeting where we met the others in our group. There are just 11 in the group, so remembering names is a little easier. We had a nice dinner together, then back to the room for a good night's sleep!
Monday, September 17. After breakfast, we loaded onto our bus and headed out of Athens for our first day of travel. We spent most of the day traveling north to Thessaloniki. The landscape was beautiful and changed throughout the day. Since we've never been to Greece before we didn't know what terrain we would see but we saw a variety today. There are many mountains.
The Aegean Sea is beautiful
Mountains, trees and farmland in the valleys. We saw crops of cotton, rice, vegetables, harvested wheat fields, vineyards, pistachio trees as well as MANY olive trees.
We passed through a beautiful gorge between central Greece and the Macedonia region.
Our guide was giving quite some history lessons on the drive to the north, it was very informative.
We drove in a few drizzly areas, but mostly it was partly cloudy and comfortably cooler than our previous travels. Mount Olympus was covered with clouds as we passed by.
As we approached Thessaloniki, the drizzle began again so I didn't take many pictures as we drove into the city. Tomorrow is supposed to be a clearer day. What a gorgeous country and such history here. As we traveled through the regions today, we talked about what it must have been like as Paul came to this area and how difficult the travel would have been so long ago. Tomorrow we will see more sights in the area and spend our second night in the Capsis Hotel here in Thessaloniki.
We are thankful for the opportunity to see God's beautiful creation and share it with a wonderful group of fellow believers. We're looking forward to our adventures tomorrow! Until then, blessings to you and thank you for your prayers!
Russ & Carol
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