Philippi, Kavala (Neapolis), and Thessaloniki - Day 1 of Trip - PART I (Greece)

Our first full day in Greece begin in Philippi.  It was at this very river side (pictured above) where St. Paul baptized his very first convert after arriving in Europe. The baptism of St. Lydia is chronicled in the Acts of the Apostles.  Her conversion was the beginning of the formation of the Christian Community in Philippi, which we have become familiar with trhough St. Paul's Letter to the Philippians.  There is a beautiful Greek Orthodox Church at this location, as well as a man-made island recently built with the cooperation of Evangelical Christians from the United States.  Photos of both the church and the island are attached.  

The hillside behind the church.

Mosaics above the 3 front doors of the church.

St. Lydia is in the middle.

Our instructor during the trip, Scott Brodeur, SJ, listening to the professional guide who is describing the interior of the church.

Scott pointing to the interior mosaic of the dome of the church.

Icon of St. Lydia at the entrance to the church.

Scott with our professional guide from Thessaloniki, Barbara, who was both knowledgable and a delight to be with throughout the first part of our trip.

Scott Brodeur, SJ is preaching during the Mass from the man-made island in the middle of the river where St. Lydia was baptized, with the sabbatical priests sitting on the bank of the river.

The 3 Jesuits gather at the river!

After our visit to the river where St. Lydia was baptized by St. Paul, we visited the ruins of the city of Philippi where St. Paul preached the gospel when he first arrived in Greece.  

Our guide, Barbara, introduces us to the ruins of Philippi as we arrive at the site.

A current day marker which indicates the Via Egnatia, a road built by the Romans to connect the cities of Greece.  It is the very road on which St. Paul walked during his 3 separate journeys in Greece.

A section of the Via Egnatia in the city of ancient Philippi, the stones of which St. Paul walked on!

A section of the ruins of the first basilica built in Philippi.  It is in this section of the basilica where the bishop would have been seated to advise people who would go to him for help.

The actual cell where St. Paul was held for a short time as a prisoner in Philippi.

Scott is referring to the scriptural texts citing St. Paul's imprisonment in Philippi.

The steps leading to the ruins of the theatre at Philippi.

Ruins of the theatre at Philippi.

Scott and I are about to board the bus to go to our next destination to have lunch, the city of Kavala (referred to in Scripture as Neapolis).

A Beautiful Day in Rome (Rome, IT)

What a lovely Spring day it has been in bella Roma!  There was nothing but warm sunshine and gentle breezes throughout the day.  My day began with Mass at del Caravita, a church which I have already explained to you in earlier postings.  After Mass, I walked about for a short time before deciding to have lunch at an outdoor cafe near the Piazza della Rotunda.  It was both a perfect day and location to spend two and a half hours enjoying wonderful Italian food and watching the world pass by in front of the Pantheon.  The photo above was the table next to mine.  It was not empty for long.  The next photo on this posting is of the rose which was on my table.  It is the bookend to the white rose I posted recently from a cafe in Athens.

I could not resist attaching photos of my day today on this posting.  I promise that the next few postings will be about my trip to Greece.  It is going to be difficult to select photos for each posting from the over one thousand photos I took during the trip.  Let's see how it goes...

The columns in the background are of the facade of the Pantheon.

The strolling musician grinned when he saw that I was taking his picture from my table at the cafe.  He was serenading the diners...for tips!

Too late for lunch; too early for dinner - a cafe near the Castel Sant' Angelo.

Back in Rome (Rome, IT)

We returned to Rome last night after a wonderful 9 days in Greece.  The sabbatical program at the North American College ends in 10 days, and I have much to do to get ready for the next phase of my journey.  In the next few days I will try to catch up with photos of each day of my adventure in Greece "in the footsteps of St. Paul."  I am attaching just a few with this posting.  The beautiful roses above were on the table of the cafe at the National Museum of Byzantine Art in Athens, where I had a snack with a couple of the guys after our tour of the museum.  I could not resist taking a photo of them.  The other photo of flowers was taken as we were to the ruins of the Temple of Demeter, also in Athens.  They were on the sidewalk in front of a flower shop.  And the other two photos are at the ruins of the Temple of Poseidon.  

With Scott Brodeur, SJ, at the site of the ruins of the Temple of Poseidon.  The Aegean Sea is in the background.

Temples and Museum (Athens, GR)

It is our last full day in Greece.  We return to Rome tomorrow afternoon.  On our last day we visited the Temple of Demeter and Byzantine Art Museum in Athens, then we traveled south of Athens to the Temple of Poseidon, which is in the photo above.  It was another day of more than 300 photos.  I will only include several here.  More to come when I return to Rome.

Ruins of the Temple of Demeter

According to mythology, the entrance to Hades is through the cave on the upper right. 

National Museum of Byzantine Art