Hagia Sophia

It's probably one of the largest and oldest churches I've been in (and I've had my share of large, ancient churches).  It's also no longer a church.  As a museum, on a Sunday morning it was filled with people of all faiths, marveling at the decorations and architecture.

Since the book of Revelation had been written to people in this region nearly 2000 years ago, I found a quiet corner and read a few chapters to myself.  

In a part of the world so deceived by Satan's lies, with reminders of his falsehoods everywhere...

this verse stood out:

And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.  ~Revelations 20:10 

In a dark and hopeless world, Revelation offers an abundance of hope.  The Kingdom of God will prevail.  Hagia Sophia may now be filled with people from various tribes, tongues, and nations, merely marveling at a beautiful building, but someday a similar group will sing praises around the throne of God.  

No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.  They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.   ~Revelation 22: 3-5

Istanbul!

There came a breaking point.  A point where we said, "Enough is enough!"  A point when we rolled up our bedrolls, saddled our horses, and rode into the sunrise. 

When we arrived in Istanbul after taking a night bus out of Thessaloniki, there was great rejoicing.

And we had food and tea to celebrate.  

We had a little trouble figuring out the metro system, but helpful people seemed abundant, and soon we came to Sultanahmet and to our hostel with this window view:

Yes, that is Hagia Sophia.  Rough life?  Yes.  

After a long night on the bus we took it pretty easy that day, just strolling around a little, but not trying to see any major sites.

After a good nights rest, Wednesday morning we were ready to go.  

We first headed to Topkapi Palace, only to discover that the line was longer than a lightyear (well, not really, but it was long) so we diverted our plans and went first instead to the Archaeological Museum.  

I may as well tell you right now, so you are not under any false impressions, that I am a total geek and that visiting the Istanbul Archaeological Museum has been a dream of mine for a while now.  I blame Gabi really.  He would tell us about some interesting find from somewhere in Israel and then say, in his thick accent, "That is in the museum in Istanbul."  Basically, it was an exciting day for me.

While there were many fun and exciting things to see (and many less fun and exciting things - I find that sarcophagi and gravestones get repetitive after a while), one of the most exciting for me was to finally see the original inscription from Hezekiah's tunnel:

I know, it's not much to look at, but that's ok.  It was cool. :)

Among many other famous things, we also saw the sarcaphogus of Alexander the Great.

After a lunch of peanut butter and nutella sandwiches (finding peanut butter = another exciting event in Turkey) we decided to try the palace again, this time with better luck.

It was an interesting experience.  The treasure rooms still display some of the wealth of the Ottomans and are packed with people, ogling at the jewel encrusted swords and lamps, rings the size of two of my fingers, and a diamond not much smaller than my fist.  Who knew that so much wealth existed?

The portrait room displays paintings of the various sultans, like any proper landed family in England displaying their ancestors.

They also have a room with the Sword of the Prophet David, the Staff of the Prophet Moses, the hand and head of John the Baptist, and several hairs from the Beard of the Prophet.

With all that, I think I still liked the garden best.

It was strange, but everything - the towers and turrets, the family portraits, the treasure rooms and jewel-encrusted whatever reminded me more than I expected of fairy tales and stories of European royalty.  I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised, but they were more similar than I expected - just with a few twists, here and there.

A meal on a rooftop was a good way to conclude the day, with the sun setting over the city,

and the Blue Mosque lit up for the night.

Yeah, Istanbul is pretty cool.  

To the home of the gods

Have you ever traveled by bus in Greece?  Yeah, neither had I.  Now, having experience it, I can say that it is the only way to experience Greece in all its glory.  And by glory, well, I mean more discomfort and inefficiency and, yeah, that sort of thing.  I don't mean to complain, but I don't think I've ever had to pay more for a less enjoyable experience in my life.  Well, drilling cavities might compete.  I suppose it could have been worse, but...the day went something like this:

It seemed like a reasonable proposal: head to Thessaloniki by way of Mount Olympus/Litohoro.  In hind sight...

The bus was late.  Maybe that should have warned us.  (That and the outrageous ticket prices.)  But it was only 15 minutes late, and it is Greece, after all.   At least this time we didn't have to wander the streets of Athens searching for the bus station. 

Still, the bus came and we dutifully piled onto it and began our decent down the mountain.  We paused various places, picking up and dropping off passengers as we went.  

We stopped in Amfissa, where, we eventually found out, we were supposed to change buses.  Nice of them to mention it.  

On the next bus we headed out again, still hopeful that we would make it to Litohoro before nightfall, but a little uncertain as to how many more unexpected bus changes we might have to make.  

At least the scenery was beautiful.  

Another stop...in Lamia...but eventually we figured out we were to stay on the same bus.  A little disappointing, considering how unhelpful the driver was...and how little he liked to use the fan or AC.  (So hot!)

We stopped again near Larisa and finally had a bathroom break.  

Now, at this point, I should explain something.  I've never been in Greece before.  Thus, I've never been to Litohoro (our ticket destination) before.  It may be surprising, in light of this, that I had no idea what to expect.  I barely knew where Litochoro was on the map, and I had a vague understanding that the hostel we booked was near it.  In retrospect, I should have studied several maps of everything before embarking.  I also should have modified my expectations of the bus to actually take us there.  

It went something like this.  We were on a highway, about an hour after passing Larissa, when the bus driver actually made an announcement: "Litohoro!"  We started gathering our things.  The bus slowed to a stop...near an exit...on a two lane highway...with no town apparently anywhere near.  They let us off and gave us our bags and drove away.  

....Uh...thanks?  But where's the town?  Where are we?  Where do we go from here?  We figured walking up the exit would at least take us in the right direction...

"Litohoro, 5km" the first sign stated.  A 5km hike uphill with a 30lb pack on a warm day was a daunting prospect, to say the least.  We trudged to a nearby gas station hoping to ask directions, when suddenly a man pulled over and offered us a ride.  Gratefully, we accepted and he dropped us off a few minutes later in Litohoro.  A quick lunch of gyros helped further boost our lowered morale.  

It was about then that we found out that our hostel was by the sea - back in the direction we came from.  *sigh*  There was nothing to do but laugh, thank God for kind people, and regroup.  We debating waiting for a bus or walking.  Taxis were out of the price range.  In the end, we walked: 7.67 kilometers we walked, until we finally found our hostel.  (That plus the walking we'd already done puts us over 5 miles.) 

At least there's a good view of the Mediterranean and Mount Olympus.  And good food and hot showers.  

Yeah, it was quite a day.  But reflecting on it (after the class I just took) makes me think of the Apostle Paul.  He had to walk everywhere (unless he was sailing).  And he probably had his fair share of unhelpful people (like the bus driver) and helpful people (like the man in the car and the girl at the hostel).  He probably had good days of relatively easy travel, and bad days when nothing seemed to go right.  And yet, somehow, he learned to be content in every circumstance.  Lord teach us that contentment!

Just for fun, this is approximately our route from bus station to hostel (7.67km).

Transitioning

Yesterday was a long, exciting, slightly stressful day of transitions.

The class "Christian Movement in the Mediterranean" had been successfully concluded with a final and a feast the night before, and most people took off to the airport or other destinations in the morning.  It was sad to say good-bye to some people who had become good friends in such a short time, but hopefully we will meet again - maybe some of them in Turkey.

As a last 'hurrah' some of us visited the Acropolis on our last night.  

Then came the adventure of trying to find the bus station. No one in Athens or online seems to know exactly where the bus station is (like a street address or some such thing), and everyone who has a vague idea of where it is gives very different directions on how to find it.  Maybe I should write my own guide book, now that it has been found. :)

The bus ride to Delphi, once out of Athens, was quite beautiful.  We passed through cloudy, mountainous areas, and finally arrived at Delphi, a picturesque little town perched on the sides of one of those mountains, overlooking a bay of the sea.

I haven't yet had a chance to explore much of the ruins (everything closes at 3...), but it is a beautiful area.  I wouldn't mind spending a few days here, just hiking and exploring.

Alas, I don't have that much time. So today I'll explore the ruins, and tomorrow...????  Well, plans are still in the works. :)

Aphrodite

Panting, we raced through the tall grass, ever upward.  Thorns poked at our bare hands and legs, and rocks inserted themselves in our shoes as we thrust ourselves through the thick growth.  Still we pressed on, startling grasshoppers with our rough passage.  Finally the top was in sight.  We leaped and scrambled over the last rocks, finally arriving at our destination: the Corinthian Temple of Aphrodite.  Centuries (even millennia) ago, worshipers had made the same trek, probably through less grass, but to the same destination with the same views of the isthmus of Corinth and the Aegean and Adriatic Seas on either side.

When Paul came to Corinth, did he make the climb up the mountain to the temple, just to see what he was up against?  When he worked at a tent maker and lived there for a year and a half, did he see the lines of worshipers making their way up to commune with their god?

Interestingly enough, in his letters Paul never specifically speaks against the worship of Aphrodite.  (Some of his sayings could apply, but that is not the same thing).  Instead, he shows them a better way.  "Love is patient, love is kind," he tells the Corinthians who, with that temple dominating their landscape, knew something of the value of love and had all longed for it at some point.  Paul affirms their value: "the greatest of these is love," but first he redefines it.  The love of God is not like the love of Aphrodite.  It's better.

That was probably the highlight of our day - the hike and the view from the top.  We also saw "lower" Corinth, which was pretty cool.  We saw the canal that now cuts through the isthmus.

And we saw Cenchrea, one of the ports that Paul sailed from.

Mars Hill

I figure by naming this post "Mars Hill" I'll probably double the amount of hits my blog gets.  The name seems to be very popular these days, what with all the church-type-organizations borrowing it.  But in reality, that is where  I started my day (or really, where I started the educational part of my day...I didn't wake up on Mars Hill, don't worry).

To recap, in the last week we have visited Samos, Patmos, Syros, and Kea on the Morning Star.  Yesterday we sailed (or rather, motored -- the wind has been on our nose pretty much the entire trip, and with a timeline to keep, sailing has been impossible) from Kea to Raphina where Hellenic Ministries graciously met us with vans and transported us to our hotel in Athens.  Saying good-bye to the boat and its crew was a little bittersweet...but it is nice to have daily hot showers, a regular twin-sized bed, and somewhat more regular mealtimes.  :)

This morning we walked from our hotel, past Omonia Square, and on to the area of ancient Athens, including Mars Hill where we stopped and talked for a while.  We were then given a list of sites to see and sent out on our own to see what we could.

I ended up with Michael, Ian, and Jeff, and the four of us decided to visit the New Acropolis Museum first.  It was a little overwhelming.  The number of artifacts seemed nearly infinite, some of them so similar and with so little context it was difficult to know what to look or how to process what you had seen.  I was probably most interested in the pottery and other little artifacts.  Some of them were very similar to things that have been found in and around Jerusalem, but in Israel such exquisite finds are much rarer.  Metal statues, for example, from around the same time have been found, but much fewer and in general not as well preserved.  The pottery was also striking, some of it from the 6th and 7th centuries BC (and some even earlier) was delicately formed and intricately painted.  In contrast, most of the pottery I've seen from Israel from those times is serviceable but not very attractive.  The ruins here are also much more spectacular than ruins from Israel dating to the same period.  Greece definitely achieved a higher level of art and craftsmanship earlier than Israel did.  I don't mean to exalt or condemn either culture, but the contrast really struck me.

After the museum we headed to the Acropolis, stopping at a couple places along the way, including the theater of Dionyses, which is quite possibly the oldest theater in the world.  Oedipus Rex may have premiered there.

We bought gyros for lunch and found that the Agora was closing and wouldn't let us in.  Instead we went to the Pnyx where Athenians had their democratic meetings.  Shortly after that we managed to find our way back to the hotel without getting lost...which was quite a feat.

Athens is quite a city.  The area around the acropolis is quite beautiful, and the booths selling things are as diverse as I've seen anywhere.  It felt a little more like a town fair (American Indians and all) than a city bazaar.  The area around our hotel is a little less beautiful, reminding me a bit of the "grey town" from The Great Divorce.  The streets just seem all pretty similar, lined with the same types of little shops, most of which seem to never be open.  It's an interesting place, but my bed calls, so for tonight...

More adventures

Wednesday, May 17th

This morning we went up to the monastery at Chora, a rather long and steep walk…so we took the bus up.  The monastery was, I believe, founded in about the 11th century.  Supposedly the island of Patmos had a big problem with pirates, so when pirate ships were seen, the monastery would sound the alarm and the people in the town surrounding it would flee into its protective walls.  

The fortress helped to keep them safe, as did the town itself, being rather maze-like.  By the time any pirates found their way through the town to the monastery, they were too tired and lost and separated to do any real damage. 

The monastery seems to have quite a lot of history, as demonstrated by it's museum which is full of manuscripts and icons from the 5th century on. 

From the monastery we made our way, individually and in groups, back to the boat for lunch.  Then we had free time until evening.  I went to the beach with a few fellow students and splashed in the cold water for a few minutes before basking in the warm sun.  Then I headed out to do a little exploring.  

I had seen a sign labeled "acropolis," and when I saw another one, I veered off the road I was on and headed up the hill.  Soon I ran out of road and into fields occupied by goats and people harvesting hay with sickles.  Thinking that I may have missed the path, and not wanting to disturb them, I headed back down the hill.  

Only to run into another sign, pointing at another route.  I figured I'd try again.  Up the hill I went.  The road changed to a path which ended at a church, which had gates.  But by then I was determined.  I climbed over a few low stone wall/terraces and bushwhacked my way up the hill, finally coming into sight of what was clearly the remains of a city wall.  Not many other ruins were visible (at least not ancient ones), but from the top the view of the island was spectacular. 

Thursday, May 19th

We left port at midnight (see previous post).  It was a beautiful night, at first anyway.  It got fairly windy and wavey after I had gone to bed.  I managed to not fall off my bunk, which I consider quite a feat, but I don't think anyone slept really well with the rolling and bouncing.  Some of the portholes leaked too, and I don't think my bunk was the only damp one come morning.  Of course, even when morning had come, our voyage wasn't over.  Dale constantly reassured us that it was only 'two hours more!' for about four hours.  Still, we did make it to port at Syros.  We were glad to tie up to the dock and find some relief from the constant motion.  We had a lovely lunch with some believers on the island and rested and worked on homework most of the afternoon.  

Tomorrow we continue on towards Athens, praying for good winds so we can sail.