Our former pastor and his family moved to South Carolina several years ago, but we have kept in touch ever since. When Cory shared about their trip to Greece and that all were welcome, I asked Weston if we could go. He wasn’t able to because of work deadlines, but said I could go if I wanted. I couldn’t sign up fast enough! I wanted someone to travel with me and Ellen was the first to come to mind. We had recently discussed going on a trip to Nantucket, but we both jumped at the opportunity to go to Greece!

This was the longest I had been away from the kids and it was hard on all of us. The night before I left, I printed a map of Greece to mark where I would be each day and made paper chains for each kid to count down the days until I came home. It was as much for my heart as it was for theirs. 

Days 1 and 2 – Traveling to Greece

I got up early to spend time with Weston and the kids before leaving. Camryn cried several times and Collin helped me carry my luggage outside. I don’t think it registered with Collin that I was leaving until Weston had to pry him off of me after a goodbye hug.

Ellen and I flew out of Birmingham and met the rest of our group in Chicago before flying a red eye to Athens. Chicago to Athens was the longest flight I’ve been on and I maybe had 4 hours of sleep out of the 12 on the plane. When we arrived in Athens the next afternoon, we realized my checked bag was not there. After talking to customer service, we discovered that my bag never made it on the plane in Birmingham and was still there. They immediately retrieved it to get it on the next flight the following day. Thankfully, I was super paranoid about this happening and I packed all but a few extra outfits and a pair of shoes in my carry-on bag. 

Our group gathered to board one more flight from Athens to Thessaloniki. It was a short flight and we made it to the hotel in no time. The hotel provided a dinner buffet of Greek food. I had no idea what I was eating, but it was good!

Day 3 – Philippi, Lydia, and Thessaloniki

I’m not an early bird and we had to be up by 6:30am to get ready and eat breakfast before leaving the hotel at 8:00am. Since we were 8 hours ahead of central time, Weston was able to call me to make sure I was awake before he went to bed each night. MVP from 6,500 miles away!

We had a 2-hour bus ride to our first historical site – Ancient Philippi. This was the first European city where Paul preached the gospel. He and Silas were imprisoned here and the Philippian jailer was converted. I’m not really sure what I expected the prison to look like, but it was nothing like the actual prison. Our group had a short devotion led by one of the church leaders and we explored the ancient grounds. 

Next, we had a short drive to the Baptistery in Lydia. Lydia was a successful businesswoman who sold luxury textiles dyed purple and was also Paul’s first convert in Europe. We had another short devotion time here.

On our way back to Thessaloniki, we stopped at a scenic spot to take pictures of Kavala and the Roman Highway. Paul landed here on his first journey into Europe before traveling to Philippi along the Via Egnatia, a major Roman road that helped spread the gospel.

We had some free time after we got back to our hotel, so Ellen and I asked our tour guide where we should go for some authentic Greek food. We took a taxi to downtown Thessaloniki to find a little pastry shop called Trigona Elenidis. They are known for their trigona panoramatos – a pastry shaped like a triangle cone with a custard filling.

Then, we walked on the nearby promenade and watched the sunset. It quickly got dark and we decided to head back to the hotel for dinner.

Funny story, I woke up around 2am to a text from Weston that Collin had cut his hair. It wasn’t just a little cut either. He said he didn’t want hair on his forehead anymore, so he cut it straight across! Weston took him to his mom’s house for her to fix his hair. It looked a lot better, but I sure do miss how it looked before!

Day 4 – Thessaloniki and Berea

During breakfast, our tour guide showed us how to make Greek coffee. It took a really long time and it was disgusting. Definitely don’t recommend.

We visited the White Tower, statue of Alexander the Great, and toured the Church of St. Dimitrios. Paul preached in Thessalonica and faced persecution. He and Silas were then sent to Berea.

After stopping for lunch, we went to Vema Apostolou Pavlov (Apostle Paul’s Tribune). The Bereans were known for eagerly receiving Paul’s message. The monument was built on the spot where Paul preached and is decorated with some impressive mosaic murals. We had another devotion with our group at the monument.

We drove for several hours to our hotel in Kalabaka. The grounds were beautiful. We walked around for a bit, then went to our room to rest until dinner.

Day 5 – Meteora

With it being Sunday, our group met in the lobby for a quick service and time of worship. We loaded the buses and drove to the monasteries on top of the rocks in Meteora. Although the monasteries are not directly tied to Paul’s travels, Meteora symbolizes the later Christian monastic movement inspired by the faith planted by the apostles. We toured one of the monasteries and saw the others from a distance.

The rest of the afternoon was spent on the bus driving to Athens. We didn’t get to explore anything that night, but our hotel had a rooftop restaurant overlooking the Parthenon. It was beautiful!

Day 6 – Mykonos

We loaded the buses again, but this time the drive was shorter and we got to board a cruise ship to spend the next few days! I’ve never been on a cruise that had its first port on sailing day, so that was different. It was super windy that day and my hair was flying all over the place. While we sailed, I had a gyro and cappuccino, then learned the famous Greek dance with a bunch of strangers. 

Our first port was Mykonos. Paul did not visit Mykonos directly, but it was part of the cruise itinerary. It was beautiful everywhere we looked. We walked to a place they called Little Venice to see the colorful buildings and the windmills, then shopped our way back to the port.

Ellen and I wanted to try some authentic Greek food, so we stopped at a restaurant called Salparo that had Greek sushi. We chatted with a group at the table next to us who happened to be on the same cruise ship. Their church group was also following the footsteps of Paul.

I never get seasick on cruises – not even when I was pregnant in Alaska. As we were going to bed that night, our ship started rocking and I started feeling nauseous. I wish the photos did those enormous waves justice! We were on deck 4 and the waves would completely cover our window when they came up. One lingering thought was, “Did Paul have to endure these treacherous waves?” He wasn’t sailing in the comfort of a cruise cabin either!

Day 7 – Ephesus and Patmos

We arrived bright and early in Kusadasi, Turkey, then boarded a bus to go to Ephesus. Ephesus was a major center of Paul’s ministry. He spent about three years here teaching, performing miracles, and writing letters. It’s wild to me that they estimate only 20 percent of the ruins have been excavated!

After seeing the ruins, Ellen and I were determined to find Turkish coffee and Turkish delight. We found a shop that had boxed Turkish delight and fresh Turkish coffee. They totally scammed both of us though. Most of our trip, we had used dollars and euros. Turkey uses lira and I didn’t look up the exchange rate beforehand. The man kept saying the tiny bag of coffee I wanted to take home for Weston was 40. My brain was thinking 40 lira. No, he charged me 40 dollars for that tiny bag of coffee!

On our way back to the port, we stopped at a Turkish rug factory to see how Turkish rugs are made. They shared the history and process with us and showed us countless gorgeous rugs.

We made it back to the cruise ship and while everyone else was napping, I went to the top of the ship to see the narrowest point between Turkey and Greece. I had to hold my hair down because of the wind, but I met a sweet couple and they offered to take my picture since I was up there solo.

Also different from past cruises – we had two ports in one day! Our next stop was Patmos. This is the island where John was exiled and received the book of Revelation from Jesus Christ. We got to see the cave where John recorded Revelation. It was surreal being in that same spot. I hated how they built an entire monastery around it and how some tourists were disrespectful at the site.

When we arrived back to the port, we started looking around the shops. Ellen and I wandered off and found some beautiful spots that were the epitome of Greek isles in my mind.

Day 8 – Crete and Santorini

The first island of the day was Crete. Our group boarded a Hop On Hop Off Tour bus that was nothing like we expected. The tour guide pointed out several landmarks, but the only descriptions he gave was, “This is very expensive. This is very important.” He said it so many times that it became a running joke for the rest of the trip.

Paul briefly stopped here on his voyage to Rome and later left Titus on the island to organize the churches. We went inside Cathedral Holy Temple of Saint Titus, then walked to an adorable café to eat a delicious pastry called bougatsa.

While we cruised to the most anticipated island of all (Santorini), our group gathered on the ship for a quick sermon and worship service.

Santorini was a little different than I expected. All I had ever seen were gorgeous blue and white buildings. As we cruised closer to the island, it looked like the rocky cliffs were covered in snow. They explained that the famous Santorini blue domes are most popular in the village of Oìa, which was an hour away from the port. Sadly, we only had four hours on this island. For the debarkation process, we had to take a tender to the port, then either walk, ride a donkey, or ride a cable car to the top of the cliff. Walking or riding the donkey would have taken a long time, so we chose the 5-minute cable car ride. The only problem was there was usually a long line, which would cut into our time on the island.

Me, Ellen, Wendy, and Cory were on a mission to find some blue domes to get *the* Santorini pictures. We had already accepted that we would not make it to Oìa to take pictures, but I found a couple of spots near the port that might work. We climbed thousands of steps, probably wandered in people’s backyards, but we finally made it to the spot I saw online. We kept walking to see if there were any better views. There was one spot where you could see all the white buildings, but it didn’t have blue domes. After a few photos there, we made our way back to the first location.

The sun was closer to setting and the light was much softer. We took some of my favorite photos here! We took pictures until it got too dark, then went straight to dinner. We chose a restaurant close to the cable cars and had the most gorgeous view of the city. The line for the cable cars going back down to the port was wrapped around the square, but we made it back in no time. The four of us went to the dining room for desert and our waiter made paper flowers for all the ladies.

Day 9 – Ancient Corinth and Athens

We debarked from the cruise ship and immediately drove to Corinth, which was about two hours away. There was a rest area where we stopped to see the Corinth Canal and get snacks. The chicken on a stick was surprisingly delicious.

Corinth was a key city where Paul lived for 18 months preaching and establishing a strong church despite moral corruption in the city. He later wrote two letters to the Corinthians. We toured the Archaeological Museum of Ancient Corinth and had our last group devotion.

On our way to the Parthenon, we made a quick stop at the Panathenaic Stadium, site of the first modern Olympic Games.

We climbed another thousand stairs to get to the Parthenon. I couldn’t imagine doing that in the rain – those steps were slick!

On the way back down, you can stop at Areopagus Hill (also known as Mars Hill). This is where Paul preached at the Areopagus, addressing philosophers and introducing the “unknown God” as the one true Creator. From there, you have a view of the Acropolis above and the ancient Agora (marketplace) below, which is where Paul would have engaged the Athenians.

Day 10 – Athens

This was supposed to be our last day in Greece. We were anxious to see our husbands and kids again. As luck would have it, Ellen’s flight had been cancelled by the airline and there were no available seats. She was 6th on the standby list, which meant there was no guarantee she would be able to board. Cory and Tosos (our tour guide) tried to get it sorted out, but there was nothing they could do. Ellen wouldn’t be able to fly home until the next day, so I gave up my seat on the flight to stay with her. Tosos escorted us back to the hotel, then around the corner to a restaurant he highly recommended. We decompressed there and tried some new things. We only had one bite from that octopus dish.

We decided to make the most of our extra day in Greece and conquered the metro system. It was confusing, but we made it to the coast! Our one regret was that we didn’t get to touch the Mediterranean Sea at all during the trip, soI’m thankful we got to check that off the list on the last day!

Since we were traveling alone, we made sure to get back to the hotel before dark. We ordered room service for dinner and called it a night.

Day 11 – Traveling Home

We woke up early for breakfast on the rooftop before heading to the airport. And by breakfast, I mean cappuccino. The sunrise was beautiful and we took what we hoped would be our last selfie in Greece. Spoiler, it was. We made it home safely and immediately started planning our next trip!