Footsteps of Paul!

After an extremely restful first night, we rose this morning (Saturday) at 6:00 (10:00pm Friday night for those of you back home), and after morning prayer, enjoyed a generous and extensive breakfast buffet in the hotel. Today's schedule was altered from our original itinerary, and due to planned demonstrations in the city of Athens, we did our trip to Corinth today instead of next Friday. Encore is really looking out for us...our city tour of Athens was planned for today, and with the current political unrest (mostly labor-related), the planned strike and demonstrations could have interrupted our plans. Actually, yesterday, some of you would have found it interesting that we were driven by the bank that was firebombed a few weeks ago that claimed several lives. The building definitely appeared to be gutted (charred), and one or 2 two of the large glass windows were replaced with boards. It broke all our hearts to see the rows and rows of flowers and momentos laid along the sidewalk outside the building from bereaved family members and citizens.
Anyway, today, we began our walk in the footsteps of Paul by traveling to Corinth! Our bus stopped at the archeological museum of Corinth (by way of a brief stop to see the famous Corinth Canal), which was adjacent to the ancient ruins area of the city. We were immediately impressed by the remains of the temple of Apollo; this is the tallest point of the ancient site, and is what most people visually associate with ancient Corinth.
Our step-on guide, Vicki, was wonderful. She took us inside the museum where we saw hundreds of artifacts from Greek, Byzantine, and Roman cultures dating back as far as 6th century B.C.! We have some wonderful pictures from the museum; remind us to show them to you. Once outside, we were taken to the ruins site (which was several acres of excavated buildings, some in pieces, some more intact), and we learned some wonderful history behind it. The whole city of Corinth was completely destroyed by the Roman general Leucius Mommius in 146 B.C., and then ordered to be reconstructed by Julius Ceasar a century later. This site we were on was basically the remains of a Roman forum with several temples, buildings, etc., the most visible, as I mentioned above, being the temple devoted to the god Apollo. However, what we were most impressed with was the area where Paul walked...and we were shown the land where the synagogue was estimated to have been (no building remained), where he addressed the Corinthians, these same people to whom he wrote his noted two letters later from prison. But more impressive was getting to stand in front of the remains of the Rostra of the Roman Forum, more commonly known as the "Bema," which was basically like our modern-day courthouse where Paul was arrested and prosecuted! Some of the pictures turned out really nice; I'll try to get them up on facebook if I get a little time later. Before leaving the site, our group joined hands in a circle and we prayed together; what an awesome experience!
After completing our visit to the rest of the ruins, we headed for lunch at Rigani's, a spot that was really out-of-the-way, and virtually unknown to tourists. Dimitra (our guide) and her husband have a summer home close to Corinth, and they eat at this taverna quite a bit and she was nice enough to get us a reservation. The food was absolutely spectacular; if you love (or even just LIKE a little bit!) Phoenicia Gourmet or Mr. Greek back home, you would LOVE this!! Kris had chicken seasoned with fresh lemon and rosemary (with olive-oil fried potatoes...YUM), and I had spicy meat sausages seasoned with cumin, served with homemade mashed potatoes, all covered in a red sauce.
After lunch, we visited a little resort town on the gulf of Corinth called Loutriki, and they had a beautiful boardwalk that extended the length of the pebble beach, and bordered numerous hotels and cafes (we stopped at one and had an afternoon gelato). We all strolled the boardwalk, took in the sounds, smells, and sights as mostly-Greek tourists enjoyed the little town with us. This was a nice, enjoyable way to spend the afternoon before loading the bus to return to the hotel.
We relaxed for a bit at the hotel, then departed for dinner at 7:30...sounds like all we do on this trip is EAT, doesn't it?? *I'M* certainly not complaining! Dinner was great...the name of the restaurant was "Gods' Restaurant"...notice the apostrophe AFTER the "s"...multiple gods (as in Greek gods...). :-) The food was traditional Greek fare, and out of this world...they brought us samplings of fried feta, olive and vegetable salad, fresh bread with olive oil, greek meatballs, you name it...followed with main entree's of mousaka, fresh cod, chicken or pork slouvaki (skewered meats, kabob-style)...oh my gosh, the list seemed endless!
We are now back at the hotel, preparing to turn-in...tomorrow will be a busy day...we sing tomorrow morning for mass at the greek evangelical church (actually a Presbyterian church, from what we understand!). Please forgive all my typos...I'm very tired and trying to finish quickly...more tomorrow!