What a wonderful past few weeks! After 3 months on the road away from family and friends, some familiar faces were a welcome sight. I flew into Athens, Greece on the 15th of September and was joined by my mom and sister, Autumn, on the 17th. That same day we (barely) made it to a ferry headed to the island of Santorini. Long story short, my sister's plane was delayed and the airline lost her luggage! This led to a lot of messages sent on random wifi networks and a lot of praying that she would make it to the port on time. Praise the Lord she did, with about 3 minutes to spare!
If you have ever seen those beautiful pictures of Grecian islands with white buildings and blue domes- they were probably taken on Santorini. We stayed in a smaller town on one end of the island but spent several days exploring it all in a rented car. If you ever want to improve your prayer life or test your trust in another person- just rent a car in Greece! We watched the sunset from three spectacular viewpoints, ate endless gyros, and swam in the ocean.
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| The beautiful town of Oia |
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| Bougainvillea grows abundantly in Greece and adds to the beauty of every landscape. |
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| A beautiful sunset and a door to the world. |
On our last full day our mom treated us to a full day tour of the complex of islands that makes up Santorini for our birthdays (mine just happened and Autumn's was about to). We got to take a ship to an island that is made up completely of volcanic rock where we hiked to five different craters, saw incredible views, and felt the thermal gases from an active volcanic crater! The boat then took us to some nearby thermal springs, where we took a quick dip in the rust colored water. Then it was off to lunch where we decided to hike up a giant hill/mountain to a small village for one of the best Grecian meals we ate on the trip. If you are from Colorado you probably wouldn't call what we hiked up a mountain, but in the heat with empty stomachs and no water- it certainly felt like a mountain to us! After lunch we sailed to the village of Oia on the main island. There we swam a little more before walking up another giant hill/mountain. At the top we grabbed a spot and waited hours for the sun to set. It was good we got there so early because by the time the sun was actually going down there were hundreds and hundreds of people vying for spots to sit and watch the view. Afterwards we rewarded ourselves for all the walking with a dinner of four delicious desserts shared between us all. I probably ate a weeks worth of calories just in that meal, but it was completely worth it!
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| Autumn and I by an awesome church on a nearly uninhabited island near the thermal springs. |
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| Oia from the boat- this was one of the hill/mountains we conquered that day! |
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| One of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever witnessed. |
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| The crowds watching the view |
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| So many people! |
After our time on the island we caught another ferry back to Athens. Over the next few days we visited all of the major sites including the Parthenon, Roman and ancient agoras, the archeological museum, and the Temple of Zeus. We also enjoyed tons more Greek food! Unfortunately our last day together was ruined by the theft of my wallet. The bright side was that since I was on my way to the ATM, the thief only got about 80 euro cents. The downside was that the wallet contained my passport, license, and debit card. We spent most of the day checking the metro station where it was taken, going to the tourist police station, and filing a report. Also since it was a Saturday, the embassy was closed. This meant that mom and I had to postpone our departure for Thessaloniki until Monday, so that I could go and get a new passport.
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| My beautiful companions- so blessed to share this adventure with them! |
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| The Parthenon! Check that off the bucket list. |
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| Love these ladies! |
On Monday morning we were at the embassy bright and early and I walked away before noon with a brand new emergency passport. Hooray! We headed directly to the train station and booked ourselves tickets to Thessaloniki, a place of Paul's ministry and home to a community of believers who received at least two letters that are contained within the New Testament. Mom and I spent a day touring the city, walking on ancient city walls, discovering beautiful churches from antiquity, and touring the famous White Tower. We also took a short cruise on a boat into the harbor of Thessaloniki. It was a great day made even better by the best meal we ate in Greece. The next morning we hopped on another train back to Athens.My mom left the next morning and I leave for my next destination soon.
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| The city of Thessaloniki |
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| Byzantine church that now sits at eye-level with the street because of how far the town has built up since ancient times. |
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| The White Tower |
Time is flying by and I have just a little under a month left here in Europe. I am so grateful for the last few weeks of family time and rest before a final month of travel. What a crazy adventure it has already been! Until next time...
