Where can you find ancient ruins that housed the infancy of western civilization, untold miles of coastline, scenic islands bathed in sunshine and the Olympic Games?
Where can you walk in the footsteps of the apostle Paul as he traveled on his missionary journeys? In 2004, the answer has to be Greece.
Located in southern Europe at the end of the Balkan Peninsula, mountainous Greece is surrounded by 1,400 islands, 169 of which are inhabited.
The nation is so rocky that a local legend says that when God made the world, He sifted the soil, discarding the rocks He sifted out. The rocks, the legend goes, became Greece.
The book of Acts describes the cities and towns Paul visited on his second and third missionary journeys. The modern traveler can still visit the same sites and see the ruins of many of the places mentioned in Acts.
Ancient buildings
In Athens, the capital and largest city, visitors can ascend to the Acropolis, a hill overlooking the city, and visit the ruins of the Parthenon and the Temple of Athena Nike, as well as several other ancient buildings in various stages of preservation.
There is also a museum to help visitors better understand the history and the various buildings of the Acropolis.
Next to the Acropolis is Mars Hill, where Paul preached a sermon informing the curious Greeks of the identity of the “unknown God.”
Paul also visited the Agora, or marketplace, daily to try to convert the Greeks to Christianity. Today, there is a small church built on the site to commemorate Paul’s teaching there.
Travel professionals warn that, in spite of the ancient history in and around Athens, the capital is very modern and “touristy,” especially compared to the rest of the nation.
Frantic efforts to prepare for the Olympics have injected even more modernism into the city, which can be a plus for the traveler who wants to move quickly and efficiently.
According to the Athens Olympic Ministry Team newsletter, “Roads are being widened, new tram lines are being constructed, new subway stations will be opening soon, and the new train line that will bring thousands of visitors from the airport to the city is being built.
“The train station that will welcome these folks from around the world, just outside the airport, has gone from nothing [a few months ago] to a gigantic spaceship-looking structure,” the team’s newsletter noted.
About an hour west of Athens is Corinth. Corinth sits on the isthmus that joins the Greek mainland to Peloponnesian Peninsula, site of the earliest known Olympic Games.
Paul lived in Corinth for about 18 months on his first visit and got to know Aquila and Priscilla here. He also wrote the epistle to the Romans from Corinth on his second visit here.
First and 2 Corinthians were written to the people of Corinth.
The ruins of the agora, where Aquila and Priscilla probably had their place of business and the place of judgment where Paul was brought up on charges of lawbreaking, can still be seen.
Thessaloniki, or Thessalonica, several miles to the north, will be one of the venues in the Olympic Games, hosting a football tournament.
It was here Paul preached to the Thessalonians during 49 and 50 a.d.
Thessaloniki has a beautiful harbor and a pleasant climate and is highly recommended for a visit by travel professionals.
Philippi is east of Thessaloniki and is where Paul baptized Lydia, the first known convert to Christianity in Europe.
The ruins of the prison that Paul and Silas were thrown into can be seen sitting on a ledge above the main road to the city.
One of the islands Paul visited was Rhodes. The largest island of the Dodecanese, Rhodes is called the island of light, because the sun almost always shines on this beautiful island.
Tradition tells that Paul remained there and preached, winning many of them to Christianity.
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