Greece Trip Days #5-6

Sunday morning (October 5) we were up early again and off the ship at 7:00 a.m. for a visit to the palace complex at Knossos near the port of Heraklion in Crete. Knossos was the center of the ancient Minoan civilization, which flourished from roughly 2000 B.C. until around 1200 B.C. The site is tremendously important, but I'm afraid many of the students didn't "get it" because of the lack of any Biblical connection with the place. The complex is huge, and our guide spent more than an hour taking us through the ruins, a very small portion of which has been restored. Afterwards we were taken back into Heraklion to a museum containing the most important artifacts from the Knossos excavations, including several famous frescoes and the renowned "snake goddess" figurine. We then had about half an hour to shop for souvenirs before boarding the bus for the trip back to the ship, which sailed at noon for Santorini.

Santorini was the one big disappointment of the cruise because we ran into bad weather and rough seas. We actually had to cut short our afternoon worship service on the ship because a number of students looked like they were on the verge of nausea. The two guys serving communion could barely keep their feet. We sent everyone back to their cabins to rest. We arrived at Santorini around 4:00 p.m. but were unable to go ashore because of the winds and waves, which were preventing the tender boats from the shore from running. So we had to content ourselves with the view from the ship, which was still pretty spectacular. (Santorini, formerly known as Thera, was the site of a massive volcanic explosion in antiquity during which most of the island sank, leaving only a circular rim with a steep drop down to the water, where the crater had been. It may be the source of the Atlantis myth.) I visited the island in 1994, so I didn't feel the loss too keenly, but I know a lot of the students, as well as my family, were very disappointed that they weren't able to ride donkeys up the cliff road or ride the cable car up to the rim. The ship cruised around the island for about an hour before heading back towards Piraeus.

Monday morning we woke up in Piraeus and disembarked. We were delayed in leaving the port because someone from another tour group mistakenly took one of our students' suitcases and left his own. We had to make arrangements for the bag to be delivered to our hotel later in the day. Finally we set out for the drive into Athens for our visit to the Acropolis and Mars Hill. The Acropolis was absolutely packed with people, worse than I have ever seen it. It took us 20-30 minutes simply to make our way from the admissions kiosk up through the Propyleia. Niki, our guide, took us around the site for the better part of an hour. Then we slowly made our way back down to the exit and went over to Mars Hill, where we spent about twenty minutes. Dr. Gardner and I both spoke about Greek religion and philosophy and Paul's response to them. As always, it was a great experience.

We got back on our bus and drove past several important Athens sites such as the Parliament building and the old Olympic stadium. Finally we arrived at our hotel shortly before 1:00 p.m. and checked in. Then we walked a few blocks to a restaurant where we had reservations for a group meal, and everyone had his first Greek kebab. After lunch, Jonathan took the students on an orientation walk; my family trekked to Lycabettis (sp?) Hill, the tallest point in the city. We rode the cable car to the top, thereby softening the sting to the kids of not being able to ride the car on Santorini. It was a clear day, and we had a very nice view of the entire city as well as the Aegean. By the time we walked back to the Plaka near our hotel, it was getting close to 6:00. We got some street food and went back to the hotel to relax for the evening.