Disembarking from the Louis Olympia, and boarding a bus immediately was a bit like a slap in the face so early in the morning. But we were off to Corinth.

On the way we had a photo stop at the Corinth Canal, a 6.3km canal joining the Ionian and Aegean seas between the Athens area and the Peloponnese. Construction took 11 yrs, begun by the same company that built the Suez Canal, but finalised by a Greek company after the first one ran out of money. The canal can accommodate small to medium size craft, and is 79 metres high, 24 metres wide with a water depth of 8 metres. It was lovely to see a couple of craft proceeding through.

We were then on to another fantastic opportunity to see a place where Paul had such influence. Like all ancient Greek towns there was an acropolis [high edge place of the city] which has various eras of construction. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to go up to the acropolis so photos from the base had to suffice. In the first century Corinth was a very cosmopolitan city with philosophy and the pursuit of wisdom as paramount.

Corinth had a long history before Paul went there, and we were amazed to see substantial columns from the Archaic era, about six centuries before Christ, still standing.

Paul stayed in Corinth about 18 months and had massive influence across the town. We saw the place where it is likely that he worked as a tent-maker with Priscilla and Aquila in the line of shops leading up to the main gate. The ruins are inconclusive as to where the Jewish synagogue may have been, but in the museum there is a stone with carving of three menorah, showing that somewhere in the area there was a synagogue, where Acts tells us that Paul was every Sabbath, reasoning with both Jews and Greeks.

As a tour group we sat in this beautiful location, with the acropolis behind and the ruins in front. Chris read from 1 Corinthians 1:18-25; other tour members read a few verses from Acts 18 & I Corinthians 13, several shared various reflections on our tour and on Paul and what we have learned, and we prayed together. A very special time as our tour was drawing to a close.

Driving back to Athens our final afternoon was spent on the great Acropolis of Athens, but on the way through the city centre we saw the hourly changing of the guard outside the Greek Parliament. A very impressive sight, with a certain unique marching method.

Arriving at the Acropolis, we first climbed Mars Hill [the Areopagus] where Paul preached to the people of Athens:

Acts ^17:22   So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.  ²³ For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.  ²⁴ The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, ²⁵ nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.  ²⁶ And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,  ²⁷ that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,  ²⁸ for

“‘In him we live and move and have our being’

 as even some of your own poets have said,

“‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

²⁹   Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.  ³⁰ The times of ignorance God overlooked, but know he commands all people everywhere to repent,  ³¹ because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” 

What a magnificent marble outcrop this is with a view across all Athens. This was the place where the ancient city had its court of justice. Climbing up it was actually very dangerous, as the thousands of years of use has smoothed out the marble to be extremely slippery. None of these ancient sites in Greece have protective barriers nor warning signs, which is very different to bush walks and lookouts in Australia. And rightly so, as to put up precautionary safety measures would detract from the antiquity. We were extremely careful as we clambered over the rocks to fantastic views across Athens, looking down on an ancient agora [the public or market place], the Temple of Hepheastus, as well as modern Athens.

As we stood on the ancient marble on the top of Mars Hill, we considered all the centuries of wisdom that have been proclaimed there, but most of all to know that the truth about

Christ was declared through the mouth of Paul was truly amazing.

We then continued to the top of the Acropolis and on the way viewed the Odeon of Herodes, which is still regularly used for operas and concerts, then climbed the very slippery steps and walked through the Propylaea [along with crowds of others] to see the Parthenon in all its splendour, undergoing a long standing and painstaking process of restoration. The attempts to find and replace the ruins, as well as do appropriate works of restoration is a costly and interesting process to witness. To the west of the Parthenon is the Temple of Athena, with a beautiful restoration completed in 2010.

We saw the sanctuary of Pandeon, which now proudly holds a Greek flag. On our way back down we looked out across the amazing theatre of Dionysus.

Being able to see the whole vista of Athens from the acropolis, meant we got a great view of the Temple of Zeus, which originally had 104 columns and now only 16 are left. It was also great to have a bird’s eye view of Hadrian’s Arch, built in honour of the Roman Emperor.

Seeing such stunning architectural feats was truly a privilege we will not forget.

Our tour concluded with a lovely dinner together as a group and we thanked God for new friends, new experiences and again, more understanding and knowledge of the Bible and an increased conviction regarding our Christ-centred faith.