After enduring a rather extensive baggage check by customs in Haifa, the South African traveler and I shipped off in a ferry boat to explore various Mediterranean Islands, as well as Athens, Greece. The boat had several different nationalities of people on board who were touring the Mediterranean. From Israel, we headed first of all to Cyprus, a small island not far from the coast of Israel, and then on to a number of Greek Islands before reaching Piraeus, the port city near Athens. We didn't spend much time on any of the Islands on our way to Athens and chose where we wanted to spend most of our time after seeing what there was in store for us between Israel and Athens.
Arriving at several of the Islands by boat, and docking at mainland Greece was an experience in itself. The shore lines on each of the Islands and mainland Greece were colored with lots of anchored Greek fishing boats. It's an experience I would recommend to anyone who likes a little adventure with lots of smooth sailing throughout the Mediterranean. The waves are usually small, a lot like the waves on Lake Michigan unless, of course, there is a storm... Piraeus and Athens at this time still maintained the charm of an older country. Practically everyone spoke Greek and only a few spoke any English. We walked to the train station at Piraeus and caught an electric train from there into Athens which was only a few miles from there.
After making it into Athens, we got an inexpensive room in a downtown hotel for a couple of days. The room had some kind of fleas that were biting us while we tried to sleep, so we didn't stay in Athens long. For some reason, all of the hotels were charging a lot for their rooms, probably because of the historical significance of Greece, especially Athens. We were both interested in going to Mars Hill, where the apostle Paul had discussed spiritual matters with the epicureans, or Greek intellectuals. While walking from one side of Athens, upward on a steep incline to the top of Mars Hill, we came across the Acropolis which was quite impressive.
The apostle Paul had started a number of churches in Greece on his three missionary journeys there from Israel. He wrote several epistles, or letters, to the churches that eventually became the larger part of the New Testament. Corinth, Ephesus, Philippi and Galatia among others were locations of churches he started that the bible refers to in many of his letters of instruction that are in the New Testament. Because of it being a port city, Corinth, or Korinth as it is spelled in Greece, was composed of various nationalities. It was a multi-cultural mix of different religions and spiritual beliefs which brought a number of challenges to Paul as he tried to instruct the Korinthian church. I spent most of a day there looking around and talking with a few of the people living there.
By the time I was able to visit Korinth, I had already been to a number of Greek locations and had been wondering why, seeing how Paul had started several churches throughout Greece, that I hadn't seen any protestant churches which came into being in the 16th century with Martin Lurther and the reformation. The churches in Greece were all Greek Orthodox which largely resemble the beliefs of Catholicism. The place where Paul had originally started the church in Old Korinth was nothing but a small village with some ruins, a few stones and pillars covering a small area near the Mediterranean shore. About four miles away is a small city called New Korinth. There have been a couple of earth quakes over the last two hundred years that destroyed most, if not all, of the original city of Korinth.
While walking through New Korinth, I came across two Greek Orthodox priests who had just come out of a restaurant. They were wearing long black capes and each of them had a black stove pipe sort of hat on that didn't have a brim, and was just flat on top. I said, "Excuse me, can you tell me where there is a protestant church in the area"? They each looked a little puzzled and a little angry at the same time. They said, "There are no protestant churches here." That was the extent of their answer... Very seldom did I come across people in Greece who were willing to extend much of a welcome or appreciation toward my inquisitiveness.
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