Nik Nunez
March 28
Greece Trip & Journaling

             Well the date was March 28 on a cold and drizzly Wednesday morning when we departed for the cities of Meteora, Vergina, Berea, and Thessaloniki. As always, I was the last one out of bed getting as much sleep as possible, and ate a hurried breakfast with Jonathan Keller and some other good friends. After loading our bus with the entire group’s luggage, we began yet another exciting day!

             The first notable part of our day was the spectacular drive up to visit Meteora where we encountered the monastic settlements of the Meteora perch. These monasteries were not found in low lying fields or in some secluded environment but rather were found in the sky, perched atop huge and precipitous rocks, looking over the entire Thessalian plain. While venturing closer to the monasteries, I was firstly and mostly taken by the natural beauty of the surroundings. The rocks, which rose abruptly from the massive Pindos mountain range, harbored valleys, caves, and curves that were scattered with a thick layer of blooming green shrubbery. The pristine view that we had between the towering fingerlike rocks of the plain below, struck a curious mixture of awe and amazement within me. Behind the gorgeous landscape sat the monasteries and nunneries which could appear as undersized castles at first glance. Each structure was built with small stones in order that it might conform to the shape of the rock, its foundation, and a variety of different sized domes and towers gave each monastery it unique architectural character. The amount of space that the constructors of these buildings had to work with was extremely constrictive and perilous; yet, they set a goal and met it.  

             After viewing the monasteries, we hopped on our buses and made our way down to level ground. Before we were able to get situated on the bus or start a game of cards, James, our tour guide, brought to our attention some caves along side the rocks below the monasteries. He explained that the caves were at one point inhabited by “hermits” who wished to lead a life of complete seclusion. They were in a sense living like the monks above, however, they were not part of a group, rather they were camping out “solo”. James explained that the “hermits” sought after a highly spiritual life and in order to satisfy their lifestyle, they cut off any source of a social life, focusing solely on God.  Following a couple hours of driving and a quick stop to grab some snacks, we arrived in a hurry to see the burial grounds of King Philip II of Macedonia in Vergina. 

            As we unloaded the buses, the group made its way to the entrance of the museum. However, there was one little problem. The museum was nowhere to be found; there was no building or structure! All I saw was a large and smooth mound of dirt that rose from the ground. The surrounding earth was flat, then like a swollen sore on skin, the earth rose to form a small hill. Little did I know that what I was looking at was actually the museum. Later, I was informed that the tombs were covered by a tumulus 13m high and 110m across so that any tomb robbers seeking wealth were stopped and discouraged from ever attempting a steal. As we entered the museum, the artificial hill swallowed our group up and we were soon under its darkness and surrounded by countless gold, silver, and bronze artifacts which archeologists retrieved from the royal tombs. Among some of the artifacts, were Philip’s II (Philip of Macedonia) riches. One of the many interesting explanations that we received for most of the important artifacts, was that Philip II had one leg longer than the other and therefore needed special greaves made for him. These greaves were on display and one could quickly detect that one greave was indeed longer than the other. Aside from the less significant utensils, pots, pans, vases, and greaves of course, were the glamorous items which the king himself wore. In one of the display cases, Philip II “stem” or crown caught many of our eyes for it was not only made out of gold and silver, but was also an important symbol of political power. Another interesting part of the museum was the solid gold cremation box which not only weighed 20lbs but held the remains of Philip II. Among the ashes in this box, there was found a golden wreath which symbolized Philip II religious duties and priestly symbols. This wreath that was found inside the cremation box, is not only considered significant because it symbolized religious duties of the King, but because it is the heaviest solid gold wreath in the world today. Every display case that we had time to observe, held an artifact that displayed in one way or another, great craftsmanship. The relics displayed throughout the museum definitely caught most of the tourists’ attention, however, I would have to say that the tombs of Philip II and his grand-son, Alexander IV (Alexander the Great’s son), definitely were the main attraction. What I thoroughly enjoyed about the tombs of Philip II and Alexander the Great’s son, was not the marble tombs and their friezes, but the history behind the death of Alexander IV. Our tour guide, James, spoke of how Alexander IV death came about. When Alexander the Great died in 323 B.C., many generals and political leaders tried to assume absolute power of his vast kingdom. In one case, a general took Alexander’s ring and another his body. By doing so, the men wished to claim themselves absolute monarchs. While these men were doing all that they could to assume power, Alexander’s brother in-law, Cassider, took his pregnant wife and her mother claiming custody over them in order that he might attain absolute power. Now when Alexander the Great’s son was born and came of age, Cassider, his uncle, murdered not only his mother and grandmother, but him as well. When Alexander IV was murdered he was buried in Vergina with his Grandfather Philip II.

             After our time in the monasteries and the tombs of Philip II and Alexander IV, we had lunch and made a couple of other stops before heading to the hotel. At the hotel we checked in and had ourselves a delicious meal. After Dinner we headed outside to dance under the stars and finished our busy day there. It took time for me to really understand the blessing that it was to be able to go on this Greece trip. Through this trip I was able to fellowship with not only Christian youth but Christian adults as well. I am very thankful that I could be at the very sites where history was made and I am especially thankful that I was able to go on the trip under the guidance of our tour guides and of Course Mr. Hinrichs. I look forward to next year!!!

March 29, 2007

GraceMarie Lambert

Thessaloniki, Greece (or in English Thessalonica)

 Day arrived bright and clear and with it a 6:30 a.m. wake-up call arousing 70 sleepy travelers from dreamland.  Yet reality wasn’t a far cry from a dream as we found ourselves greeted by the delicious aroma of a five star breakfast at our lovely hotel, The Mediterranean Palace in Thessaloniki.  We gratefully partook of the feast laid before us and we were on the bus heading toward the museum of Thessaloniki by 8:15 a.m.  

 The museum at Thessaloniki is filled with rare and unique treasures from the Macedonian culture including ancient jewelry, diadems, alabaster jars and other various artifacts.  On arrival at the Museum we split into two groups, each headed up by one of our trusty tour guides, James and Costas.  I, being a part of bus #2, followed behind Costas. Our first stop in the museum was the dimly lit hall of ancient jewelry.   Feminine hearts fluttered (or at least mine did) as we traversed the ancient day version of Tiffany’s and Co.  We gazed on walls of intricately carved and decorated golden earrings, necklaces and bracelets while Costas explained that the ancients used granulation to decorate their jewelry. This is the process of forming very small golden balls to use in the adornment of jewelry.   He further explained that although this process is very easy to duplicate now, it is nearly impossible to comprehend how the ancients accomplished it with their limited tools and technology.  Once again on my tour of Greece I found myself marveling at the amazing and sometimes baffling accomplishments of the ancient world.  

 Continuing our tour of the museum, Costas pointed out to us diadems and golden wreaths explaining that our modern English translation of The Bible substitutes the word crown for the original words diadem (Rev 19:12) or wreath (Phil 4:1, Rev 2:10).  Standing close by were the beautiful alabaster jars.  Alabaster is a very costly, nearly translucent marble that was commonly made into jars to hold perfume – the jar’s cost likely outweighing that of its expensive contents.  Costas recalled to us the story of the prostitute who anointed Jesus using an “alabaster jar of perfume” (Luke 7:37).  Elaborating, Costas explained that this jar was likely the investment of this woman’s life savings.

 With that we were off to the second half of the museum – where the gods awaited us (statues of them anyway). But the gods had to wait while we took a peak at beautiful blown glass artifacts and, more importantly, tools that the ancient Greeks used to make their cosmetics.  As Costas pointed out the statues of the gods to us he explained how Greeks, such as Homer, had sought to humanize their gods giving them traits of mortals.  While some Greeks criticized this effort to degrade their gods others accepted it.  Costas presented the idea to us that the humanization of the Grecian gods was what God had used to prepare the hearts of the Greeks to accept the incarnation.  This was one of many times throughout our exploration of Greece that the fingerprints of God were clearly seen on the Greeks and their culture.  

 We then waved good-bye to Thessaloniki and piled back into the buses settling in for a six-hour bus ride back to Athens.   Six hours filled with delightful singing and enchanting scenery.  It was planned that we could see the beautiful peaks of Mt. Olympus, home of the immortals, but unfortunately clouds hovered over the mountaintop, so we satisfied ourselves with snapping pictures of the base of the mountain.  We also drove through a charming gorge dedicated to the nine muses – once again misfortune befell and we weren’t able to catch a glimpse of any of the ethereal beings. 

 When the back of the bus wasn’t raising rabble-rousing choruses of “Amazing Grace,” Costas filled us in on little known information about his homeland including the fact that if you stretched out the coastline of Greece you would find that there is more shoreline in Greece then there is in the entire continent of Africa!  Yet even more surprising is the low population of Christians in Greece.  Only .02% of Greeks profess to be evangelicals.  Katarini, a Greece town with a population of 70,000 boasts a relatively large Christian population of 3,000. 

 After a few hours the buses came to a halt in Thermopylae, the place where the 300 Spartans held their ground against thousands of Persians.   We climbed the mound where the memorial to the 300 stands and gazed across at the battlefield and monument on the opposite side of the road while James recounted the story of the battle.  He also related the little known fact that accompanying the glorified Spartan 300 was a troop of 700 oft forgotten Thespian volunteers.  Mr. Hinrichs read aloud to us Herodotus’ account of the battle, bringing to life one of our GBT assignments.  As we listened we tried to envision the now luscious wild flower filled grasslands stained with the blood of Spartan (and Thespian!) patriots.  The boys helped re-enact the scene as they posed for pictures holding their ground against imaginary foes.

 On to Athens! We all tumbled back on the bus and we were on the road again.  The rest of the trip was filled with more delightful scenery, more singing, more sleeping and lots more chatting and discussion plus some Greek lessons from Mr. Hinrichs and Mr. Efantides.   We finally rolled into Athens and a happy group regained footing on solid ground and acquired a filling meal before laying down to a much-needed night of sleep.

Box for writing tools

Alabaster jars

This vessel was made from a unique alloy of copper and bronze that imitated gold very closely.  The ratio between the two materials needed to be accurate within a 1/1000 % to achieve the effect.