Athens day 1

Our last stop on the trip was Athens. I've always wanted to visit Athens after seeing so many pictures of it in history books. The city of Athens isn't particularly nice, the economic downturn shows. Countless beautiful old buildings are abandoned, falling apart, and covered in graffiti. Sad.

The incredible view from our hotel room. This is the temple of Zeus. You can't see it in this picture but just to the left you can see the Acropolis. 

This is what most of the buildings look like, beauty underneath but hidden by dirt and graffiti. 

I was so excited this day. I felt like I had stepped into my history book. 

This is Mars Hill. It's right next to the Acropolis and is the hill where Paul gave his talk in Acts 17. Like the previous Biblical places we had visited, to be where Paul spoke is very moving. 

Pastor Morecraft gave a wonderful talk walking us through Acts 17. 

This is the Antikythera. The function is written below. The most amazing part of this device is how old it is, before Christ, and yet they knew how to measure the placement of the sun, moon, and tides. 

There is one big rule in Europe. Eat gelato. It's 100 times better than the US. 

Mykonos and Delos

Almost everyone who has been on pinterest has probably seen a picture of Greece, specifically the picture of pure white buildings with blue roofs. Well on this day we visited that place, Mykonos. It felt like walking on my pinterest board. 

 The water around Mykonos is unlike any other water I've ever seen. It's CRYSTAL clear.

 For the morning we took a short ferry ride over to the island of Delos. A now abandoned island that used to be ultimate pagan city with the most temples. 

 It's still quite intact and you can still see the outlines of the houses and their rooms

 This is a courtyard of a wealthy man's house. On the other side are the rooms and there would have been a second story. 

 Some of the houses still have the plaster on the walls. 

 This is believed to be the oldest Jewish synagogue. 

 Still can't get over the color of the water

 After our adventure on Delos we headed back to Mykonos to do some exploring. 

 Pinterest worthy. 

Sunset as viewed from our sailboat in the Greek islands. Oh yes. 

Island of Patmos

The island of Patmos is the island where the Apostle John wrote the book of Revelation. It is believed  that he wrote it while living in a cave on the island. We got to visit the cave but since they have built a church inside the cave we weren't allowed to take pictures. 

Patmos is beautiful. The colors in these photographs are very realistic of the true colors. The water is unbelievably blue and crystal clear. 

 There is a monastery built on the top of the island. One of the oldest monasteries dating back to the 300s. 

 I couldn't believe the water. The color is stunning. 

We finished off our day we a beautiful sunset over Patmos as seen from our boat.