Thursday & Friday, October 15&16, 2009: Divani Caravel Hotel, Athens

Thursday, October 15, 2009: We arrived in Athens earlier than expected at 12:30 p.m. There was a very light rain falling, just enough to wet the ground. We transferred to a deluxe hotel, the Divani Caravel Hotel, for dinner and a night of rest. I couldn’t believe the room price of €540 per day. The hotel was nice but I would never pay that kind of a price if I was traveling on my own. I had planned to attend a Rotary meeting at 9:00 p.m. at a restaurant about one mile from our hotel but I just wasn’t feeling up to it. After having been up for 36 hours the bed looked very good. We stayed in the hotel for the night.


Friday, October 16, 2009: Frank is still not feeling like traveling today. He stayed at the hotel while Sharon went with the tour group to Corinth. Along the way we see several olive trees, a major product of Greece.
Corinth was one of the most important cities of ancient Greece. Its location, on the isthmus that connects the Peloponnesus with the rest of Europe, was ideal for trade both by land and sea. Paul visited Corinth in 51 A.D. and founded a Church there during his stay.


It is recorded in Acts 18 that when Paul departed from Athens he went to Corinth where he resided with Priscilla and Aquila who were tent makers as was Paul. Acts 18:4 "every Sabboth Paul reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks." The Jews were upset by Paul's preaching. Acts 18:12 "the Jews with one accord, rose up against Paul and brought him to the Judgment Seat." Dr. Stanley spoke to the tour group at this site.



Lechaion Road is a limestone paved road from the seaport to the city of Corinth, and is probably were Paul walked.

Seven of the original 38 columns of the Temple of Apollo, built in 552 B.C. still remain. They are all that really "stand" of ancient Corinth.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009: Our Flight

Wednesday, October 14, 2009: Our adventure starts with a flight from Charlotte, North Carolina, over the Atlantic to the birthplace of civilization, Athens, Greece. The flight aboard Lufthansa airlines was most pleasant except for the nine hours. The flight took the long way around flying north along the eastern seaboard up over New York and Newfoundland before crossing out over the northern Atlantic. We then followed a route over Scotland, southern England, northern France before landing at Munich. Our flight from Charlotte had 29 members of the tour onboard. We did leave earlier and therefore were able to get to Athens earlier than the balance of the group who flew out of New York and were not expect to get to Athens until 5:30 p.m. Frank wasn’t feeling well on the flight, having just recovered (so I thought) from a brief bout with the flu.

Visits to our Ancestoral Homes and Cemeteries

It's late and I'm having problems getting to the blog site. The Pittsburgh, PA posts will have to wait until a later time. Sorry.

We depart in the morning for our trip to Athens Greece and Turkey. Hopefully I'll have better luck when I'm not pressed for time

We've arrived in Pittsburgh, PA

Sharon and I arrived in Pittsburgh this evening and are settled in at our hotel.
Tomorrow is the big day to visit the ancestoral homeplaces, schools and cemeteries. Tomorrow eveining the folks in Pittsburgh have arranged a dinner and reunion of Frank's Mother's three sisters. At last count we are expecting 57 for dinner and a time of fellowship to renew family connections. I have my genealogy information available and am looking to some of the cousins to update a few missing dates and places.
Will post more tomorrow evening.
Enjoy the travels.
Frank