12 July - Home

We have now arrived safely home and the journey was very smooth and uneventful.  We enjoyed the stop in Assisi,  I am not sure what St Francis would have made of all the fuss and the art work in his honour.  

Having said that Assisi was a very spiritual place to be and the sacred nature was respected by all the visitors, something that was not apparent in some of the churches in Rome.

The picture of St Francis standing naked as he renounced worldly goodsGiotto - Legend of St Francis - [05] - Renunciation of Wordly Goods.jpg put the significance of our own situation into perspective and it was a healing place to visit. The Work of Giotto and his team sat between the iconic art of the Byzantine and the renaissance art of Rome. Overall it was a good place to end our journey.

From Assisi we headed straight home.  Fortunately I had put my written work onto the internet , however access was not easy or cheap at internet cafes and 

so rather than writing up my sabbatical around the edge of Lake Garda (the original plan) I will be doing it on the PC at home in the coming week before starting back in the Benefice next Sunday.

Thanks again to all who followed and all who commented, the whole trip has been a great experience and we have been extremely fortunate to be able to undertake the journey.

For those who like figures we travelled  7642 miles and stayed on 25 different camp sites and passed through 12 different countries.

Thanks and God Bless

Paul & Chris

4th July - Disaster strikes

Today is a day of great wailing and gnashing of teeth. A quick trip to the supermarket this morning on the way out of Rome towards Assisi turned out to be more expensive than planned.
On return to the van we found that two doors had been forced open, the locks destroyed, and we had been relieved of the Laptop, I pod, camera, sat nav, a pair of smelly trainers and equally disreputable sandals, (they were in a smart tool bag)
The real disaster is not the loss of equipment which is not good news but we have lost over half the photos we have taken including what were to be the final posting pictures of St Pauls final resting place (As traditon has it)
Needless to say the police showed little interest other than to complete a form saying teh occurence had been reported.
Fortunately the blog remains a record and we had sent soem pictures home earlier when Suzy returned to UK (Please dont say you have lost the memory stick Suzy) We also have Chris diary which has a very detailed accoint of our events. Hooray for the pen and paper!
I think this will be the last blogg as we begin the journey home after Assisi so thanks for all who followed and all who commented, I hope you enjoyed it we certainly have.

29^th June Rome 2

First a quick picture of Pozzouli harbour a missed post from a few days ago.

Rather by luck than judgement we found ourselves at St Peter’s in time to witness the Pope Celebrating Mass and installing new cardinals. After the service he appeared on the balcony and addressed and blessed all present in many languages including English. It was an unexpected and quite memorable moment. Although following in Paul’s footsteps it has not been a pilgrimage as such. However, being at St Peter’s on the Feast day of St Peter and St Paul seems to bring a fitting end to the journey.

Visiting the various sites in Rome has been interesting. The sharp contrast between the basilicas of the Orthodox Church and the baroque and renaissance churches in Rome is one of the most striking differences. The style of the orthodox churches in both shape and decoration has remained basically unchanged since the 4^th century. Most of Rome’s churches of course are nearly a 1000 years younger than many of the Orthodox churches we visited earlier!

28th June - Rome

(Acts 28:11-16) The Port of Pozzouli (Puteoli) now has a large harbour for leisure craft, an area for fishing boats and ferries and tucked to one side is the old Harbour. Straight away we found our first snag. Paul writes nothing of his arrival in Italy. So it is Luke’s account that is our source. Experience shows that Luke’s recollections and Paul’s account differ, sometimes quite markedly. However, as Paul’s story runs into the mists of uncertainty we have few facts and places that mark out his journey to Rome. It is with some surprise that of the three places mentioned in Acts, three places that are readily identifiable, not on of them shows their relationship with Paul. Throughout Turkey and Greece we have seen basilicas erected over sites where Paul was purportedly imprisoned. over houses in which he stayed or over places where he spoke. (the Bema in Corinth.) In Neopolis we found a church where Paul Landed as he stepped foot in Europe for the first time. However, in Italy there is nothing to be seen. No church or nice mosaic marking the spot of Paul’s landing in Pozzouli. (The church in the picture is not dedicated to St Paul.) As we journeyed on up the Appian Way towards Rome we hoped that the Forum of Appius might record Paul’s passage but nothing was to be found. Likewise we stopped at the supposed spot of the Three Taverns (or Three Shops) but as the pictures show there was nothing to be seen. Rather like the story in Act’s, Paul’s journey slips quietly into obscurity and his presence in Italy appears to have been an unexceptional event not meriting special recognition. Are we now in the land of St Peter rather than the land of St Paul?

26th June - Olympia - Pompeii

After 6 weeks in Greece it was time to try a different country and so we departed from Olympus for Patra and the a short cruise of the Adriatic landing at Brindisi. Our departure coincided with a change in the weather and clouds rolled in and the rain came down. We had a luxury cabin aboard the “cruise liner” An open deck ticket allows you to sleep in the camper van and they even provide electricity for hook up. During the night there was sense of really following in the footsteps of Paul as a storm blew up (Acts 27:13-20) and being on a lower deck we were quite close to the action. Someone persuaded the crew not to abandon ship and we landed safely in Brindisi.

On the way North to Naples we stopped briefly at Matera, a town built on the side of a hill, utlising the caves in the clay hills. Having degenerated into a slum it has been cleared and is now being redeveloped as a heritage site. which means the great restoration work and government and EU subsidies to convert the old buildings into desirable hotels cafes and art/gift shops. It is well known becuase Mel Gibson used it as part of the set for old Jerusalem for the Passion of Christ.

Unlike Paul who arrived at the port of Pozzouli (just north of Naples) we arrived eventually at the camp site of the same town, the arrival points differ by several hundred metres and also by the fact that site is situated in a volcano, aprt from the warm ground and the occasional sulphorous smell it is a pleasant site, complete with bubbling mud and steam erupts from the fumaroles. We are assured it has not erupted for couple of thousand years. Interestingly the whole area is one of the most volatile in the world and it is constantly being monitored by satellite (reassuring as 3 million people live in the area). The area north of Naples in ancient times known as the Phlegrean Fields was mytholigised by Homer and Virgil as the entrance to Hades.

Apart from the smell, it doesn’t seem so bad.

For our first full day we went to explore Vesuvius and Pompeii, the former in the mist the latter in the rain, O where has our sunshine gone! In fact it was not too bad we did not see much of the crater’s interior but the guide was able to point out that the cloud going down was cloud and the cloud going up was steam. For a volcano that has seen action every 30 years since 79a AD there is some concern that its last eruption was in 1944.

Pompeii differed from all the other roman ruins seen to date becuase it was neither destroyed by warfare of earthquake, instead it was buried under piles of ash. as a consequence it is much easier to gain an impression of a first century Roman city. Not only are some of the buildings intact, they still show the decorations inside. It is very easy to walk the streets and imagine life going on around you. it is a remarkable site. It was interesting to note that while many houses had shrines to certain Gods there was not the variety of temples found in the Greek cities we had previously seen. Most of the buildings were brick built and the predominant rock was unsurprisingly granite, these factors also gave it a very different perspective. We left making a mental note to re-read Robert Harris’ book “Pompeii.” It is a good read and a well researched fictional work of the last days of the city.

20 June - Olympia

For something a little different we struck south and ventured to Olympia. This site is probably the best in terms of housekeeping and setting although the trees do hide the overall scale of the site. To get there however was another remarkable and wild journey. We intended to stop at Dimitsana but the site was closed and so we pressed on. Such was the tortuous nature of the road that the 40 km took us over an hour, and this was a red road on the map! It would have been nice to stop for photos but the road demanded all our attention and we probably missed half the spectacular nature of the terrain. Olympia is interesting. The temple of Zeus collapsed in an earthquake (6th Cent) and all the pillars lie on the floor just where they toppled. Significantly it only has one ancient basilica a 5th Cent ruin. In comparison with other sites where there have usually been three or four it seems Christianity was slow in reaching into the interior of the Peloponnese.

On the campsite we have had to be cautious we have a "veranda" with a view across the hillside which still bear the signs of devastating fire of two years ago. It is interesting to see that it has not recovered as quickly as the Australian bush. To retrun to the need to be cautious, directly opposite our position The local fire brigade have a fire watch post (It's the red vehicle in the middle of the picture) It's location made us very wary as we lit the BBQ (the black dome at the bottom of the picture) and I made sure we kept the smoke down to a minimum, we really did not want dinner ruined by a bunch of enthusiastic firemen dousing us with a hose.

The next few days are study days and another early start for the service in the local church, before we sail for Italy and onto Rome.

Our thoughts and prayers are with all in the benefice especially those being confirmed as you celebrate the confirmation with Bishop John.

17 June - Ancient Korinthos

The interesting thing about all the sites visited is that they vary so much in terms of access, completeness and information. Alexander Troas for example was a large city, and most of the remains were unexcavated and appeared amid the planted crops and fields of local farmers. The central part of Ancient Korinthos the agora and the temple of Apollo were very clear in outline and some sizeable remains were present thus we were able to picture the scene Paul might have encountered. Unfortunately the site map was not of the highest standard and there was little information about the remains we were viewing.

Most of the sites cover a period of several hundred years and the buildings were changed added or knocked down in that time. However we did find the stone of Erastus (Rom 16:24) and also the Bema (For the Philistine readers this is not short for BMW.) The Bema highlights the problem of change because what should have been an impressive Marble plinth with statues and small rooms had become a church, it therefore was little more than a blank wall with a label attached.

Great emphasis is put on the Temple of Aphrodite adjacent to Korinthos (referred to in previous post.) We visited the site and can honestly say it is over rated. The temple is situated on the hill that is in the distance behind the pillars of Apollo’s temple. The view from the top is quite spectacular stretching about 60 kms in all directions you may be able to discern ancient Korinthos below in the picture. We rather felt that It’s location challenged it’s reputation. For the ancient Korinthians faced with a 5 km climb in 30+ degrees we felt his/her strength would have been sapped. One cannot help but wonder how much energy the desperate visitor had left, perhaps all those courtesans led a very undemanding life after all.

For Paul It would seem that the many temples (Some were named and the remainder that were unnamed were lettered A to K) were of far greater concern. Having said that from the tone of his letter it seems his two years in Korinthos were very profitable and he left behind a very active (over active?) church that continued to grow.

15th June - Korinthos

Onto Korinthos that den of iniquity as far as Paul was concerned. So renowned was the city that its name became a synonym for promiscuous behaviour. Lonely Planet nicely describes the situation

“The Temple of Aphrodite where the sacred courtesans (exactly how these differed from the less holy variety isn’t clear) who so raised the ire of St Paul catered to the desires of the insatiable Corinthians.”

But that is tomorrows trip. Today we found the VW garage and had the van serviced and discovered not a wheel bearing on the way out but a buckled wheel rim. The uneven roads of Eastern Europe and some unmade roads in Greece and Turkey have taken their toll. The garage expedition meant we were in new Korinthos a town that has been destroyed or badly damaged by earthquakes in 1858, 1928 and 1981. It is some 6 km from the Ancient city but it is at the western end of the Corinth Canal, quite a spectacular feat of engineering for the 19^th century, although as the canal was started some 2000+years ago it was a bit behind schedule.

Prior to the canal being built smaller ships and goods were ferried by road across the isthmus a distance of 5km saving a sea voyage of about 131 nautical miles through some treacherous waters. The old road the Diolkos is still visible in parts at the western end. In Paul’s day the road surface was logs rather than the well worn stones as in the pictures.

With the temp at 39 we decided at this point not to go to the old port of Cenchera as we were not in need of a haircut (Acts 18:18) instead we returned to the camp site which is coincidently at Lechaion, the old port on the western side of Korinthos and the road from the port leads straight into the ancient city.

12th June Athens-The Agora

The Temple of Hephaestus (The God of the Forge) is just one of the many temples and shrines found in the Agora; the administrative, political social and commercial centre of Athens. Socrates shared his philosophy here and it was to here that St Paul came when he arrived in Athens,

As Paul went around the market place he would have come across the Altar of Zeus, the Temple of Apollo, the Temple of Ares, Triton Statues, The Altar of the twelve Gods, the Hellenistic Temple and the Southeast Temple. As the business of life went on round about Paul was there preaching about Jesus Christ and the resurrection. The fact that he ended up being taken to the Areopagus means that he must have made an impact even though he considered himself a poor speaker. To stand in the area and try and contemplate the situation he found himself in is not really possible. However, as experienced a traveller as Paul was, he was a long way from home and in a very different culture with very different moral and ethical ideas. In Athens there was a culmination of all that he had experienced on his journeys to date.

It is perhaps fortuitous that at the heart of that alien culture there was belief in the supernatural and a seeking to know about the gods. There was perhaps also a realisation that the idolatry nature of the existing deities did not provide a satisfactory answer to life's question being explored by the philosophers of the time and Paul sparked enough interest to light the fire of faith among some who heard him.

Also in the Agora amidst the temples there was a 10th

century

church (the Church of the Holy Apostles). Having

been reordered in the 19th century, it has recently been restored to its former 10th Cent state again the simplicity of the Apse and Holy Table proclaim a powerful message.

Away from the Agora and in the shadow of Athens' Cathedral (literally) sits a little 12th Century church (it is just 7.5 mtrs by 12 mtrs as in keeping with the 12th century village of Athens!) on the front are a set of carvings of mythical beasts and I was reminded of St Olave's south arch lintel when I saw this particular one.

The church is Panagia Gorgoepikoos - "Our Lady who Listens."

12th June Delphi update

Having written about Delphi and it's location thought you might like a picture or two the first is looking to the coast (SouthWest) the second is from the top of the site (looking South East)