No Place Like Home

I'm finally home and getting over the extremely long trip. We began our journey around 6AM on Monday morning (10PM Sunday night at home). Our flight left Athens at 10:30 and 10 hours later we landed in New York for a 5 hour layover before our 7:30PM flight home. As it turned out, our flight got delayed. In fact, it got delayed many times before we actually got to go home. After 5 hours of layover and another 5 hours of flight delay, we finally took off at 12:45AM Tuesday morning (11:45 at home). Our plane landed at DFW around 3AM Tuesday morning and we arrived at the house a little after 4AM Tuesday. I had been traveling and basically awake (I can't sleep on a plane over 10-15 minutes at a time) for about 30 hours straight. After going to bed, I sprung awake at 5:30AM (I was still used to being 8 hours ahead). I went ahead and got up and eventually went to work around 7 where I stayed for a few hours to catch up on emails. Through the afternoon and into the evening I fought off the urge to sleep so that I could get back on schedule. At 9PM I finally crashed and slept solidly for about 10 hours. I'm finally starting to get back to normal with my rest and hope that over the the weekend I will get on a regular schedule. While I really enjoy traveling and seeing the great sights I am lucky enough to get to see, Dorothy was right; there's no place like home.

Oh Yeah... I just realized that my Blogger account still thinks I'm in Greece. I guess I should fix that.

A Few Things About Greece

We leave Greece day after tomorrow. Even though I'm more than ready to go home, there are some things that I will miss about being here.

The lifestyle of a small island...

Patmos is one of the most unique places I have ever been. Besides the mountainous landscape there is the way of life there. In one word, it's laid-back (OK maybe 2 words). There are periods of time when cruise ships come in and the port turns into a tourist destination for a few hours. But the ships leave with their visitors and the island turns into a peaceful community of locals and a few longer term vacationers (mainly from Europe). After 3 years, this has become one of my favorite places. I now know people there who I can visit nearly any time. I have now visited one of the smallest islands as well as one of the largest islands in the Aegean Sea. In this case, bigger ain't necessarily better.

Double Status ice cream bars...

These things are awesome! They are vanilla ice cream covered in a thick layer of chocolate, covered in a layer of caramel, followed by another thick layer of chocolate. Sound good?

Real feta cheese...

Yes, more food. I can get feta back home but its just not the same. It's great with olives and cucumbers or baked with layers of dough into a pie. Here is it made of goat's or sheep's milk, so the taste is different from cow's milk cheese that I can get back home. Besides, at home it is more of a luxury, here it is a staple.

Seeing historical sites...

Whether the sites are historical (like the Acropolis) or traditional (like the Cave of the Apocalypse), they all have their own special significance. I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to see places like ancient Corinth, the Acropolis in Athens, the cliff monasteries of Meteora, and Samos (home to Pythagoras of the Pythagorean theorem and Epicurius).

Examining manuscripts...

This is why I go for weeks on end. There is something special about looking through a copy of the Scriptures that was penned over a thousand years ago that is hard to describe. There is a sense of being privileged to do so, a sense of adventure in seeing the different styles of Greek writing and determining what is written, and a personal connection with history by holding it in my hands.

Kozani Trip on Bible.org

Dan Wallace has posted an article at the bible.org web site about our trip to Kozani, Greece on Wednesday. Check it out here.

Meteora, Greece

On Wednesday, we drove most of the day to the town of Kozani, where there are a few manuscripts in the city library. The drive was open highway for a couple of hours but that quickly tuned into winding mountain roads. After several hours of riding on twisty roads dotted with little towns, we made our way into the town square and were met by an assistant to the mayor. He escorted us into the library and we were soon seated at a long table examining the ancient documents. We were served a cold Frappe' and some water, which was refreshing after the long drive. We stayed in the library until it closed at 9PM and found a place to have dinner. We ate a great meal in a small taverna while the locals watched Greece play against Spain in a European Cup soccer match. After dinner we headed out on a long drive through the mountains to our hotel in Kalambaka at the foot of the rocks of Meteora (Mee-Tee-ORR-Ahh).

Thursday morning we awoke after a short and hot night of little sleep. But today we were going up to the monasteries of Meteora. This place is indescribable. Huge mountainous pillars rise from the plain thousands of feet. Atop these rocky pillars sit several monasteries. The monasteries look as if they are a natural part of the mountain. It almost has the look of a fantasy scene as each monastery is molded to the top of these giant cliffs. Seeing this was a big highlight of the trip. We visited one of the larger monasteries that has a collection of manuscripts. We walked up the long, narrow stone stairs to the entrance. Then we made our way through a narrow tunnel followed by more steps. After we made it inside, we found the manuscript museum and were able to view some of the manuscripts they have on display. After the visit at the monastery, we made several stops down the mountain and I went into another monastery that is perched on another cliff. I took a lot of pictures as I walked the paths around the area and looked at the awe inspiring view. All in all, it was well worth the long hours spent in the car.

One of the large monasteries of Meteora.

Standing high above the cliffs.

Below me is the second monastery I visited and in the top right corner is another larger monastery.

In Athens Again

We are back in Athens after an overnight ferry trip. I definitely like the islands better than the city but it is still good to be here because this means I'm one step closer to home. At this point I've been away just over 3 weeks and I miss home. I miss Ashley and the boys, my own bed, my quiet study, a real shower, and an occasional hamburger. This week we are staying at the Bible Institute in Athens. The rooms are alright but lacking in hotel conveniences. So by the end of this week I'll also be missing air conditioning. However, I do have decent internet access while we are here so that is a big plus.

While we are in Athens we will likely go to the Acropolis and surrounding area of the Agora and some other ancient temples. We would also like to make a trip to Corinth. Even though I have been there, I would like to see it again since we are so close.

On my final day on Lesbos, I took a walk down the beach to take pictures. The water there is incredibly clear. I could still see the bottom after walking several yards out on a pier. I could even see some small fish swimming around and there were many people snorkeling around the area. Maybe some day I'll give that a try and take along an underwater camera.

On the way back to Athens, the four of us had our regular Sunday communion together and afterward, I found the passage in the Bible that mentions Lesbos. Actually, it mentions the major port of Lesbos, which is Μιτυλήνη (Mitylene) (Acts 20:14). It is mentioned in the same passage where Χίος (Chios) (Acts 20:15) (another island that was a stop for our ferry) and Σάμος (Samos) (Acts 20:15) (where I went 2 years ago). In this passage, Paul is trying to make it back to Jerusalem in time for Pentecost. I wonder if Paul used the same ferry line that we took... probably not.



This is a picture I took on my walk along the coast of Lesbos. If you look hard you can see the coast of Turkey in the distance (to the right of the little island).

Out For A Walk

Today we drove around the island of Lesbos in search of more manuscripts. We saw some great sights around the island as well as some beautiful mountainous scenery. We didn't get to see any manuscripts today but it was still good to see the places where they are kept. Sometimes it is just difficult finding the right people at the right time. I did enjoy getting to see another very ancient monastery.



You never can tell what you might see in the rural areas. Sometimes there will be a donkey walking beside the road or even a pig and a dog playing together in a yard. Today we saw a horse being led along the road by a man in an SUV. I'm pretty sure that this is how you take your horse for a walk in Greece. I was able to get my camera out in time to snap a picture. I now try to keep my camera ready at all times because I never know what I'll see next.

Lesbos, Greece

We have been on the island of Lesbos (pronounced "Lesvos") since Monday night where we are trying to view and possibly photograph manuscripts. Today we viewed 2 manuscripts at a local school and were able to photograph a few pages. Hopefully they will see our work as high quality and want one of our teams to photograph their manuscripts another time. Tomorrow we will visit a monastery and try to start a relationship there in hopes of studying their manuscripts.

This is the first time I have had internet access since we got to this island. Our hotel does not have access so we found an internet cafe to check email. It's actually a pretty nice place. There are computers for internet and some young guys are in another room playing computer games and others are playing a game of pool. It is funny how we are on one of the largest islands in the Aegean and had to search for Internet access, while on tiny little Patmos, we had wireless access in our hotel room. I realize how dependent I am on the Internet when I can't get to it. Unfortunately I can't upload a picture right now. I'll post one later.

Skala Evening

I took this picture Friday evening while having dinner in Skala Harbor on Patmos. It is a good view of where I hang out while I'm not working.

The Adventure Continues...

We left Patmos last night around midnight and arrived in Piraeus (Athens) about 7:30 this morning. In a while we will catch a ferry to the island of Lesbos where we hope to view and photograph some of the many manuscripts there.

My last day on Patmos was spent hiking around parts of the island and taking pictures. While walking down a remote road, a car passed me and stopped. Inside was one of the priests that we met last year at the monastery. He had been in Athens while we were working at the monastery so we had missed seeing him during the week. He recognized me from last year and stopped to say hello. I like that there are several people around the island that recognize us and are always friendly toward us.

High Place

One afternoon a couple of us went to a remote mountaintop on Patmos. This is overlooking Grikos Bay and Traonisi (Three Peaks) Island.

Last Days on Patmos

We are now drawing near to the end of our time on Patmos for this summer. We will be leaving Sunday night and plan to go to some other places that have Greek New Testament Manuscripts. We have been here for a week now and have had a productive time photographing manuscripts at the monastery. We finished photographing 7 manuscripts in about 5 short days of work in the monastery and were able to get all of the pictures checked and burned to DVD by Friday before lunch. Once again, we had lunch every day at the monastery after our time working in the library. Friday, after lunch, we met with Abbot Antipas to present him with their copy of the pictures we shot over the week. This year was special for me because I was able to present a copy of my master's thesis to the Abbot. My thesis was on one of the manuscripts we photographed on Patmos 2 years ago. I wrote an inscription in Greek in the front of the thesis thanking the Abbot and the library staff and signed it. He was very appreciative and said that my thesis would be placed in the monastery library. What an honor having my thesis in a library in a monastery in Greece.

Patmos Sunset

We were sitting on the hotel patio doing some manuscript research and I noticed that the sun was setting. So I got my camera and went to the beach to snap some pictures. This beach is right behind our hotel on Patmos.

Berat, Albania

Last Thursday we finished with the photography of the manuscripts in the Albanian Archive in Tirana so a couple of us decided to go to Berat, Albania on Friday. The village is an old castle site that has a few homes and an ancient monastery where two ancient New Testament manuscripts were discovered in 1968. We arrived at the site before the monastery opened for tours so we decided to walk around the town for a while. While we were making our way through the narrow roads, an older lady stepped out of her home behind us and invited us to coffee. Our Albanian friend (and interpreter) told her that we would be back by later. We walked on around the mountaintop town and rounded a corner where I saw the largest statue of a head I had ever seen. It was the head of Emperor Constantine perched on the side of a hill. We made our way around, shot some video and took some pictures of the countryside before making our way back to the monastery.


On the way back we stopped at the home of the lady who invited us for coffee. We went in and were served a sweet treat and a cup of Turkish coffee. She showed us a 150 year-old family bible with commentary that was in Greek. We visited for a while through our Albanian/English speaking interpreter before we left. It was a nice visit and was really neat being invited into the home of a local person. We made our way to the monastery and decided to get a snack to eat before heading to the monastery. We found a tavern to eat in and before I knew it, we were served stuffed peppers and a salad made of roasted vegetables (zucchini, peppers, eggplant, etc.). It was a great authentic Albanian meal.

At the monastery, we were guided through the chapel into the area where the priests would prepare the worship. In the very back of the room was a hole beneath the stone floor where two ancient manuscripts were hidden during times of war. They were specifically hidden there from Hitler during the Nazi invasion.It was very interesting to see, especially since we were privileged enough to see and photograph these very manuscripts. All-in-all it was a great day filled with really unique experiences.