Local residents travel Mediterranean in the ‘footsteps of Paul’

Last May Genny and I decided to follow in the footsteps of the Apostle Paul and signed up for a trip to Greece in November. We planned it with a Pennsylvania tour agency we had traveled with before on trips to Israel, Italy, Jordan and China.  
When we mentioned it to Betty Edgar she said that really sounded interesting if she could convince her husband, Dennis, as hopefully the fieldwork would be completed by that time. Her sister-in-law, Char Edgar also was interested and thought her adult children, Tanya and Aaron, (now living in Fargo) might be also.   
So, in the middle of November seven of us from Kasson flew from Rochester for the 11-day trip to Greece. Airport stops in Chicago and Germany with 13 hours of flight time plus seven hours time change from Minnesota meant we arrived the next afternoon in Athens.  
The next morning, we boarded a cruise ship for three days with about 900 others to travel on the Aegean Sea to the first island of Mykonos. This was the last scheduled boat cruise of their 2019 season and the seas were very calm.  
We were disappointed as we arrived in darkness at the island because of the shorter amount of daylight at this time of the year. Mykonos has been called the island of windmills which are no longer used for wind power and milling but more of a tourist attraction.  
Our group spent some time walking the harbor area and visiting those never ending “gift shops” that were open before heading back to the ship. 
The next morning we arrived at Kusadasi, Turkey to tour the ancient city of Ephesus where Paul lived for a couple of years as a tent maker but was forced to leave the city when he preached against their idols and gods. Ephesus was once a city of 250,000 and one of the Seven Churches of Asia mentioned in the Bible. It was built over 2,000 years ago so it was a very important city in the Roman Empire. 
When the Port of Ephesus became silted up it was no longer usable for world trade and now has receded several miles away from this ancient city.  
Our Turkish guide, Attila, (he said not Attila the Hun), guided us on a walking tour along the marble streets, explaining the ruins of the former beautiful homes, temples and amphitheaters damaged by earthquakes.  
Many cats were observed walking throughout the city ruins and we saw staff capturing some cats in cages to spay and neuter to keep control on the feline population at this site. 
The Library of Celus is one of the main sites to see in the city and would have been a very important part in ancient days as had contained over 12,000 books.  
After our morning tour was completed the bus brought us to a carpet factory to see the process of gathering silk from the silkworm eggs and making carpets by hand. They brought out a large variety of beautiful woven rugs in the show room and explained the quality difference of rugs made from cotton, wool and silk, which were for sale but also very high priced.
Once back on the ship we continued to travel to the island of Patmos but also arrived at sunset. Our group walked along the dimly lighted cobblestone paths to the monastery of St. John and the cave claimed to be where John was banished and wrote the book of Revelation in the Bible.
Morning brought us to the island of Crete where we toured the ruins of the Palace of Knossos with its 1,300 rooms in the complex from the Minoan civilization of over 3,500 years ago. Very little of this culture was known until the late 1800’s but is now in the process of being one of the most thoroughly restored in Greece.   
We moved on to the city of Heraklion, which has been Crete’s capital since 1971. Walking in the city square business area and a visit to the Basilica of St.Titus, as Titus had also traveled with Paul, was that part of the adventure for us.
Our last island stop was Santorini, which has many stone houses painted white with blue roofs as that represents the flag colors of Greece but also helps keep the buildings cooler from the hot summer temps.  
We again arrived at sunset so after the winding bus ride up the hill side from the harbor to the main city Oia, scrambled to get some photos of some of the scenic buildings before it became dark.  
The doors on the shops and houses are very colorful in contrast to the white buildings.  
We talked to a shop artist who was painting reproductions of old religious paintings that would be placed in Greek Orthodox churches when finished. Many dogs were also walking in the town center so shop owners would put food out in front of their shop for them but the dogs were very content and did not bother anyone.   
We again boarded our ship to return to Athens in the morning.