Day 09 - Travel to Greece

Our last morning in Turkey was an early one to say the least! We had a sunrise devotion, led by Jim Wright where he reminded us that all we had learned in Turkey, should be brought back home with us as he spoke about what it truly meant to be an apostle. Then we loaded up the bus to head at 6:00 am to the Izmir airport- an hour away.

Just like Paul had gospel good byes with his elders from Ephesus in Miletus, we had our gospel good bye with our Turkish guide, Ozan. We prayed that the vast knowledge that he has about Paul’s life and the ancient ruins would penetrate to his heart. We have sure loved him. What a gift he has been to help make the gospel come alive for us. We even gave he, our driver John and helper/driver Hassan thank you cards with some extra tokens of our love for each of them and their hard work the past week. Some of the fun facts that Ozan divulged to us on the bus ride to the airport included: we drove over 1700 miles in the past week while we were in Turkey, had 33 stops to the WC (bathroom) that were documented, over 93,000 steps taken, over 45 miles walked and atleast 120 Magnum bars (frozen ice cream bars) consumed ("most probably"- a phrase that Ozan used numerous times daily).

Upon arrival at the Izmir airport, some of us got both boarding passes, some of us only 1 and some none, but in the end, we all got what we needed to travel to Istanbul and then on to Athens, Greece. We got all of that and got through our security check points in time to wait around for 2 hours until our plane took off. I just want you to imagine the size of this plane. It is 53 rows deep and 9 seats across- about 477 seats available. Almost all of them full! Instead of the usual pretzels for snacks, they offer a mediterranean snack of a warm tomato, cheese and herb sandwich with drink options including water, coffee, sour cherry juice, orange juice, apple juice and Pepsi products. The flight was delayed in taking off by about 40 minutes but had a smooth landing in Istanbul, especially considering the Texas-like spring winds! Landing in Istanbul was interesting seeing the beautiful Black Sea as well as thousands of housetops that look like condos as far as the eye can see. There are about 16 million people who live in Istanbul.

Due to the delay in taking off from Izmir, we were late in arriving in Istanbul. Sooo...we needed to hurry off the plane, in which they had 2 exits; 1 at the back of the plane and 1 near the middle. These exits were rolled out stairways so we could hop on a shuttle buses to take us to the next 2 security check points inside the airport- 1 being a passport check point since we had a connecting flight to Greece and then the normal one on the way to your gate. The funny/ not so funny thing was that we were going through the passport checkpoint at the very time we were to be boarding our next flight! And of course...we had to “Home Alone” it through the airport from one end of the airport to the next...all to sit at the gate because our 2nd flight was delayed about 20 minutes. Along the way, we passed by what had to be a duty free the size of North Park Mall!

Flight to Athens-

This was a much smaller plane...27 rows with 6 seats across. So only about 162 available seats. This flight was only about 55 minutes. This time they offered a cold white cheese sandwich which included feta cheese, cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce on a grain roll; grilled chicken on a bed of iceberg lettuce and tomatoes along with a chocolate mousse. Same drink options as the first flight. As we approached the runway, the flight felt like a roller coaster ride due to the high winds in Athens. But in the end, it was a smooth landing.

Once we retrieved everyone’s luggage at baggage claim...we headed out to meet our new tour guide. His name is Tasos. He is a tall middle aged Greek man with long hair. We look forward to getting to know him. He seems just as hospitable as Ozan. We hop on another white touring bus, but this time it has leather seats! We take about a 30 minute bus ride to the hotel!

After all of the touring of the ancient sites, it sure was nice to walk in to a hotel that had some AC going on and lights that stayed on! And it looked like it would be be featured in the Roman world. These columns made of marble made us feel right at home! People would have the opportunity to stay at the hotel for a buffet or go out into the Athens city center for dinner. All in all, a GREAT travel day and much to be thankful for! It is hard to believe that tomorrow is our last touring day. Maybe we will get to have the Jimmy Needham and The Coach Brandon Curran much anticipated concert at the Parthenon. Yet another day that the Lord has made and we will rejoice and be glad in it!

The Northway, Stonegate and CATC crew