May 24th (Day 8): Kavala/Philippi/Thessaloniki

Tour Philippi, where Paul delivered his first sermon in Europe, sowing the seeds of Christianity. Here Paul baptized "a certain woman named Lydia" the first Christian convert in Europe. The Roman Forum, completely excavated, is from after Paul's time. Among the ruins, located on the rocky ledge above the town's main road, is the "prison" where Paul and Silas were thrown. In the rocks you will find inscriptions and carved reliefs of deities. It was in Philippi that Octavian and Anthony defeated Brutus and Cassius, last defenders of the Roman Republic in 42 BC. Continue to Thessaloniki, the former capital of Macedonia. Paul preached there during the winters of 49-50 AD and wrote the two epistles to the ancient Thessalonians. See the ramparts of the city, the Triumphal Arch of Galerius straddling the Via Egnatia, once a strategic artery of the Roman Empire.

LZ