Day 8 – Thessaloniki and Veria

Thessaloniki

Saturday, November 1, 2014

Today we are docked in Thessaloniki, which is the site of one of the first churches that Paul founded. He only stayed about a month as he faced some opposition (Acts 17). We saw a few sights of the city as we drove past the old fortifications to the Vlatadon Monastery. This is dedicated to St. Paul. The chapel was quite small but has the icon paintings typical of the orthodox churches. Next we traveled to Veria (biblical Bera) which was the next city that Paul went to preach. We visited a site said to contain the three steps from the synagogue where Paul preached. The modern day mosaics surround the site. During the Byzantine period many small churches were constructed and many remain. We visited the Church of Christ that was constructed around 1300 as the frescos can be dated to 1315.

	Vlatadon Monastery [Map]		Photo 1 [Map]
	Photo 2 [Map]		Small chapel [Map]
	Old city gate [Map]		Apostle Paul Mosaic [Map]
	Christ Church [Map]		Resurrection of Christ [Map]

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