Our Tour Guides for the trip to Greece, Turkey and Italy were exceptional.
While in Greece and Turkey we had the best woman ever, Anthoula, to see that we got from one place to the next without mishap. And in Italy, Gustavo did the same thing. We got to know these two fairly well. They did a great job of teaching us about the culture and keeping us engaged as we traveled from place to place.
We had specialists that met us at each of our historic destinations. They taught us about the history, the culture and the Biblical significance of their respective locations.
I was always a little nosy and would ask them directly about their religious perspectives. Some were Christian Orthodox. Some were Catholic. And some were Muslim. But they all respected our positions as Christians seeking to visualize where Paul had been.
Imagine Tours did a great job of lining out our schedule and in getting some top notch guides. I was highly satisfied with the quality of the tour guides, the superb accommodations and the tour from all perspectives.
We are walking along the ancient wall of Thessaloniki. This is Anthoula and Vasilica.
We are in Phillipi.
This is Metéora, the place where the monasteries had been built on the rock cliffs.
If my memory serves me correctly, this is Norj, our tour guide for Turkey including Kusadasi and ancient Ephesus.
I’m pretty sure this was our guide for Knossos.
We are on the island of Santorini.
I think this is in the museum in Corinth.
I’m embarrassed to say that I don’t remember our bus driver’s name. He was so nice and could parallel park his beast on the left with his eyes closed!
I’m gonna miss this woman. She was a riot. She talked about the moNASteries and referred to “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” whenever possible. She held the other guides to the schedule. And she knew everybody’s names within a day of our arrival. I think if we lived near each other, we could be great friends.
Federica showed us around in ancient Ostia. She was funny. At least SHE laughed at her jokes!
Andreas (on the left) and Armadeus (on the right) took us through various Roman sites.
Laura took us through the maze of the catacombs, flashlight at the ready.
Sylvia took us through the Vatican.
Gustavo was about Patrick’s age. He was born in Brazil but wanted to go elsewhere. So he learned English by watching “Breaking Bad!” He moved to Italy about ten years ago and learned the language and the culture. He married a Croatian girl and they have a very young daughter. He was delightful.
LORD, Thank you for all the wonderful people you sent to direct our paths and to teach us about the ancient times. I pray that we made as much of an impact on their lives as they did on ours.
Panos was our bus driver.
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