Call on the Calls: Trip to the Mediterranean: Visiting sites of Paul's Missionary Journeys

The end of September, Fred and I went on a tour of northern Italy for a week then got on a ship outside of Rome for a week's cruise in the Mediterranean. This was one of our dream trips as we celebrated Fred's 75th birthday. There were many highlights and lessons learning during this trip. For example. . .

The Basilica of St. Apollinare at Classe was dedicated in 549 AD in Ravenna, Italy. Note Abel sacrificing on one side of the altar, Melchezdek at the head of the altar and Abraham and Isaac on the other side. I found this to be a very interesting mosaic and certainly of great significance to Christians.

The canals of Venice gave a view of the everyday life of families who lived there.

Sunsets over the Grand Canal in Venice were fantastic! We grew to really appreciate Florence as the center of the Renaissance with the Medici family, Michelangelo, Leonardo DaVinci, Dante among others. The highlight of this city, had to be Michelangelo's David which unfortunately could not be photographed. We took the typical pictures in Pisa of the Leaning Tower but we enjoyed more the walled medieval towns such as San Gimignano with its winding streets where motorized vehicles are not allowed. My favorite village is found on the island of Sicily--Toarmino is an intriguing town located in the hills overlooking over the bay with Mt. Etna on the opposite shore. This is where I wanted to go to get pictures for our home and I wasn't disappointed except for the hazy skies that day. Thanks to photoshop and with Christian's help, I was able to "fix" the gray skies.

Ephesus in present day Turkey was at one time one of the largest cities in the ancient world. Paul spent 18 months preaching the gospel in this city. To date, they have only excavated about ten percent of the city.

I got a kick out of this cat who appeared to be sitting on his throne to rule the city!

Celsius Library built prior to the time of Christ.

The acropolis set on a hill in Athens, Greece was another highlight of this trip. We could just imagine Paul standing on Mar's Hill giving his famous sermon about the unknown god.