In this 5 dayS private tour Including Meteora, you will witness the extraordinary hanging monasteries together with the glorious Thermopylae battlefield. A true door-to-door experience with your private tour driver and a first-class vehicle!

Kalabaka is a town and seat of the municipality of Meteora in the Trikala regional unit, part of Thessaly in Greece. The population was 12,000 at the 2011 census, of which 8,330 in the town proper. The Meteora monasteries are located near the town.

In this tour we will visit Meteora, a unique location full both in terms of landscape and christian faith. The Meteora is a rock formation in central Greece hosting one of the largest and most precipitously built complexes of Eastern Orthodox monasteries, second in importance only to Mount Athos. The six monasteries are built on immense natural pillars and hill-like rounded boulders that dominate the local area. It is located near the town of Kalambaka at the northwestern edge of the Plain of Thessaly near the Pineios river and Pindus Mountains. Meteora is included on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The name means “lofty”, “elevated”, and is etymologically related to meteor

we will visit the Monastery

We arrive at Meteora and visit up to three Monasteries. Breathtaking at first site, the Monasteries are of great cultural and natural importance. Split from earthquakes, weathered from the wind and the water over millions of millions of years, these immense rocks are an authentic masterpiece of mother nature. The Meteora is a rock formation in central Greece hosting one of the largest and most precipitously built complexes of Eastern Orthodox Monasteries. The six (of an original 24) monasteries are built on immense natural pillars and hill-like rounded boulders that dominate the local area. Meteora is included on the UNESCO World Heritage List and the name means "lofty", "elevated", and is etymologically related to meteor. Please be modestly dressed. Women are suggested to w

tour of the Rousanou Monastery at Meteora

When Paul Arrived in Thessaloniki ,he began over three consecutive Saturdays to visit the Jewish Synagogue and converse with the attendees.He tried to explain to them that according to the historical and prophetic books , Christ first had suffer and then be resurrected from the dead .After Listening to his words ,many Greek converts snd many Jewish converts to Judaism and many of the citys influential women embraced Christianity.

After the battle of Pydna in 168bc Thessaloniki fell Under the control of the Romans in `146bc and Became The Capital of the Roman Department of Macedonia . In 42 AD Proclaimed a Free City .It was exempted from taxes ,it could elect its own leaders and minted its own coins.At the time that Paul visited Thessaloniki and founded the homonymous Church ,in 50AD it was a Roman colony with the status of a free city.It was a rich city with developed trade ,an intense cultural movement and it was transportation Hub.

we will walk by the Arch of Galerius

we will see the uper City the Old CITY

Among the Modern Buildings raise monuments testifying its Glorious past ,while Archaeologists continually brings to light findings dating back mainly to the Hellenistic and Roman Times .The Roman Agora dating to the 2nd-3rdcentuary AD with bathrooms and a conservatory , and the complex of Galerius represent the Roman era. The roman Agora is comprised of two squares surrounded by arcades and connected by a staircase.

THE ROTONDA - EASTERN WALL The Galerian complex was built around 305AD The Cesar Gelarius palace includes the Octagon at the southwestern end of the Palace.

The Church Of Apostle Paul

We will overnight

From Neapolis , Paul and the three companions following the Via Egnatia arrived in Philippi after having gone 15 kilometers .The via Egnatia one of the most important roads of the second century BC was started in 146 BC .

In the winter of 49/50 AD Apostle Paul arrived in Philippi and founded the First Christian Church in Europe . Upon the recognition of Christianity as the oficial religion by Constantine the Great Philippi became the bisshops with jurisdiction over approximatelly five dioceses.

We will visit the Roman Forum in Philippi where according the tradition Paul and Silas flogged

We will view the Roman Agora and Part of the Egnatia Road and where the apostle Paul preached the Gaspel

We will Visit the Archaeological site of the ancient city of Philipous and the remains of the domed Basilica Church of 6th Century in Philippi

The Fact that paul was able to expel the girls evil spirit demonstrated the victiry of Christians over the religion of the Gentiles.Then her owners were outraged because they lost a mzjor prophetic sbilties .They arrested Pul and Silas and brought them to the Agora before the rulers of the city .They accused them of urgring the residents to follow religious customs that Roman citizens were not allowed to adopt.After their release whitch is detailed in the Acts of the Apostle 16;13-40 Paul silas and Timithy but not Luke who remained at Philippi greeted the Christians who had gathered in Lydias home and then departed for Thessaloniki wghere there was a Jewish synagogue

With the foundation of the Greek cities at the mouth of the Strymon from the middle of the 7th c. BC, Greek culture started progressively to penetrate into the interior. The graves in the cemetery of the settlement on Hill 133 change their form, and the grave goods are now dominated by cultural elements of the Greek world: figurines, coins, and above all vases imported from the cities of southern Greece (Corinth, Athens) and the Ionian cities of the north Aegean. The presence of the Ionian world is also apparent in the sculptures of the late Archaic and early Classical periods found in the neighbourhood of Hill 133 and on the site of ancient Amphipolis. Local tradition survives in the metal working, especially the bronze and gold ornaments. The foundation of Amphipolis finally in 438/ 437 BC, in the time of Pericles, by the general Hagnon was a great success for the Athenians, whose chief purpose was to ensure control of the rich Strymon hinterland and the Pangaion mines.

we will visit the museum of Amphipoli

Acts 17:1 After meeting with the believers at Lydia’s house, Paul and Silas leave Luke behind in Philippi and travel along the Via Egnatia through Amphipolis and Apollonia Amphipolis was an important town on the Via Egnatia in Paul’s day, although the modern highway bypasses the town . Founded in 437BC by Athenian settlers, the city was built on a plateau a short distance inland from the Aegean Sea, overlooking the valley of the River Strymon. The city was conquered by Philip II of Macedon in 357BC and subsequently became an important centre in the Macedonian kingdom. After the Roman conquest of Macedonia in 168BC, Amphipolis became the capital of the first meris (administrative district) of Macedonia.

The Acropolis of Roman Amphipolis – on the hillside above the modern road – can still be visited, together with the ruins of a gymnasium and Roman baths, and a number of early Byzantine churches. These were built shortly after the capital of the Roman Empire was transferred to nearby Constantinople by the first Christian emperor, Constantine, in the 4th Century AD.

A range of artefacts from Roman Amphipolis – including an early Christian gravestone inscribed with a cross and the word ‘Emmanuel’ – can be seen in the modern Archaeological Museum at the far end of the village, adjacent to the site of the Roman city. The magnificent stone carved statue known as the Lion of Amphipolis would have stood alongside the old Via Egnatia at the foot of the plateau when Paul visited, just as it does today.

The Holy Cathedral of the Apostle Paul was founded to honour and praise the fact that in this town – then known as Neapolis, subsequently Christoupolis and today Kavala – Paul, the Apostle to the Nations, had reached Greek territory, and Europe more generally, for the first time. The construction of the church began with a group of pious Christians at the beginning of the 20th century and the foundation stone was laid in 1905 by the Metropolitan Bishop of Xanthi, Joachim Sgouros. The Greek Community had first requested the consent of the Ottoman administration, given that the town at that time was still under Turkish rule.

Lydia of Thyatira and the Baptistery named after her . When Paul the Apostle visited Philippi in AD 49/50, founding the first Christian Church in Europe, the appearance of the city changed. Among those who heard the Apostle Paul’s sermon was a woman called Lydia. Lydia decided to be baptised in the waters of the River Zygaktis and she thus became the first Christian woman in the whole of history. The Apostle Paul visited Philippi on another three occasions, a fact that, along with his Letter to the Philippians, shows the long and close relationship between the saint and the community of Philippi. The modern Baptistery of St Lydia (1974), with an octagonal design, can today be found very close by to the archaeological site. On the adjacent bank of the River Zygaktis there is an open-air baptistery within the flowing stream, similar to those that survive in the Early Christian basilicas of Philippi in the shape of a cross. On 20 May each year, the day of memory for St Lydia of Thyatira,

After Breakfast and the check out we wil start our jeurney To Veria after visit Veria we will start our Jeurney back to Athens

A ftr the adventure to Thessaloniki,Paul Silas and Timothy headed southwest to the city of Veria , knowing that it had a jewish synagogue . in 168 BC Veria was delivered to the Romans .At the time that Pauls Visit apart from the Macedonia population many Romans and Jews lived in the city. It was an important commercial and cultural center of Central Macedona and the home of many intellectuaals and artists .The high cultural level was apparently the reason that they responded with courtesy to the techings of Paul. Many Jews and Greeks including those who had converted to Judaism regardless of gender believed in in the Gospel especially people from the upper class.

We will visit The Mosaic of Apostle Paul in the city of Veria in the momument erected on the spot where according to tradition the Apostle Paul Preached The Gaspel

The Jews in Thessaloniki who had porsecuted Paul During his stay in the City Having Learned of his travels and his stay in Veria, sent some provocateurs to stir up the residents against him . So once again Paul was forced to interrupt his stay and to depart the city alone , leaving Silas and Timothy there . Friendly citizens of Veria helped him to escape to a nearby port to board a ship that brought him to Athens .We have no informstion about the port from which Paul Left Macedonia but it was probably Pydna or Dion , witch was the ports name at that time .