DAY 1 - Wednesday November 3 (Philadelphia - Athens)
Evening departure from Philadelphia International Airport on transatlantic flight to Athens. Overnight aloft as the pilgrimage begins.
DAY 2 - Thursday November 4 (Athens)
Arrival at Athens International Airport, welcomed by our representative. Transfer to the hotel. Welcome dinner and overnight in Athens, with time to rest and gather in prayer before the journey ahead. Accommodation:(D)
DAY 3 - Friday November 5 (Athens and the Areopagus)
Holy Mass at a parish in Athens
After breakfast, we walk the streets Saint Paul walked in A.D. 50, when he was overwhelmed by the city full of idols (Acts 17:16). A panoramic tour begins our day: the Temple of Olympian Zeus, Hadrian’s Arch, the Parliament with the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Royal Palace, and the Olympic Stadium where the first modern Olympic Games were held.
We then ascend to the Acropolis — the city’s most famous monument — admiring the Propylaea, the Temple of Athena Nike, the Parthenon, the Erechtheion with its celebrated Porch of the Caryatids, and the Odeon of Herodes Atticus. We stand upon the Hill of the Areopagus, the very stone from which Paul proclaimed the “unknown God” to the Athenians (Acts 17:22–34). Among those converted that day was Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris. We conclude at the New Acropolis Museum, a marvel of modern architecture in dialogue with the monuments above. Return to the hotel; dinner and overnight in Athens.Accommodations: (B,D)
DAY 4 - Saturday November 6 (Ancient Corinth & Mycenae)
A Complimentary Excursion from WCD Travel — Our Gift to You and Your Faithful
After breakfast, we cross the Corinth Canal — the impressive engineering marvel connecting the Aegean and Ionian Seas — to Ancient Corinth, one of the central stops on Paul’s second missionary journey. In A.D. 50, Paul arrived here alone after his difficult experience in Athens and found Aquila and Priscilla, a Jewish couple expelled from Rome by the edict of Emperor Claudius, with whom he shared the trade of tentmaking and lived for eighteen months — the longest period the Apostle spent in any single city during his travels (Acts 18:1–17). We visit the Temple of Apollo, the Fountain of Peirene, the Roman Agora, and — most especially — the Bema, the marble judgment seat from which the proconsul Gallio tried Paul when the Jews of Corinth brought charges against him (Acts 18:1217).
Holy Mass at the Bema of Saint Paul
In the afternoon, we travel to Homeric Mycenae, one of the great Bronze Age citadels of the ancient world, to view the Lion Gate, the royal tomb enclosure, and the Tomb of Agamemnon. Return to Athens; dinner and overnight. Accommodations: (B,D)
DAY 5 - Sunday November 7 (Athens - Delphi - Kalambaka)
After breakfast, we depart for Delphi — known throughout antiquity as the “navel of the earth” and one of the most important sanctuaries of the ancient world, the religious and political center of all Greece. People from every social class and from every corner of the world came to consult the Pythia, priestess of Apollo, to learn their fate. We visit the archaeological site and the Archaeological Museum of Delphi — considered among the most important in Greece — home to the renowned bronze Charioteer and masterpieces of archaic and classical art.
Sunday Holy Mass in Delphi
Afterward, we travel through the mountains to Kalambaka. Dinner and overnight. Accommodations: (B,D)
DAY 6 - Monday November 8 (Meteora - Veria (Beroea) - Thessaloniki)
Early breakfast. Morning visit to Meteora — monasteries suspended upon sheer pinnacles of stone, raised by ascetic monks between the 9th and 12th centuries as houses of unceasing prayer, second in importance only to Mount Athos. Of the original monasteries, six remain inhabited; we visit two of them, with time for silent reflection amid frescoes, icons, and the awe-inspiring landscape.
Holy Mass at one of the Meteora monasteries
The journey continues to Veria, the ancient Beroea, where Paul preached to those who “received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily” (Acts 17:10–11). We visit the Pauline Bema, the platform from which he addressed the people. Onward to Thessaloniki, a city of vital importance in the early Christian community. Dinner and overnight. Accommodations: (B,D)
DAY 7 - Tuesday November 9 (Phillipppi - Lydia’s Baptistery - Kavala)
Breakfast at the hotel. We travel through the lush green landscape of mainland Greece to Philippi, where Paul delivered his first sermon on European soil and baptized Lydia of Thyatira, a dealer in purple cloth and the first European convert (Acts 16:14–15).
Holy Mass at the Baptistery of Saint Lydia, by the river where the first European Christian was baptized. We visit the fully excavated Roman Forum, dating from the time of Paul, and the site venerated as the prison where Paul and Silas were thrown (Acts 16:16–40) — the place where, at midnight as they sang hymns, a great earthquake shook the foundations of the jail, the doors flew open, and the jailer with his entire household was converted to Christ.
A brief stop at the Lion of Amphipolis, a magnificent 4th-century B.C. monument, precedes our arrival in Kavala — ancient Neapolis — where Paul first set foot on European soil in A.D. 49, answering the Macedonian’s call (Acts 16:9–11). Return to Thessaloniki; dinner and overnight. Accommodations: (B,D)
DAY 8 - Wednesday November 10 (Thessaoniki-Vergina - Athens)
Breakfast at the hotel. Morning panoramic tour of Thessaloniki, the city to whose faithful Paul addressed two of his epistles — First and Second Thessalonians — among the oldest writings in the New Testament.
Holy Mass at the Basilica of Saint Demetrius, patron of Thessaloniki
Our tour includes the White Tower, the Arch of Galerius, the Rotunda of Saint George, and the Byzantine Basilica of Saint Demetrius. We then visit the 8th-century Church of Hagia Sophia, celebrated for its mosaic ornamentation and column capitals. In the afternoon, we travel to Vergina, the Macedonian necropolis, to view the royal tomb of King Philip II, father of Alexander the Great, and the museum displaying his jewels and the impressive gold funerary urn. After the tour, transfer to Thessaloniki Airport for the domestic flight to Athens. Dinner and overnight in Athens. Accommodations: (B,D)
DAY 9 - Thursday November 11 (Athens - Free Day)
Breakfast at the hotel. A final day in Athens at leisure for personal prayer, rest, and reflection. For those who wish, a return to the Plaka, the National Archaeological Museum, or a quiet hour before the Acropolis offers a fitting close to the pilgrimage. Farewell dinner and overnight in Athens. Accommodations:(B,D)
DAY 10 - Friday November 12 (Athens - Philadelphia)
Breakfast at the hotel. At the appointed time, transfer to Athens International Airport for the return transatlantic flight to Philadelphia. The group arrives home the same day, carrying the graces of this pilgrimage and the intercession of the saints whose steps we have followed. Accommodations: (B)
