Byzantine Travel Journal: Day 14 (On Cruising)

2010 © Gregory Scott

For most of my life, the idea of a going on a cruise was not appealing. My first cruise completely changed my opinion. We are now on our 5th cruise. Here are some of the reasons for my about-face.

Cruising is the most relaxing way to see the world.  A cruise offers you the benefit of returning to the same room every night. No packing and unpacking or dragging luggage through train terminals and airports. When I’m on vacation I want to relax. Acting as a part-time porter for two weeks is not my idea of fun.

Cruising usually allows you to see more major destinations on your vacation than traveling conventionally. On this cruise we have visited four different countries and eight cities.

2010 © Gregory Scott

There is usually a choice of excursions at each destination, and you don’t have to worry about how to get to the sites.  You sign up for an excursion, are assigned to a guide who leads your group, speaks your language and answers your questions about the sites. Or, you can hire a private tour guide.

My biggest objection to cruising was the thought of the days at sea with nothing to do. I soon found my fear unwarranted. Most cruise ships are huge. The big ones have movie theaters, Broadway-type theaters, casinos, swimming pools, spas, fitness centers, jogging tracks, multiple bars, restaurants and shops. I’ll never forget the experience of looking down on Venice from 14 floors up as I ran around the track on the top deck. This morning I made my run while we were in the middle of the Aegean. Nothing but deep blue water on all sides for as far as the eye could see. Very cool.

2010 © Gregory Scott

And then there is the food and the service. You will usually have your choice of multiples restaurants ranging from a grille to a buffet and a five-star restaurant or two. Room service, at any time, night or day, is usually included in the cost of the rooms with balconies.

Lastly, if you are a learner like me, there is another reason to cruise. On every cruise I’ve been on, there has been a college professor who gave lectures on the history and culture of many of our destinations.

On a cruise to the Baltic we had the added bonus of a “port lecturer” named Frank, who would narrate in the lounge as we entered or left the port. Frank had such a broad range of knowledge and was so interesting we made it a point to always be there to hear him. Halfway through the cruise we dubbed ourselves “Frankophiles”, though we didn’t tell him that because we didn’t want him to think we were worshipping him or stalking him or anything weird like that.

2010 © Gregory Scott

Prices for cruises vary depending on the destination, the cruise line and the level of room you choose.  I would recommend choosing a good reputable cruise line and-very important—a room with a balcony. One of our favorite things is to sit out on the balcony on a cruise, talking, sipping wine or reading the Bible. And besides, I imagine one could get a bit stir crazy in a room with just a porthole.

Tomorrow…Ephesus! GS

Byzantine Travel Journal: Day 13 (Volos)

2010 © Gregory Scott

Today we made our first stop in Greece.  Volos, Greece.  We didn’t stay there long but instead hopped on a bus early in the morning and headed 2 hours into the interior of Greece to a place called Meteora.

The Greek countryside, at least the part we saw, is abundantly populated with mountains separated by large flat plains, carved up into geometrically portioned plots that are cultivated with various crops. There is very little wasted land, though the people one would expect were necessary to work the land seemed scarce.

The absence of people living in the country surprised me because I thought, apparently wrongly, that a people with such a long and rich history of advanced civilization (3,000 years) would have densely populated the country by now. It was only later I learned the population of Greece is only about 11,000,000 and that one third live in Athens.

Meteora is a group of monasteries built precariously on the top of mountains. I don’t know whether to call them mountains or rocks because their odd shapes resemble large stone stakes driven into the ground. The monasteries are perched on top of them.

2010 © Gregory Scott

The pictures I took really do not do them justice; one can’t appreciate the height of the mountains or the precariousness of the structures on top of them. I’ve provided links to other photos that are actually better.

Photos inside the churches were not allowed, although some tourists took that more as a suggestion than a prohibition. I’d blame it on a language barrier except that a drawing of a camera with an X marked over it pretty much communicates the idea in any language.

In any event, I can only describe for you the ornate carvings and paintings that covered every square inch of the walls and ceilings. Of the churches we’ve seen on this trip, the paintings in these two basilicas (the basilicas at St. Stephen and St. Barbara) were unique in their emphasis on and graphic depiction of the fate of Christian martyrs.

The paintings portrayed torture, dismemberment and beheadings of Christians throughout history in a graphic, gory detail that leaves a clear imprint on one’s mind and imagination.  I suspect this was the intent. I’ve always wondered why American clergy don’t remind their congregations more of the sacrifices of the martyrs. Their sacrifice has done more to advance the kingdom of God on earth than a multitude of sermons and teachings. GS

Byzantine Travel Journal: Day 12 (Bosphorus Strait)

2010 © Gregory Scott

This morning we reentered the Bosphorus at its northern-most point, where it meets the Black Sea. The rest of the day we cruised down the Bosphorus Strait, past Rumeli Castle, the Golden Horn and Istanbul, through the Sea of Marmara and into the Dardanelles. As the sun was setting, we entered the Aegean Sea.

The castles we passed at the entrance to the Bosphorus, as we neared Istanbul, and as we exited the Dardanelles whispered tales of past battles and sieges.

There is the tale of the Fourth Crusade, on its surface one of the most bizarre twists in history, where the Crusaders left home intending to conquer Muslim-controlled Jerusalem and in 1204 A.D. conquered Christian Constantinople instead.

It started when the Crusaders were unable to pay the Venetians for ships Venetians built for the Crusader’s journey.  To resolve their debt, the Crusaders agreed to help retake a city formerly held by the Venetians. That led to the Crusaders agreeing to help put recently deposed Byzantine Emperor Isaac II Angelus back on the throne in Constantinople.  In exchange the Crusaders were promised money and men to help fight the Muslims in Jerusalem, as well as an agreement to reunite the Eastern Church with Rome (under Papal authority).

Isaac and his son Alexius were reinstalled on the throne.  However, when Alexius could not keep his promise to pay the Crusaders, they took Constantinople by force and ruled there from 1204 A.D. to 1261 A.D, when the Byzantines regained control of the city.

Then was the siege of Constantinople in 1453, when Mehmet II breached the walls, ending over 1,100 years of Byzantine rule and bringing the city under Muslim rule. The last Byzantine Emperor, Constantine XI, could have fled Constantinople before the siege. By that time, many had already left anticipating the arrival of the Ottoman Turks.

But Constantine stayed, and was last seen up on the walls fighting the Muslim invaders, where he presumably died.  His choice of a courageous death over an expedient exit is a fitting symbol for the closing chapter of the great city of Constantinople.

2010 © Gregory Scott

By 1915, the Ottoman Turks still held the Bosphorus and the adjacent lands, though their empire was crumbling. The allied forces of Great Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand decided to attack the Turks at the Gallipoli peninsula (2nd photograph) in the Dardenelles in the hopes of taking control of the Bosphorus and opening up a route for the Russians to maneuver their navy out of the Black Sea.

The Gallipoli campaign was fought at a tremendous loss of life on both sides. It quickly devolved into trench warfare. In ten months of fighting, more than 100,000 men were killed and 200,000 were wounded. The allies, realizing the futility of the battle, eventually withdrew from the peninsula.

Though the Turks won the battle, they were on the losing side of the war, which delivered the deciding blow to the Ottoman Empire. One of the Turkish heroes of Gallipoli, Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk), would become the founder of Turkey and, in an attempt to break with the Ottoman past, move the capital to Ankara from Istanbul.

2010 © Gregory Scott

I’m often surprised at the hawkishness of my Christian friends. Perhaps it’s just an American thing. But, if one of the promises of the kingdom of God is the end of war (Isaiah 2:4), I would think Christians should be slow to counsel war. I’m not arguing for pacifism. Pacifism is a naïve response to a fallen world.

And, when Christians are engaged in warfare, they should be known as the bravest among men, given the eternal benefits of Kingdom citizenship. I’m just suggesting that as citizens of the kingdom of God, perhaps we should be more often confused with pacifists than hawks. GS

Byzantine Travel Journal: Day 11 (Nessebar)

2010 © Gregory Scott

It is said Nessebar, Bulgaria has more ancient churches per capita than any other place in the world. I believe it.  And if, as I wrote yesterday, churches are the physical evidence of the kingdom of God, this place was once very much Kingdom territory, and perhaps still is today.

Nessebar is a strip of land, a peninsula really, jutting out into the Black Sea from mainland Bulgaria. The Greeks were settled here as early as the 6th century B.C., followed by the Romans in the 1st century B.C. and then the Byzantines.

The influence of the Byzantines is not only seen in the design of the churches but in the building materials.  The churches have bricks with imprints denoting their manufacture in Constantinople.

2010 © Gregory Scott

Nessebar, known to the Byzantines as Mesembria, was apparently an important town to the Bulgars and the Byzantines, as it changed hands repeatedly.  Nessebar was eventually conquered by the Ottomans in 1453.

Today, Nessebar is a village of tourist and antique shops, restaurants and ancient churches separated by narrow cobblestone streets. Its shops have all the standard tourist chachka, but there are also a number of antique shops, and they all seem to have Nazi antiques:  passports, fountain pens, medals, rings, clocks, all with the Nazi insignia.  I couldn’t get an adequate answer from anyone as to why all the Nazi stuff. It seemed an odd contrast on a small peninsula with so many ancient churches, the symbol of man at his worst surrounded by the symbol of man at his best.  GS.

Byzantine Travel Journal: Day 10 (Odessa)

2010 © Gregory Scott

Today was our second day in Odessa, but we stayed on board the ship. It was a time to read and relax and think and connect some of the dots before bidding farewell to the Ukraine.

The wife and I have had the opportunity to travel throughout Europe quite a bit over the last ten years, and one thing that impresses me wherever we go it is the reach and influence of the Roman Empire. We’ve seen the remains of Roman building and culture from Scotland to France to the banks of the Danube and as far away as Israel.

Along the northern coast of the Black Sea where we have been the last four days, the Greeks had settlements and left an imprint. The Romans assimilated Greek culture and added to it a practicality conducive to progress and prosperity. It has been said, “The Greeks had brains; the Romans had drains.”

The Romans had a unique approach to empire. Rather than conquer and destroy, they sought to assimilate. In the ancient world the most significant boast one could make was, “I am a Roman citizen.” The Apostle Paul claimed this privilege. (Acts 22:28).

The Romans thought their empire would last forever. In fact, Rome was referred to as “the Eternal City.” Romans thought they would never be conquered.

2010 © Gregory Scott

It is indeed an act of divine irony then that the Lord decided to plant the flag of the kingdom of God, a kingdom which will truly “never be destroyed” but will “endure forever” (Daniel 2:44), in the midst of the Roman Empire.

The kingdom of God did outlast the Roman Empire and continues to expand. If the physical evidence of the Roman Empire is its ruins, roads and aqueducts, then the physical evidence of the kingdom of God is its churches. And one sees churches just about everywhere one goes.

The reach of the kingdom of God is more extensive than the Romans could have ever imagined and the Kingdom will continue to expand, offering citizenship to those it touches, until it fills the earth. GS