Your pilgrimage begins as you board your international flight to Istanbul.

Upon arrival, you will be met by our airport representative. Enjoy a Bosphorus cruise and dinner. You will glide beneath some of the city’s famous bridges and sail past some of Istanbul’s more colorful neighborhoods and peaceful suburbs. Your boat will take you past castles and quaint fishing villages. Transfer to your hotel in Istanbul for dinner and your overnight stay. (D)

Celebrate Mass at the Basilica of St. Antonio di Padova. The bejeweled capital of Istanbul sits between two continents and is home to 450 mosques. You will visit the famous Blue Mosque with its six minarets and sparkling interior. Walk through Hagia Sophia, which was the largest church in Christendom for 1000 years, built by Justinian (532-537 AD) and visit the Sunken Palace and Basilica Cistern also built by Justinian. The church has 107 columns, fossil-embedded, white marble floors, and beautiful glass mosaics. Enjoy the aroma of cinnamon, cloves, thyme, and other exotic spices as you explore the Grand Bazaar. Over 4,000 shops sell everything from herbs to gold. Later, you will visit the eastern or Asian part of Istanbul. You will see the Byzantine city walls, the Golden Horn, and the world-famous mosaics of the Kariye Church. Special dinner with music and/or dancing tonight. (B, D)

Fly to Izmir this morning. Drive to Mount Koressos located behind the ancient city of Ephesus, where you will visit the house where the Virgin Mary is believed to have spent her last days, the home of St. John. There will be time for Mass, prayer and reflection before traveling back downhill to Ephesus, where you will enjoy a guided walking tour through one of the most magnificent excavations in the world. See the Great Theatre where St. Paul preached, which is the largest theatre in antiquity, having a capacity of 24,000 people, and visit the Terrace Houses exhibit. Just outside Ephesus, view the Basilica of St. John, which was erected over his grave in the 6th century AD by Emperor Justinian. (B, D)

Journey to the island of Patmos, where we will enjoy a short ride up to the village of Chora, where the monastery of St. John is located. Visit the courtyard, the church with its outstanding frescoes, and a small museum, which houses ancient books and manuscripts, mosaics, icons, splendid medieval textiles and vestments, as well as jewelry. Return to your motorcoach and continue on to the nearby Grotto of the Apocalypse, where the Apostle, St. John, wrote the Book of Revelations during his exile by the Roman State. Return to the port of Scala and enjoy some free time in this quaint and picturesque harbor before boarding the ship to sail back to Kusadasi. (B, D)

Return to St. John’s home for Mass before traveling north to Pergamum, one of the seven churches mentioned in Revelations (Rev. 2:12). It displeased the Lord because it tolerated the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which Christ hated (Rev. 2:13-17). The fabled acropolis towers 1,000 feet above the town and commands a spectacular panorama. As you pass through the Royal Gates, you will enter one of the great centers of classic Greek culture. You will see the foundations of the Temple of Zeus, the Temple of Athena, and the ruins of the library, which once held 200,000 parchment volumes. You will see the remains of the Temple of Trajan, the grand theatre, the gymnasium, and the health center (Aesclepion). Fly to Istanbul and on to Thessaloniki this evening. (B, D)

Follow in the footsteps of St. Paul and St. Silas to Amphipolis and explore the ruins of the many Christian basilicas there. In Philippi is a baptismal site commemorating where God opened the heart of St. Lydia (a seller of purple from Thyatira) to hear the words of St. Paul (Acts 16:13-15). Lydia and her household were the first Christian converts baptized on European soil. View the Roman-era crypt thought to have served as a prison for the Apostle Paul, and explore Philippi’s famous acropolis, marketplace, the Basilica of St. Paul, and theater. Today’s last stop is Neapolis (Kavala), one of Greece’s most picturesque mainland ports where St. Paul landed with his disciples, St. Timothy and St. Silas. See the Roman aqueduct and acropolis before returning to Thessaloniki for dinner and your overnight stay. (B, D)

Discover Thessaloniki, where St. Paul was accused of turning the world upside down with his preaching of Christ (Acts 17:3-6). As you explore St. George’s Basilica, believed to be built over the synagogue where St. Paul preached, reflect on the two epistles the Apostle St. Paul wrote to the Thessalonian church here. Stroll through the archaeological museum and the beautiful basilicas of St. Sophia and St. Demetrios. St. Demetrios is dedicated to a distinguished Roman proconsul martyred for his Christian faith. Along the Via Egnatia stands the Galerius Arch, and you can look out over the second-largest city in Greece from the Old City Ramparts, some dating back to Roman times. Follow the path of St. Paul when he fled Thessaloniki for the safety of Veria (Berea), where Jews and some honorable Greeks accepted the new faith (Act 17:10-12). Continue to Kalabaka for dinner and your overnight stay. (B, D)

As you visit the rock forest of Meteora (“in the heavens above”) in western Thessaly, imagine St. Paul walking that treacherous terrain on his missionary journey. Gaze up at the breathtaking Byzantine monasteries spectacularly perched on soaring, sheersided gray sandstone pillars. In the 13th century, monks sought refuge in cliffside caves before fleeing higher to build the original wooden shelters that later became these monasteries. Travel to scenic Delphi, the religious center of the ancient Greek world and marked by the conical stone called the omphalos (“navel”). Walk the Sacra Via to the Athenian treasury, theatre and the Temple of Apollo, where the oracle performed her prophetic rituals. As you consider the incredible amount of pagan influence just in Delphi alone, you will gain a new appreciation for the tremendous spiritual opposition St. Paul faced in preaching the Gospel of Christ here. In the museum are many ancient treasures, including the 5th-century bronzed charioteer so detailed you can see his eyelashes. Continue to Athens for your overnight stay. (B, D)

Tour the city of Corinth, where the Apostle Paul met fellow tentmakers Aquila and Priscilla and received a vision from the Lord saying, “I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city” (Acts 18:10). As Paul spoke, Crispus (chief ruler of the synagogue) and many others believed and were baptized (Acts 18:8), establishing the church at Corinth to whom Paul later wrote his two epistles. Discover the archaeological museum, marketplace, and temples. As you walk among the ruins, stand on the Bema, where the Apostle Paul stood before Gallio to face charges brought against him by the Jews. Stop briefly at the port town of Cenchreae, from which Paul later departed for Syria (Acts 18: 12-18). Return to Athens for dinner and your overnight stay. (B, D)

Enjoy the rich architectural splendor of the ancient city of Athens as your guide introduces you to the world-renowned Acropolis, the Propylaea, the Parthenon, and the Erechtheum. Stand on Mars Hill as the Apostle Paul did when he proclaimed, “I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you” (Acts 17:23). As you look upon the agora (ancient market place and center of Athenian public life), recall that this was where the Apostle Paul preached “Jesus and the resurrection” (Acts 17:18) to the skeptical Athenians. Also see the House of Parliament, the Presidential Palace and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Visit to the New Acropolis Museum this afternoon. Dinner and overnight are spent in Athens. (B, D)

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