Athen’s Cathedral, Parthenon, Mars Hill & Boarding our Ship

by Steve Ray on October 23, 2026

This is the big day! All of our pilgrims arrived throughout the day yesterday, and we took a bus tour of Athens.

Today our two beautiful busses pull up to the hotel, we load up our luggage and we head into downtown Athens. First, we have Mass at the Cathedral of Dionysius of Athens. St. Dionysius was the one who heard Paul speaking on Mars Hill. He was one of the judges who heard Paul speaking in Acts 17, and he believed along with others. He became the first bishop of Athens.

We go up Mars Hill where the judges sat and where Paul made his brilliant presentation about Christianity. I breakdown his speech as we begin to understand the book of Acts and the New Testament, in its cultural context.

Then the climb up the Acropolis to the Parthenon before walking down the Plaka with many choices for lunch. From there we boarded our busses again to head to the Port of Piraeus and boarded the Celebrity Infinity ship. Easy boarding process. We got settled in and had dinner and watched as we cut through the waves as night approached. Tomorrow we explore the largest of the Greek islands, Crete.