Thessaloniki: A Holy Start (& Chaotic)

We flew from Munich into Thessaloniki today and stepped straight into the heart of early Christianity. After navigating some wild city traffic, we finally reached the Monastery of Vlatadon — one of the places tradition says Paul preached during his short but powerful ministry here.

Liam shared a devotional from Acts 17 and 1 Thessalonians, challenging us to imagine what the Jews and Greeks of this city would have given up to follow Jesus. Three weeks of Paul’s preaching… and a church was born that still echoes through history. Standing on that hill overlooking Thessaloniki made the Scriptures feel alive.

We prayed together, then walked just a few minutes to a nearby restaurant for a great Greek meal. Afterwards, we returned to the monastery right at 6:00 when the church opened. We sat inside in complete silence — a rare and deeply meaningful moment for our team.

Then came the adventure: a 12-minute drive back to our Airbnb turned into almost two hours because of road closures and impossible parking in Thessaloniki’s upper town. It definitely fatigued the leaders, but it also made us laugh and remember that sometimes pilgrimage includes both sacred spaces and frustrating streets.

A challenging, beautiful, holy first day in GreeceRead more