Volos

On Friday, we drove down to the city of Volos, which is approximately 2.5 hours south of Thessaloniki, on the Aegean Sea. See the map here.

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I’ve been doing some translating work for the Diocese’s Academy of Theological Studies, and we went to meet with the people there. We were also fortunate to have a meeting with the bishop of the diocese, Metropolitan Ignatios.

We arrived at the Metropolis around 11 and got a tour of the facilities, which are very impressive. The Metropolis (which houses the Academy) has a state-of-the-art conference center and nice library.

The first photo is of the outside of the Metropolis, which is located outside the city, up on the hill. The second and third photos were taken from outside there, looking down on the city of Volos. (Unfortunately, it was rainy, overcast day.)

After meeting with the bishop at 12, we were then taken downtown for lunch on the waterfront with people I’ve been working with at the Academy. The last photo was taken as we walked along the waterfront to the restaurant. In the photo are Pelagia and Anastasia, who works at the Academy and is also the daughter of my PhD advisor, Petros Vassiliadis. In the background is a church dedicated to Sts Constantine and Helen.

After a leisurely lunch and then coffee, we headed back to Thessaloniki around 5:00. The trip was very successful and, we hope, there will be a lot more work out of this connection. Thank God!