pat loughery

Day 11: October 30, 2008 Thursday was our final day of class. After breakfast, Robert Calvert, Gea Gort and I took a car to Bucharest for our evening flights; Jeff Lewis went to Iasi airport for an afternoon flight, and the rest of the class remained at Neamt for a…

Day 10: October 29, 2008 We awoke for our last day in Iasi and packed for a couple hours’ travel to Neamt Monastery, where we would stay for our last evening together. I created many CD copies of the photos I had taken to this point on the trip to…

Day 9: October 28, 2008 Tuesday’s activities began with an immersive experience in liturgical worship in the Orthodox Church. We walked from our hotel to a small church where Father Varlaam serves as the priest. Although we arrived late we were able to observe the liturgy and after a brief…

Day 8: October 27, 2008 If today is Monday, this must be Bucharest. Having arrived at our hotel at 4:30AM after a 22-hour bus ride from western Turkey, we got a few hours’ sleep and were awake again too soon. During most hotel visits on this trip I have showered…

Day 7: October 26, 2008 Sunday was the long bus ride from western Turkey, across a ferry, through Bulgaria, into Romania and to Bucharest. It lasted 22 hours. Although we’ve learned to stop every 2-2 1/2 hours along the way for rest breaks, bathroom and snack opportunities, we still haven’t…

Day 6: October 25, 2008 Halfway through the trip was a high point for me. On the bus on the way to Ephesus, Father Varlaam (one of the Romanian priests with us) spoke to us about early church history. He spoke of Ephesus in its context as one of the…

Day 5: October 24, 2008 Today was another travel day. We had a long trip from Urgup in Cappadocia to Pamukkale on the western coast of Turkey. We started out at 8am after breakfast in the hotel and perfectly timed our arrival outside to see a flyover by a dozen…