Pilgrimage to Greece: Welcoming the Stranger

June 4-June 18, 2024

Why a pilgrimage?

• A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life.
• Builds community, depth and small groups at Shepherd of the Valley
• Expands our sense of God’s kingdom and reveals our blindspots
• Not a vacation or tourist trip. Expect to be uncomfortable at times and to invest in the outcomes of the experience. (No one will entertain you, unless there are three objects handy to juggle)

Why Greece?

• It’s warm, beautiful, relatively affordable, navigable, and most people speak English
• Athens has been the crossroads of civilizations and religions for thousands of years
• Lesbos was the focal point of the refugee crisis in 2015. This is a chance for us to explore some of the justice issues around refugees.
• I found perfect housing and the food is amazing

Proposed Timeline 2024

Tuesday, June 4 Fly to JFK New York City and overnight

Wednesday, June 5-Thursday, June 6 Emirates flies nonstop from Newark to Athens (9 hour flight) 23:55-16:05+1

Good safety, Alaska Air partner, nonstop https://www.emirates.com/us/english/book/group-travel/

June 6-9

45 minute shuttle from airport to B4B https://www.signatureathens.com/

Thursday-Sunday with breakfast ~$75 a night per person

Athens -3 nights

Regarding availability, since we have not opened sales for 2024, we have availability for all room types, however, please be kindly advised that some specific room types are fewer than other, specifically:

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• Lifestyle 2-Bedroom Suite (the room type you had in March 2022): 3 units in total - 4 people E960
• Triple Room with City View: 3 units in total E764
• Superior Double or Twin with Acropolis View: 4 units in total E664 or E448
• Lifestyle Suite with Acropolis View: 1 unit in total

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Finally, due to our limited capacity as a boutique hotel, we normally host groups up to 10 rooms (20 people), however, we can certainly make an exception and accommodate your entire group of 28-30 people (14-15 rooms) as proposed. 

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Distances from Main Points of Interest:

Cultural

• Acropolis Museum : 500m
• Temple of Olympian Zeus : 550m
• National Museum of Contemporary Art : 600m
• Acropolis / Parthenon : 1200m
• Syntagma Square : 1400m
• Panathenaic Stadium : 1000m

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Ferry to Lesbos

• Leave Sunday night on Blue Star ferry https://www.lesvos.com/ferry.html
• Arrive Monday morning

June 10-17

Villa Daphnis and Chloe https://www.votsalahotel.com/daphnis-chloe

• Watch video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2N_3Qxop3E
• https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1byJzPMptdrLYqXVbJYfX5IYybXVzLgwN?usp=share_link

Return

• Fly from Lesbos to Athens to NYC (Newark) on Monday, June 17 (17:35-21:20)
• Fly to Juneau on Tuesday June 18

Tentative Costs

• Airfare from JNU $1500
• Other transportation $125
• Housing $725 ($75 NYC, $75 Athens, $50 Lesbos)
• Group Food and Excursions $150 (Lesbos only)
• Individual Costs - Athens food and excursions, drinks, souvenirs

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• Fundraisers will raise between $300-$500 per person to go towards housing
• Deposit procedure-need people to use tithely-best to make monthly payments
• Rummage sale dates