Just imagine, 250,000 Persians gathered on those hills raining arrows down on the 300 Spartans and 700 Thespians.

This is the monument built in honor of King Leonidas of Sparta.

Thermopylae:
Ok, so everyone probably knows the story of this battle site, but I still find it amazing that 300 Spartans and 700 Thespians defended the pass from 250,000 Persians for 3 days while the rest of Greece was able to gather their forces together and eventually send the invaders back home with their tales tucked between their legs.

This is the site of arguably the most important battle in the history of Western civilization. It is theorized that if the Persians had broken through any sooner, the rest of Greece would not have been able to regroup and drive them out. If the Persians had simply swept through Greece as they were intending, the rest of Europe would have been in danger of falling under Persian control as well, and Western Civilization as we know it would have been completely destroyed.
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So that wraps up our tour of Northern Greece. We did make quick stops in Kavala (ancient Neapolis where Paul entered Europe for the first time) and Berea, but we didn’t really spend enough time in either of those places to write much about.

Next up is our trip to Egypt. We leave this Tuesday, so keep us in your prayers. I may not be able to update until we get back because I’m not sure if we’re taking our laptop with us. So it may be a little over a week before I get back to this.