A Sunset Concert and My Birthday!! Part 1

Each of the choirs that came had the opportunity to perform their own program in a combined performance at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church on Friday evening...the 12th Annual Sunset Concert at 7:30 p.m.


I walked to the town square, by the library...

The library is this building at the far right of the whole block long set of buildings that line one side of the town square. The rehearsal hall is 3 floors up in the next building over.

...around the corner and up to the rehearsal hall and up another block to the Apollo Theater...

 around to the right and up yet two more blocks...

At least this block had a sidewalk even though it was still the slick marble.

This block had more like a wide curb!

...and around the bend to St. Nicholas, with a little park in front of it.

Once I walked beyond the park, I still had the church steps to ascend!

St. Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors. Every port city has one high up on a hill. The view from the porch was quite nice!

Looking out over the rooftops...

With a zoom lens, I got a good view of this church...Anastasis, or Church of the Resurrection. It was quite a hike up to it, but a couple of the VOT folks went and raved about it. I didn't go up. It was a case of the ABC syndrome kicking in (Another Beautiful Cathedral/Church/Castle).😔

The view straight down the steps to the park below with a bevy of Greek flags surrounding the statue.

Which leads me to an interesting observation. In addition to the paintings of the Last Supper in the front of all the Orthodox churches, each one we saw flew the flag shown below. My photos didn't show it very well, so I am using this one from wikimedia to show you. It piqued my interest so I did a little research on it. It is a yellow flag with a black double-headed eagle clutching a scepter in one claw and an orb in the other, with a crown above and between the two heads. (Some versions have a cross instead of a scepter). This flag doesn't have official status as the flag of the Orthodox Church of Greece, however seems to be flown at all the orthodox churches we saw--and has some historical relationship to the Byzantine Empire. The double headed eagle stands for one of two possibilities: 1) the two sides, yet single body of the church and the state in ruling the people or 2) the unification of the East (Rome) with the West (Constantinople). Whatever the symbolism, I found it to be a bit threatening and didn't care for it very much. I find the dove to be a much better symbol!

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Greek_Orthodox_flag.jpg

Then I went inside!

The bottom rim of the dome.

A view from the back, taken with the camera held above the seats.

A close up of the Last Supper painting at the front and center.

This must have a name, but it is where the priest could climb up to stand in to give his homily. My understanding is that they are mostly just used on special occasions now.

Turning to the left side. The inside is a riot of color and arches and lines. While it is not my "style" for church, it is amazingly creative and must be very satisfying for those who are familiar with every nook and cranny.