Celebrity Solstice - day 10 - Apia, Samoa - part 1

We woke up to our first Good Friday this year (we would have two) in Apia, Samoa.

We heard music outside and looked out...

A group of locals was singing and dancing for us -- see video here: https://youtu.be/AWHvdqbBDNg

Our daily "newspaper" of events for the day indicated this as "Day 10, Friday, April 18th, 2025 - Day 1, Apia, Samoa" (the first April 18th we would have this year).

The ship provided bus transportation to the visitor's center in town -- however, the visitor's center was one of the very few places that was open on Good Friday. There were a *lot* of folks there offering taxi rides to wherever we might want to go -- but we were a little concerned about doing that as the offers did not indicate the price, and we didn't have local currency. So, we decided just to walk around and see what we might see!

There was a photo behind the visitor's center where we had one of our fellow travelers take our picture.

This was an area where there is usually a Samoan Cultural Center set up in multiple Fale (Fa-ley) buildings (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Architecture_of_Samoa). But they were empty the day we were there because of the holiday.

A ceremonial canoe on the grounds

Flowering trees in front of the visitor's center

Visitor Information Centre was open, Samoa Cultural Village was not.

Kilometers to various places -- Sydney is 4396km one way, and Honolulu 4196km the other way -- so we're just over halfway distance-wise on our journey.

Los Angeles is 8302km, so about twice as far as Honolulu from here; New York is 12259km.

Front of the Visitor Information Centre

A map of the two main islands -- we were in the capital, Apia, on the north coast of the smaller, more eastern island.

Across the street was the Immaculate Conception Cathedral.

Banner at the cathedral

It has been kind of funny, but there is a couple that we happened to see as we got off at one of our port stops -- they were on their way back as we were heading out. We asked them what they had found to see and do, and then we had some additional ideas on our port visit. It turns out that we often see them as we are arriving at the port town -- and they are heading back to the ship (they are obviously on an earlier schedule than we are!). They had told us that they visited the cathedral and that you needed to walk around the back to get into the lot of the church and gain entry to the inside. (Note: we have never seen them on the ship that we know of!)

It turned out when we crossed the street, a gate in the front was open, so we went in through the front gate!

A picture from the parking lot

It was magnificent inside -- not European cathedral magnificent, but beautiful wood and windows...

"I am the bread of life"

We sat in a pew for a while, and Carl and I both had amazing, powerful, emotional experiences that we attribute to God's Spirit communing with our spirits. Since we were there on Good Friday, we were both contemplating the sacrifice of Christ for our sins on that day -- His death and shame on the cross that bought salvation for us. The cathedral there in Apia had many of the pictures and statues shrouded in purple cloth symbolizing the penitential season of Lent and most particularly this holy time between Good Friday and Easter. Carl was particularly struck by the magnificence of Christ's sacrifice, the sorrow of our sin, and thankfulness that Sunday was coming. I was particularly struck watching people taking pictures, some chatting or laughing, and thinking that, for those who were not impacted by Christ's death, even at the time of his crucifixion, there were those who were going about their normal day, shopping, chatting, laughing, not aware of the sacrifice that was going on for them, even at that moment. If today's electronics had been available, I'm sure there would have been people taking selfies and pictures. 

Both of us were sitting there with tears streaming down our faces.
How grateful we are that, even in the midst of sorrow and shame at our sin that caused Christ's death, "Sunday's comin'!"

Dome above the sanctuary

Altar area

Stained glass window at the back of the sanctuary

Looking toward the back of the sanctuary

St Luke (open book reading "There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea" (Luke 1:5) and with a winged ox (his symbol as an evangelist is a winged ox - Rev 4:7)) and St John (his symbol as an evangelist being an eagle - Rev 4:7.)

Another set of windows -- "I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn't receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it." Mark 10: 15

Outside, a statue of Mary draped with purple cloth

Celebrity Solstice from the church parking lot

A view of the side of the cathedral

When it came time for us to head back out, we found that the gate through which we had entered was locked. We were happy that we had talked with our "forward scouts" (the couple from the ship who gives us input as we are heading out) so we figured that there was a back exit somewhere. We were able to find it and continue our exploration of Apia.