Turkey, or Turkiye as they prefer, surprised me in many ways. One of the first surprises was the prevalence of Virgin Mary, or Mother Mary – their name – statues. Turkey is a Moslem country, after all, although very secular. Mary, the story goes, moved with St, John to Turkey after the crucifixion and lived there. No one knows exactly where. But she and St. John proselytized from Turkey. We also saw the ruins of the church where he was buried. The Pope moved the body to the Vatican in the sixties.

Moving to yet another faith, we saw the last remaining pillar for the Temple of Artemis. Some of the posts were used in the Sofia Hagida in Istanbul. The removal of previously used stones, pillars, murals, pretty much anything you can name, and put into new structures has a long and ancient history.

Turkey, all of the Mediterranean countries, are really at the crossroads of civilization and groups have swept over these areas over and over and over. More about Turkiye next post.