St. Mary’s Home

I almost did not go to the site recognized by both the Catholic and Orthodox Churches as the final home of St. Mary. It is a few kilometers up a mountain from Seljuk and the only way a person can get there is either a taxi or a tour, that is unless a person has a car. So when Sirin and I rented a car for one day, it was the natural first stop on our trip. I expected it to be incredibly busy and crowded, but it was actually only moderately busy, so I was able to go into the house and say a few short prayers in relative peace. It was a fairly small house without much to really see, but the presence there was strong, leaving a person with the sense that something out of the ordinary belonged there. The one notably out of place thing was the numerous Jandarma around the building with their trademark submachine guns and funny looking berets. I suppose that security is important, but I don’t suspect that this would be a place that Islamists would target as St. Mary is also revered by them.