The Magical Monastery

Mark and I were blessed to have his brother and their family come and visit us in Istanbul for about two weeks.  During this time we got to visit some touristy areas, one of which is one of my favorite places to go to "get out of Istanbul".  This place is called the Prince's Islands, but technically they are not outside of incorporated Istanbul.  The main island, called Buyuk Ada, which literally means Big Island has an old monastery at the top of it. The walk to the monastery is a one to two mile uphill climb which earlier has been impossible for Mark to get our family up there, until now.  With the help of my strong teenage nephew, Luke; and Mark and his brother pushing a stroller with twins uphill was a breeze! (Said the girl who didn't have to push the stroller.) Along the way we kept noticing different color strings clinging to the bushes hedging the path.  When I got back home, I researched the history of the monastery and found out the reason for the string.  April 23 to Muslims and Christians in this region is an important religious day.  If a person can run a string from the bottom of the hill up to the monastery without breaking it then his/her prayers will be answered. Thousands of people flock to this religious site to have their prayers answered.  It's pretty sad to me.  The monastery is named Agia Yorgia which means St. George in Turkish.  Below is a picture of the monastery which dates back to around the 6th century.  Inside the monastery are icons with crutches, money, gifts, ect. tucked in them or lying next to them.  I would guess that these are "payments" for answered prayers. I'm not sure about the crutches unless someone experienced healing and left his crutches there.  When you walk into the Monastery's Church, you can hear Gregorian chants/ music (I think that's what is was) which in my opinion is VERY creepy.  In this supposedly holy place, I did not have a holy experience.  I was deeply disturbed and it almost felt Satanic to me.  I wish I could show you pictures of the inside of the place, but photography was forbidden.  I wish I had disobeyed the rules and taken pictures though.  Even though Turkey is a Muslim country, there is still a working monastery on this island.  The monks moved their monastery father down the hill and it is only open on certain days. I don't know why they moved it.  Sometimes it is impossible to find out the history of certain places here because of  "certain" influences her -if you get my drift. Plus everything is in Turkish and history is not really valued here.

This is a picture of the candles that one can light for their prayers

The view from the top of the monastery