Notes from Abroad: Melí
The family of the founding priest of our parish in the US was from the village of Melí just north of Çesme, and the ruins of the village are still visible in the hinterlands. He chose the patron saint of our parish, the same as the one his family was forced to abandon in the 1920s. One of Fr. G's goals for visiting Turkey was to locate the village and the ruins of the church. I was on board, little realizing just what an adventure it would be. Fr. G picked us up from our hotel in Çesme after a lovely breakfast, and we squished into it, giant suitcases pushing from the trunk against the children's heads, the kids' arms pinned tightly against their bodies. We took the coastal road through beach condo complexes and strip malls, then quaint fishing villages, then we went long stretches without seeing any signs of humans*. The road went on and on, over beautiful hills, and along impossibly blue coasts. We couldn't find what we were looking for, de...
