Lystra Turkey
Lystra. Finding the sites of Derbe and Lystra - Christian communities visited by Paul during his missionary journeys - required some back country searching and the help of local farmers today. We first drove over the beautiful Toros mountains and through the area of the Cilician gates. This is a pass through the mountains used for many centuries. Turkey now has big modern highway through this area. To think that Paul did this on foot or with pack animals during his second and third missionary journeys is incredible!
Once through the the mountains, we had to travel back roads to find the sites of Derbe and Lystra. The local farmers were very helpful and knew exactly what we were talking about despite the language barrier! There has been some initial excavations at Derbe, but no excavations yet on the Lystra Tell. Both sites have pottery shards everywhere. The tell mounds were quite a climb - this is where the acropolis and the administrative areas of the city would have been with the dwellings spreading out around them. At this site a local farmer gave me “green almonds right from tree”. I had no clue how to eat. He was delighted to show me. Our guide said they were considered a local treat.
