My Experience on Gemiler Island

Arabella Horsfield

30 May 2021

After a long day of sailing, we arrived at a bay with a stunning island called Gemiler Island ( St. Nicholas Island) before us. Captain Morgan told us about the story of Saint Nicholas AKA Santa Claus. After the story, we were so eager to get to the as he described it incredibly historic island which was built in 4th to 6th century AD. We grabbed our hats, wore our shoes, and jumped into the boat anxious to see the ruins.

The island was as tall as the Statue of Liberty towering over us.  In the front of the entrance to the ruins, there was a board explaining what the ruins were and where they came from. After reading it, it said that Saint Nicholas stayed there, leaving many presents behind. We paid for the tickets and started the hike. We hiked all the way up to the top seeing the old churches and ancient ruins. Right at the start we already had an accident! Azania was so excited about the tunnel in front of us that she ran down the crumbling stone stairs and fell down landing on her knees. There was a long silence meaning there was gonna be an incredibly loud cry awaiting us. She cried so bad that Asia could hear her. Luckily, I had a bandaid in my bag ready for this to happen. I stuck it on and there was an instant silence like how lights turn off with a click of a button. 

The island had a number of churches. I was highly surprised by the number of churches that people need on one island! I would suppose all the people are Christians. We hiked and hiked and hiked and hiked and hiked and hiked and hiked and hiked and hiked and hiked and hiked and hiked. The view from up there was absolutely beautiful. We took a couple of photos (and when I say a couple I mean a million billion trillion) then walked around taking in the mesmerising scenery around us. At the top, there was also a lighthouse made of stone, concrete, cement and covered with a beautiful coat of white paint. As we were hiking down, I took a different path from everybody else. They went through the tunnel while I went down the road that we came up from. I was excited to be independent! The path was easy to get through luckily but the animals weren’t. I thought we were going to meet up at the intersection but what happened was definitely not what I was ready for.

The first road block was 3 goats. The goats were funny enough guarding the church #3. The church was the only exit to get onto the next road so I waited for a long 5 minutes before they left and I could continue my journey. The next thing that I saw was a snake. I haven’t had bad experiences with snakes so I didn’t worry too much and kept walking ( the snake wasn’t poisonous and it was a baby). The next thing I saw was a huge hairy spider. As most people know, I have arachnophobia ( meaning: I have a really bad fear of spiders). I ran past it like it was the end of my life screaming. Afterward, I stayed on a log waiting for my parents to come because I didn’t want that experience again.