The queue outside Istanbul's Our Lady of Vefa church stretched more than 200 metres, made up of Christians and Muslims chatting animatedly as they waited to make a wish inside this Greek Orthodox sanctuary. It was a scene which plays out on the first day of every month at this ancient house of worship hidden behind a high wall topped with a metal fence and known in Turkish as "the first-of-the-month church". "We came before with friends and every one of our wishes came true!" said Emine Sanli, a Muslim woman who believes she was cured of a problem with her hands after drinking water from a spring under the church that is blessed by a priest.
"But it's the first time I've seen such a large crowd. Perhaps it's because the economy is so bad," grinned Sanli, 58. At the entrance, the visitors, mostly women, bought small keys and offerings, each symbolising a different wish: health, inner peace, money, success, marriage, fertility and even "never-ending love".
A Georgian tourist who also came last year walked alongside the queue handing out sweets to those in line -- a Muslim tradition. "When wishes are coming true..
. you have to come and give sweets to the people," said 35-year-old Tamar Khurtsidze with a smile. For Aysun Zirhli, 49, there is nothing strange in a Muslim making a wish at a church.
"We can all have different religions, but we're all children of God," she said while chosing a sweet. Inside the church, each person stuck to their own religious practices, whether by cro.