Only recently has the land been successfully drained. But the springs are still there, and the streams still flow. At one place, the old Roman road crosses the Gangites River. The river had been special to Paul, and we wanted to see it.

According to the Bible, Paul and his associates “continued in this city, spending some days.” (Acts 16:12) No exciting encounters are reported. Then one day Paul heard of a little group who followed neither old gods nor new and yet were said to be devout. They met beyond the colonial arch outside of town near the place where the road crossed the stream.

“On the sabbath day,” Luke wrote, “we went forth outside the gate beside a river, where we were thinking there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and began speaking to the women that had assembled.” The discussion involved the hope of salvation and eternal life through Jesus Christ. Especially “a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, . . . was listening, and Jehovah opened her heart wide to pay attention to the things being spoken by Paul.”​—Acts 16:13, 14; compare Philippians 2:12, 16; 3:14.