Filmmaker Robin D. Williams’ father was the author who wrote the best seller The World My Oyster where he relates his journeys on camel caravans in Turkestan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan in the 1930s. “My father was a real adventurer,” Williams says. His father told him “you must go to Turkey.  It is a sleeping giant and one of the more fascinating countries on earth. The Turkish people will welcome you and you will quickly learn that they wrote the book on hospitality.”

Williams continues, “I entered Turkey for the first time in 1963 and went straight to Topkapi Palace. I stood on the terrace and looked out at the most beautiful scene. The Golden Horn was just below with hundreds of colorful wooden fishing boats; the Bosphorus was directly out in front of me rushing out of the Black Sea toward the Sea of Marmara to my right.  Asia was less than two miles away and I was on the threshold of a whole new career... filming Turkey!”

“I made my first film, The Joys of Turkey in 1979 and I traveled all through the country on local buses carrying nine cases of film equipment. For some reason I did not know that ancient Troy is in Turkey! I found myself walking through Miletus, an ancient city that gave all American cities their city plan. Sometimes, I found myself stranded on lonely country roads but always some Turk would come along and offer me a ride into the village or help me get to a bus stop.  The Turks make sure that every traveler is looked after.  They simply do not allow a stranger to be stranded or uncomfortable. If fact, they don’t even consider us strangers. We are their honored guests!”

“My second film of Turkey was entitled Paul’s Journeys and it took about eleven years before I finally was able to finish that film. Whew, I really had to search for all the sites where Paul was doing his work as an Apostle. It has been on the Reader’s Digest Editor’s Choice in their catalogues for five years. People really love that story.”

The National Geographic Society has been showing his films on their lecture series for 30 years and Williams’ films are shown in select auditoriums and theaters throughout the U.S.A. and Canada.  “I always appear with my films, so that people can ask questions and meet the filmmaker. It is highly educational, especially for me,” he laughs.

Biblical Treasures of Turkey begins in ancient Constantinople where the story of “The Conquest of 1453” is revealed.  Biblical Treasures highlights the lives of St. Paul and St. John and the Virgin Mary. They all resided in Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey. According to Williams, while it is not a religious program, the film explores the origins of Christianity. The filmmaker is known for his ability to find the actual locations where important events from history and the Bible took place. For example, the film explores the daily life of the ancient Romans in Ephesus.  “Archaeologists found a cave above the ancient city that just might be where St. Paul lived while he was in Ephesus for two and a half years,” says Williams.

“Meeting the monks in the mountain monasteries still speaking the language of Jesus - Aramaic - will always stay with me, as well as walking the same ancient highways that St. Paul and Marco Polo used to travel across Asia.”

Williams continues, “In the ancient city of Tarsus, I was delighted to see that the Turkish archaeologists have uncovered the shops where Saul talked to his neighbors as a youth, working as a tent maker with his father. To be able to film the actual church where Barnabas and Paul were to depart on their journeys! That was fabulous. I followed them down the River Orontes to the Port of Seleucia and bade farewell!”

“Turkey is a huge treasure chest. It contains the most enriching sites. It will change your life, let me tell you,” Williams says with a sigh. “Turkey gives total satisfaction to my mind. It has more interesting places to see than you ever dreamed. On top of all the places that entertain your thinking process, Turkey has the most beautiful coastline on the planet.”

Kurdish nomads live on the slopes of Mt. Ararat. Ancient fortresses and Kurdish palaces are peppered throughout the craggy landscape. Williams photographed the alleged “Noah’s Ark” sitting by itself in a high mountain valley.

Robin D. Williams narrates the story, which covers every corner of Turkey and shows the audience places that have never been filmed before. “It is like riding a magic carpet and looking in on all the fabulous sights of Turkey,” he says.