The Christmas of 1673
For more than three hundred years, the immense and beautiful cave on the island of Antiparos has attracted curious adventurers, but on Christmas, 1673, it served as the site of an unusual celebration. His Excellency, the French Ambassador to Turkey, the Marquis de Nointel, accompanied by an entourage that numbered more than five hundred, made the perilous descent into the forbidding grotto to celebrate the Nativity. There they remained for the three days of Christmas…
