Search for something quite hidden

I have recently read about an ancient Christian church still standing in Jubail, Saudi Arabia. It was not the oldest but definitely one of the ancient Christian churches found, being a 4th century Assyrian church. You could read more about it from the Assyrian International News Agency website, here. I couldn't believe it at first - a Christian church in a country where Islam is born. By the time I found about it, we have been to Jubail once and wished that I have read about it sooner.

Our interest to see the church with our own eyes grew stronger when a few recounted that the ruins were accessible. The site is actually fenced and protected but it can  be accessed since parts of the fence were already broken. Fortunately, the location of the church was added in Google maps and we decided to follow it.

We drove to Jubail one Friday morning to see it finally. The map showed that the nearest establishment to the location was a hotel. There's also a gas station a few meters from where we took a turn. It was already noontime when we reached Jubail. What followed after were rough roads and a seemingly looking dump site. There were blocks of construction wastes here and there, and a gate with a sign saying it is a restricted site.

The gate was open so we continued driving with caution bearing in mind that it was supposed to be a restricted site. We looked around and drove slowly because we did not want to miss the ruins. I was expecting that it would be easy to spot since we saw a recent photo that it was still standing. We looked and looked and found nothing.

It was quite a frustrating trip. We wished that there was any signage pointing to its location, but I thought it may be too much to ask. If we'll have the opportunity to look for it next time, I promise to look harder and longer.

Imagine if this church was elsewhere, the ruins might have been more secured and probably a tourist destination. For now, we can only hope that it stays standing until our next search and for more people fascinated by history get to visit it.