The Penn Stater Magazine

The Hometown of St. Nick

May 15, 2011 at 11:00 am Tina Hay Leave a comment

We broke up the long coastal drive from Fethiye to Antalya with a great visit to the ruins of the ancient city of Myra and the nearby town of Demre (pronounced dem-ray), where St. Nicholas once was the bishop.

Myra was a Lycian city; it dates to the first century B.C., although archaeological remains found there suggest it was inhabited at least four centuries before that. We saw very interesting—and photogenic—rock tombs, carved into the hillside and designed to look like dwellings. Myra also has an impressive ancient theatre that’s still standing.

An interesting fact: Myra was destroyed by an earthquake in 141 A.D. (earthquakes are a big part of the history of Turkey, we’ve learned) and was rebuilt almost immediately.

The town next door, Demre, today has a population of about 5,000 and is a mecca of sorts for certain Christians, especially Greek and Russian Orthodox Christians. St. Nicholas, who lived in the fourth century and was a major figure in the early days of Christianity, was born about 50 miles away and was the bishop of the church in town.

The church has some impressive and well-preserved frescoes, a floor of marble mosaics, and a sarcophagus that once contained St. Nicholas’ remains. People line up to walk past the sarcophagus, even though the actual remains are in Italy. (How they got there is a whole other story.)

In the town, a lot of the store signs are in Russian, and there are several different statues of St. Nicholas you can photograph. You can buy the usual souvenirs in Demre—evil-eye keychains, wallets that look like miniature Turkish carpets, and beautiful hand-painted pottery—but you can also buy St. Nicholas prints, St. Nicholas paperweights, and miniature St. Nicholas statues. You can also have lunch at a place called the Santa Claus Restaurant.

Tina Hay, editor

P.S. More photos from our visit to Demre and Myra are on the Alumni Association’s Facebook page.

Entry filed under: Alumni Association. Tags: Demre, Lycians, Myra, rock tombs, St. Nicholas, St. Nicholas Church.