Santa’s birthplace Population: 15,500
Alternative names: Kale, Myra
Favourite son: St Nicholas (AJA Santa Claus)
Demre is a sleepy small town midway between Kaş and Finike that these days makes most of its living from rearing tomatoes in unattractive plastic polytunnels.
Backstory
Way back in history Myra was the site of a wealthy bishopric that had grown up around an old Lycian, then Greco-Roman settlement. The son of a bishop, Nicholas, the man who evolved over the centuries into Father Christmas, is believed to have been born in Patara, further west along the coast, around 270. He rose to become the bishop of Myra where he acquired a reputation for particular generosity. In the most famous instance he is said to have provided dowries to enable the three daughters of a poor man to marry by tossing bags of gold through the window (or down the chimney), thereby saving them from a life of prostitution.
This was the story which evolved over the centuries into the tale of the present-giving Father Christmas (Noel Baba in Turkish), and it’s a story whose unexpected international twists and turns can be wondered at in Jeremy Seal’s book, Santa: A History.
Few facts are known about the real-life St Nicholas who is believed to have suffered persecution and imprisonment during the reign of the Emperor Diocletian.
What is known is that he died in Myra in 343 and was buried on the site now covered by the remains of a fine Byzantine church (the sarcophagus inside it is almost certainly too old to be his although it could have been reused to house his body).
His tomb quickly became associated with “manna”, an extraordinary liquid that gave rise to so many miracles that it led to his being canonised and Myra becoming a popular destination for pilgrims.
That’s where the story might have ended but for Italian raiders who showed up in Myra in 1087 shortly after the Selçuk Turks occupied the town. Claiming to be recovering them for Christendom, they proceeded to steal St Nicholas’ bones which were reburied in a specially constructed church in Bari.
The pilgrimage boomed in its new location, and, as it did so, so the fame of St Nicholas winged its way right the way around Europe.
Today’s Demre
St Nicholas was the patron saint of Russia, and in the 19th century Tsar Alexander II bought the church in Demre with a view to restoring it. After the Bolshevik Revolution, however, all that was forgotten, and well into the 1990s the ruins stood largely ignored despite having acquired a protective roof to safeguard the fine Byzantine walls and floors. Then ordinary Russians rediscovered the link with St Nicholas and started to pour into town. Where once Demre managed perfectly well with a discreet sculpture of the gift-laden saint in the grounds of the church, suddenly it gained a much more prominent statue of a bell-ringing, bearded Santa kitted out in the customary red and white, and apparently designed to appeal to the child in all of us.
There’s no longer any sign of a third statue commissioned for the Millennium. The work of the Russian sculptor Gregory Pototsky, it made the mistake of presenting Nicholas as a living bishop rather than a commercial fantasy. Soon pilgrims were seen praying in front of it and that was the end of that.
The church is home to a some glorious frescoes as well as some fine mosaic floors and repays a longer visit than most rushed tours permit. In 2023 it reopened to the public after extensive restoration.
Ancient Myra
After inspecting the church you should press on one km down the road to the site of ancient Myra and explore the remains of the wonderful antique theatre which mainly dates from the second century.
This is overlooked by a sheer wall of rock pitted with Lycian tombs designed to look like wooden houses, some of them retaining ancient carvings that were probably once painted.
Sleeping
Demre has very limited accommodation options. You will probably be better off staying in Kaş or Olympos and visiting for the day.
Grand Otel Kekova Noisy, but the only show in town. Tel: 0242-871 4515
Transport info
Fly to Antalya and then catch a westbound bus or dolmuş to Demre. Regular midibuses ply the coast road between Antalya and Fethiye passing through Demre/Kale. You can easily walk from the bus station to the church and the ruins of Myra.
In summer some day-trip cruises out of Olympos and Çiralı take in Demre on their way back from Simena.
Day trip destinations
Read more about Father Christmas and Demre: IN SEARCH OF FATHER CHRISTMAS
