Demre

After spending a lot of time in Antalya recently, I decided I needed to go on a small day trip. About three hours west of Antalya is a small town called Demre, population about 15,000. It’s famous for two reasons: the Lycian ruins of Myra and the Church of St. Nicholas, who lived there.

So on Saturday I made the trek to Demre. It takes about an hour from my house to get to the otogar (bus station) so I left at about 7:15am to wait for the bus outside my house, to take me to the tram, to go to the otogar. I made the 9am bus to Demre. I thought I’d read a lot on my nook, but of course ended up falling asleep. This was a ride I’ve never seen before- some of it was like through the mountains near Isparta, but most was a curvy road along the Mediterranean. And there were goats. Wild goats along the whole way, edging themselves down the cliffs. It was crazy.

I got to Demre about 12:15pm and walked a few blocks to the Church of St. Nicholas. The Russian Orthodox Church has a huge presence there as they paid for major renovations in the late 1800s, so there were Russian signs and tourists everywhere. I loved the Turkish sign: Noel Baba Muzesi (Christmas Father Museum). The church was smaller than I expected and unfortunately covered on the outside by scaffolding for preservation. It’s basically an old stone building with lots of side rooms. The renovations have uncovered icons, which wall the entire place. The old marble sarcophagus is thought to have once held his body, although his bones were moved to Italy centuries ago. The information about the church was quite entertaining- explaining that St. Nicholas resided in Demre and was a patron saint of seamen and was their protector. And that somehow his story got warped into an image of him as an old men taking care of children and bringing them gifts. It is clear the Turk’s were not happy about the image of St. Nicholas being transformed into the northern European icon Santa Claus, bringing gifts on a sleigh through cold snow. Numerous times the information pointed out that St Nicholas lived along the sea and that it never snows there. There were many Russian tour groups walking around the church and a Turkish family. I ate lunch at a nearby restaurant (the only one without a Santa Clause name). I ordered my favorite Turkish food- lamahcun. It’s basically a thin Turkish pizza with mincemeat. I ordered two (since they’re quite small) and a coke, and was additionally given a salad and tea. I was a little worried that I would be ripped off as a tourist, especially because I never saw a menu, but then the waiter told me just 5TL (about $3). I was pretty pleased with that. He obviously could tell I wasn’t just another tourist, as I was a young girl eating alone and was speaking Turkish with him. The funniest part was while I was eating his phone rang and his ringtone was “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” It really brought a smile to my face.

The weather was nice and I had plenty of time before I wanted to get a bus in the late afternoon, so I decided to walk the two kilometers to Myra. You can see the ruins on the hill as you approach from the road, with the ancient castle at the very top. The actual name of the town is Kale (which means ‘castle’ in Turkish), not Demre. Myra is the beginning of the Lycian way, where it’s popular for people to go hiking all along the ruins of the southwest of Turkey. Myra is the most famous of them all, as the rock-cut tombs are the best preserved, as is the amphitheater. It was quite small in comparison to other ruins I’ve been to in Turkey, but the tombs carved into the side of the hill were just breathtaking. The signs made it clear it was illegal to crawl up to them, but obviously in the past that was done. It would have been really fun to climb in them, wandering through ancient tombs built into the natural landscape. The top of the amphitheater (yes, you can climb all over that) offered a great view of the small town and agricultural community (there are greenhouses everywhere!) and a small view of the sea. At one time, the town was probably along the sea. It was just me there, wandering about, and some young Turkish girls. After about a half hour, I was finished, and made the two kilometer walk back into town. It was really pleasant walking through a small Turkish town. People were definitely staring as me as I walked along. But the sun was shinning and I was enjoying my walk. It was especially interesting to see all the greenhouses. They grow everything from tomatoes and lettuce, to oranges and lemons. I was going to walk around a bit more, but there was a bus leaving for Antalya right as I got to the otogar, so I hopped on to make my way home. I had spent just over two hours in Demre, and then would spend another four getting home.

It was a nice day getting out of Antalya and seeing somewhere I hadn’t been before. The drive was lovely along the Med and it was a great reminder of why I am here. I love seeing all these ancient places, places that are just part of the everyday lives of Turks here. They don’t even mean anything to them, much to how we feel about places back home. And the drive along the sea—it is truly so beautiful! I can’t wait for it to be warm enough to go swimming.