Demre - Kale
Kale - Demre Greenhouses
Panoramic View from Şahin Tepesi
Demre is officially called and
signposted as Kale, which is rather confusing since the nearby village of Simena
was formerly also known as Kale. In Roman times Demre was called
Myra and
in the 5th century AD it was the capital of the province of Lycia. Present
day Kale-Demre is an expanding modern town amidst a sea of tomato-growing
greenhouses. Şahin tepesi (Falcon Hill) is a place♦ where one can
have a panoramic view on these greenhouses.
Being the most important city of Lycia,
Myra had its own bishop and in the 4th century AD this was Saint Nicholas.
In about 300 AD in Patara Nicholas as the son of a wealthy merchant. Upon
the death of his father Nicholas spent his inheritance to help the poor and
needy. One of his deeds was to give anonymous gifts to dowryless village
girls. To do that, he dropped bags of coins down the chimneys of their
houses. This gift from heaven allowed them to marry.
After his death St. Nicholas
became the patron saint of Greece, Russia, sailors, children, prisoners,
pawnbrokers, unmarried girls, etc. Even towns and cities were named
after him: Agios Nikolaos (Greece) and Sint-Niklaas (Belgium) to name a
few. He became extremely popular in the Lower Countries (Belgium and
the Netherlands) for filling the children's clogs with presents on
December 6. In Dutch, his name became corrupted to Sinterklaas, which
eventually led to Santa Claus. It were the Americans that eventually
merged the good saint with the pagan Father Christmas. This is also
the reason why Saint Nicholas is known in Turkish as Baba Noel. More on
Saint Nicholas can be found at the
Saint Nicholas
Center.
St. Nicholas' tomb became a place of
worship and pilgrimage and a chapel was placed over it. Later this was
replaced by a larger church which had to be re-constructed several times
during history. The contemporary church is the result of a restoration
sponsored by Tsar Nicholas I of Russia in 1862. The most typical
Byzantine feature of the church is the synthronon or bishop's throne in
the apsis. During tourist season the church and surroundings become
flocked with Russian tourists.
We stayed 2 nights in hotel Kıyak
(kıyakhotel@hotmail.com,
Tel. +90 (0) 242 871 2092) in basic but clean rooms with air-con. The
manager was most helpful in arranging a private boat trip to
Kekova at a
more than reasonable price. Actually Demre is the ideal basis for
exploring Kekova and surroundings. However, getting around in Demre can be
a problem since taxis and public transportation are scarce. Luckily near
the Baba Noel site we found Ali, a shop owner, who was willing to drive us
around.
Click on the thumbnails to get a greater picture
