Myra and the church of St Nicholas
House-shaped tombs cut into a cliff, and the church where Santa Claus was bishop.
Demre is the modern town sitting on top of ancient Myra, forty-five minutes east of Kaş, and it holds two things people rarely expect to find on the same morning. The first is a cliff face quarried into tombs built to look like houses — doorways, beams, pitched roofs — the Lycian dead housed exactly like the living, stacked up the rock in rows. Below them sits a Roman theatre whose seats and carved masks came through the earthquakes that flattened everything around them.
The second is a small Byzantine basilica in the middle of town. Nikolaos was bishop here in the fourth century, and the whole apparatus of Santa Claus — the gifts, the children, the arriving unannounced — traces back to this building, several centuries and one red suit later. His sarcophagus is still inside. His bones are not: Italian merchants took them to Bari in 1087, a theft the town has not entirely got over.
The two sites are a few minutes apart and take a morning together. If you have longer, Andriake — Myra's harbour, with Hadrian's granary and the Lycian civilisations museum — is on the same road, and the Kekova boats leave from the jetty beside it.
Highlights
- Lycian rock-cut tombs carved as houses, in rows up a cliff face
- A Roman theatre with its carved masks still legible
- The original church of St Nicholas — the historical man behind Santa Claus
- Open through winter, unlike almost everything else on this coast
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Questions people actually ask
Is this really the Santa Claus church?
It is the church of the historical figure the legend grew out of. Nikolaos was bishop of Myra in the fourth century and was known for anonymous gift-giving; the Dutch Sinterklaas and then Santa Claus descend from him. The building you walk into is the Byzantine church built over his burial place.
Are the relics still in the church?
No. Merchants from Bari removed the bones in 1087 and they remain in Italy. The sarcophagus in the south aisle is empty, which does nothing to reduce the number of people who come to see it.
How long do you need in Demre?
About two hours for both sites without rushing — an hour at Myra's tombs and theatre, an hour at the church. A half-day tour from Kaş covers it comfortably with the drive.
Is it worth going in winter?
It is arguably better. Both sites are roofed or open-air ruins that work in cool weather, the summer coach crowds are gone, and this is one of the few things on the Kaş coast that runs all year.
How far is Demre from Kaş?
Roughly 45 minutes east on the D400, past the Kekova turnoff. It is close enough that Demre and a Kekova boat can be done on separate half-days rather than one exhausting one.