Next stop, the home of ole St. Nick, where he was bishop— Myra. There are two sides to Myra. There is the more recent Christian side, where thousands of pilgrims from Russia and elsewhere come to receive a blessing at the church of St Nicholas. We will look at that side first (right after we had lunch). But there is also the Lykian and Greco-Roman remains which are extensive, and impressive to see as well. First though, here’s a sort of touristy map of all of Turkey, in two parts, see if you can find St. Nick in Myra on the map…
Here’s a bit about St. Nick himself, and his church and the statue of our St. Nicholas (and BTW, his bones were stolen by the Italians and hauled off to Barri Cathedral where they still are. This despite the official request from the Turkish government to return them to Myra).
The church was packed with Russian pilgrims getting the tour while we were there. It has various interesting features, including nice marble floors…
The central nave of the major sanctuary here is very dark…
A sign tells us that in 1862 Czar Nicholas I of Russia himself paid for the restoration of this church, but alas you would hardly know it today. He did so because St. Nick is one of the patron saints of the Russian Church, and also the patron saint of sailors, hence the anchor cross found here as well,
Passing through to the outer chapel…
There are remains in the courtyard that are colorful, 
Here are some of the frescoed walls of the smaller chapels…
As you can see, most of the images are of saints, and in case most were defaced by Muslims along the way. As for St. Nick’s tomb, even his website and the church website is unsure, not least because all these tombs were broken into and robbed…. and as we said, Santa Claus’s bones are resting in Barri.
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