Myra & St. Nicholas

Ancient city of Myra.
 

Myra is a small town in Lycia, in the Mediterranean region. The Greek-Roman ruins in Myra are well preserved by nature. Quite remarkable is the ancient theater, which was destroyed in the 1st century in an earthquake. Most of it still stands. 

Saints Paul and Luke stopped here to change boats on their way to Rome. Acts 27 : 5.

  Rock carved masks and other artifacts that were used in the theater.

 

 Lycian Rock-Cut Tombs:

There are necropholi of rock-cut tombs on the face of Lycian cliffs. We entered one of the tombs.

 At the entrance to one of the tombs

We were at St. Nicholas Church/Museum, Myra. This was the church where Bishop Nicholas served, and where he built his reputation of being very generous to children. He became known as St. Nicholas and in German, Santa Claus. Over the years, he has become this character that travels the world on Christmas eve giving presents to children.

 St. Nicholas is now one of the patriarchs of the Orthodox church, and until we got to the Church, we had no appreciation of how much he is revered. In the 18^th Century, the Tsar Alexander of Russia purchased the church to begin restoration. That was never completed.

 The original tomb of St. Nicolas

 Religion and spiritual beliefs are very powerful and often defy all explanations. We saw young men and women praying and in tears at the tomb where St. Nicholas was buried before his body was moved to Italy. People will bring books, candles, etc to be blessed by placing them on the tomb.  People will run their hands on the left foot of his statue  in prayers and for good luck.

We later went swimming on one of the Lycian beaches.

One of the cities we passed:

 

Departure from Turkey

 

Tomorrow we leave Turkey for good. It is bitter sweet as we have thoroughly enjoyed this country. We have learned a lot; been exposed to new culture; enjoyed the people and food. At the same time, we are excited to explore what lies across the Mediterranean in Greece—a historical ally and foe. We hope to learn more about Greece and provide our lesson notes.

For the next two days, we will probably be cut off from internet. We will be sailing for two days from Kas to Greece island Meis, stopping by in other ports along the way. The next place we will be landing will be Rhodes.