Church of St Nicholas

Nicholas was bishop of Myra in the fourth century, and the stories that accumulated around him - secret gifts of dowry money, the rescue of sailors and children - travelled through Byzantine, then Western tradition until they produced Sinterklaas and then Santa Claus. He was buried here, and a church was built over the grave and rebuilt repeatedly; the present structure is largely eleventh-century with later restoration, and it stands several metres below modern ground level because the Demre plain has silted up around it. Inside are frescoes on the walls and vaults in varying states, opus sectile marble floors, a synthronon in the apse, and a broken sarcophagus that visitors are told was his - though the relics were taken to Bari by Italian merchants in 1087, and what remains here is disputed. A protective roof now covers much of the church. It draws Orthodox pilgrims, particularly Russians, as well as tourists on the Santa connection.

What you actually see

• The frescoed interior - wall and vault painting in the church.
• The marble floors - opus sectile paving in the nave.
• The broken sarcophagus - the tomb traditionally identified as his.
• The sunken level - the church below the modern plain.

When to go

April to June and September to October. Mornings before tour groups arrive; 6 December, his feast, brings services and pilgrims.

Honest expectations

The relics are in Bari, not here, and the tomb identification is disputed. A modern protective roof covers the church, which affects the atmosphere and the photographs. Demre itself is an unremarkable greenhouse-farming town.

Nearby

Myra's rock tombs and theatre are on the edge of Demre; Kekova and Üçağız are west along the coast.