Located about 1 mile outside Demre, the ruins of Myra include an amazing collection of tombs cut out of the cliffs above the city, all in the form of temple facades, arranged in an asymmetric jumble. Most of them are 4th century BC, and many contain funeral scenes in relief. One of these preserve a painted frieze showing the indoor and outdoor life of the man and his family with servants in attendance and it is one of the most remarkable rock-tombs in Lycia.

Although the date of the foundation is unknown there are some Lycian inscriptions found in the area that indicate that the settlement existed since the 5th century B.C.. Strabo counts it among the six notable cities of Lycia. It still remained important during Roman times and after.

The huge late-Roman theater is one of the main attractions of Myra. It still preserves its double-vaulted corridors and an inscription in a stall space that reads "place of the vendor Gelasius," where Gelasius would have sold whatever the show viewers munched on as they watched the representation.

In early Christianity, 60 AD., St. Paul met with his followers here on his way to Rome. In the 2nd century A.D. it became a diocese, and it was during that period that its theater was built. During the Byzantine period, Myra maintained its role as a religious center. In fact, Myra's fame rests on its 7th century A.D. bishop, St. Nicholas. His fame as a gift bringer derives from the time when he heard of a bankrupt merchant who could find no dowry for his three daughters. Unseen, he thew three bags of gold into the merchant's house down the chimney and by luck they fell into the girls stockings that were drying by the fire. From this grew the legend of secret present giving and his eventual transformation into Santa Claus. St. Nicholas was actually born in Patara but he was buried in Demre's church although his bones were stolen in A.D. 1087 by sailors from Bari, Italy. However, the Venetians also claim to have the bones of the saint, as do the Russians and the Antalya museum.

The coast between KUSADASI and BODRUM: St. JOHN'S HERITAGE
The coast between BODRUM and MARMARIS: the “TURQUOISE COAST”
The coast between MARMARIS and FETHIYE: the ROUTE OF ST. PAUL
The coast between FETHIYE and KAS: the LYCIAN COAST
The coast between KAS and ANTALYA: the “COAST OF LIGHT”