Venturing slightly off the main D400 coastal road of Turkey to visit the ruins of Myra and the church of Saint Nicholas is totally worth it. Sitting in the small, unknown district of Demre, Myra dating from the 5th century BC features a large semi-circle theatre and the dramatic hillside holding unusual Lycian tombs.
Demre is also famously the home of Saint Nicholas, otherwise known as Santa Claus. As a former bishop of the town, citizens deeply appreciated his honourable deeds and his church with a spiritual atmosphere holds his sarcophagus, although Italian soldiers stole the bones in the 11th century.