If we'd paid much attention to the origins of the St. Nicholas legends, we would have known. The original St. Nicholas was a Bishop of Myra in the 4th century A.D. At that time, Myra was part of Lycia. Now it's in Turkey and the ancient city of Myra is now known as Demre.
St. Nicholas was admired for his generosity and kindness. One legend has him saving three daughters of a poor fisherman from prostitution by secretly giving a bag of gold to each daughter for her dowry. One account has St. Nicholas on the roof of the cottage, throwing a bag of gold down the chimney and into the stockings of one of the daughters, who had put them near the fire to dry.
He is the patron saint of children, sailors, fishermen, merchants, broadcasters. the falsely accused, prostitutes, repentant thieves, pharmacists, archers and pawnbrokers.
Not a reindeer was in sight as we started our hike up Gemiler Island, also known as the Island of St. Nicholas. The island, off Turkey's Mediterranean coast, is covered by medieval ruins, including our destination, the Church of St. Nicholas, one of several churches on the island. Although the burial site of St. Nicholas is disputed, he was probably buried in this church immediately after his death, moved to the Church of St. Nicholas in Myra and then to Bari in Italy.
Along the way, we admired the organization of the buildings on the island. Many of them were connected by covered walkways and the arches still stand. Those monks knew how to stay out of the Mediterranean sun!
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| The dome of the Church of St. Nicholas. At the very top, you can see the outline of a cross. |
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| The remains of a covered walkway between buildings on Gemiler Island. |
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| Definitely not the North Pole! |
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| Barbara, Elise and I visit at the top of St. Nicholas Island. |
The next day we visited St. Nicholas Church in Demre, formerly called Myra. The church was destroyed in 809, but rebuilt by Tsar Nicholas of Russia in 1862. Although the saint's bones are probably in Italy (some archaeologists are not convinced), his crypt is in this church. Like many of the other places we visited, this one is being restored.
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| In front of the St. Nicholas statue next to the church in Demre. |
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| A fresco of St. Nicholas. He's wearing an omophor, Bishop's vestment, and holding a Gospel book. |
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| Frescos being restored under one of the arches of the Church of St. Nicholas. |
Great pictures and information too! I shall never again just think of St. Nick as the Toy Guy.
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