Lycian Way Day 17, 25 March 2013

Partial day-off Demre,

When we walked into Andriake Camping, we actually were hoping to catch the dolmus into the town of Demre (knowing nothing of either Andriake or Demre, it's funny the preconceived wants we develop based on imperfect guide book information).
On being told there was no dolmus to Demre, we settled in to Andriake Camping and what a great place to 'settle' as described in our previous post (forgot to mention they brought us a glass of wine to go with our wheelbarrow campfire)

Andriake Camping

Well, we thought maybe there just wasn't a dolmus in the evening. We started walking towards Demre along the road.  There may have a been a dolmus.  But we never saw it.  We walked on tarmac into town, chased by a few dogs and catching some strange looks along the way.  Entirely skipped the Lycian Way route for this bit.  Again, we couldn't see the logic in the Lycian Way guide book.  Instead, we wanted to see the church of St. Nicholas and also Myra.

Church of St Nicholas, Demre

We headed straight for the church of St. Nicholas.  It was fun to see the square all set up for the tourists stopping just for this spot.  Lots of signs in Russian as St. Nicholas is a very popular saint in Russia.

Robin desecrating?

Apparently most of Saint Nicholas has moved to Italy (via enthusiastic relic fans) so maybe there isn't much left to disturb here in Turkey.

St Nicholas Tomb, Demre (Somebody stole them bones)

St Nicholas Statue, Demre

This is our preferred statue (above) as St Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors, and children.  We sail for a living, and frankly I don't want to grow up.  (Do atheists need patron saints?....)

Myra carving

We made it over to have a look at Myra too.

Myra Theater

Myra Rock Tombs

Robin at Myra, Lycian Way

We found a hotel in Demre and a cab driver for the morning so that we could prepare for the long haul over the mountain.  The next section of hiking would be a few days in the woods without pansiyons or services and we wanted to regroup for our attempt.  We shopped.  We strategized.  We tried to patch Grant's sleeping pad.  And we arranged for the cab to pick us up early so we could get an early start hiking.