Demre

Demre is a town and district in the Antalya Province on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, named after the river Demre.Demre is the Lycian town of Myra, the home of Saint Nicholas of Myra. The district was known as Kale until it was renamed in 2005. Until the 1920s the majority of people who lived in Demre were Christian Greeks. At that time this majority migrated to Greece as part of the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey. The abandoned Greek villages in the region are a striking reminder of this exodus. Abandoned Greek houses can still be seen at Demre and the regions of Kalkan, Kaş and Kayaköy, a Greek ghost town. A small population of Turkish farmers moved into the region when the Greeks migrated. The region is popular with tourists today, particularly Christian pilgrims who visit the tomb of Saint Nicholas.