Saint Nicholas, who is involved in many a childhood memories, was born in and lived his life in lands which is part of Turkey. His birth place is the ancient city of Patara, which is adjacent to the Gelemisvillage of the Antalya province.
The spindly, 50-mile-long Datça peninsula in Turkey’s Muğla province is a dagger of pure green at the meeting point of the Aegean and the Mediterranean, and is as unsullied as south-west Turkey gets. The ancient Greeks believed Datça to have been created personally by Zeus, so gorgeous are its rocky outcrops and aquamarine waters.
The sixth largest island in Croatia, Korcula is 20 miles long and rather narrow, between 4 and 5 miles wide on average.
Marmaris is a coastal town, a port city and a tourist destination on the southwest Mediterranean coast of Turkey, in the Mugla Province. Marmaris is one of the Turkey's most popular holiday towns and largest resorts on the Aegean coast.
Zakynthos , besides Kythira the southernmost island of the Ionian Islands, lies off the west coast of the Peloponnese.
Simi in Greece is a tiny island of Dodecanese that amazes visitors with the calm atmosphere and the fabulous architecture.
The ancient sites of Xanthos, Letoon, Pinara, Tlos and Patara are all close by, with Kekova, Demre, Myra, Phaselis, Olympos and Aspendos slightly further afield, but all easily accessible.
Naturally, the harbour is the focal point of the town, with local çay (tea) gardens providing delightful shady spots in which to relax and soak up the atmosphere prior to exploring the labyrinth of narrow streets that meander through the old town.