Santa Claus Museum in Turkey to Attract Newlyweds and Tourists
BalkanTravellers.com
Known as Noel Baba in Turkey, Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker who serves as the prototype for Santa Claus, was born in 270 AD in Patara, a city west of Myra (Demre, in Lycia, part of modern-day Turkey).According to national media, the travel agency is already organising wedding ceremonies for foreigners in the church-museum.
Last year for the first time, Saint Nicholas’s birthplace hosted an international wedding festival. This year, it will take place again between December 1 and 7, when 25 couples are scheduled to take their vows.
At the end of last year, Turkey announced that it would be formally requesting the return of Saint Nicolas’s bones, which in the eleventh century were taken to Bari, from the Italian government. Turkish authorities have cited the fact that Saint Nicolas himself wanted to be buried at his birthplace. They also claim that his remains were illegally removed from Turkey.
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Epicure
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Photogalleries
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A Perfect Shot
Koprivshtitsa Fair, Bulgara. Photographs by Neva Micheva
In Homo Urbanus Europeanus, exhibited May 9-24 in front of the National Theatre in Sofia, Jean-Marc Caracci presents his photographs of people in the urban environment of European capitals.
RED&WHITE SOFIA. On the 1st of March Bulgarians say goodbye to the winter. They buy each other red&white threads to carry around until they see a stork and spring can begin. Photography by Lode Desmet
BULGARIA D'OR: The Bulgarian countryside, patinated with the noble golden dust of the autumn. Photographs by Lode Desmet
360 degrees Bulgaria, an exhibition by photographer Alexandar Ivanov, is on display at the Sea Garden in Varna until August 28. It will be shown at Plovdiv’s Central Square from Sept 5.
The exhibition Photographs of a Trip Through Bulgaria by Hungarian photographer András Balla can be seen in Sofia's Hungarian Cultural Institute, at Aksakov 16 Street, until August 22
Instant Spring in Sofia | Photographs by Lode Desmet
Off-the-season Beauty of Bulgaria's Black Sea Coast | Photographs by Adelina Iliev
Bulgaria's Northern Black Sea Coast
Photographs by Albena Shkodrova
excellent smugs
