PATARA

In the heart of Lycia Patara is best known for its beach, seventeen kilometers of soft white sand, backed by majestic dunes and in recent years the winner of a "best beach in the world" survey in the Sunday Times.

Evidence of its former glories as the principal port for Lycia and a important Roman town can be seen at the extensive site, still not fully excavated. Here too stood the Hellenistic oracle of Apollo, thought to rival that at Delphi and a further claim of Patara's fame is as the birthplace of the fourth century St.Nicolas, the original Santa Claus.