Santaclaus

St. Nicholas who is known as Santa Claus in the world of the christianity lived at Demre and died here. Every year international festivals of Santa Clause are held at Demre and at Kas on 6th and 7th days of December . Additionally, there exist many more interesting religous sites for the Christians such as the Monastry of Der - Ul-Zaferan at Malatya, Surmeli monastry at Trabzon, Akdamar Island and Chapanak Churches at Van , Deyne and Derbe and Binbir Churches at Karaman , Ani ruins and Mount Ararat at Kars.

Anatolia with Interesting Sites for the Jews

When Ottoman sultan Orhan Gazi conquered Bursa in year 1324, permission was granted to the community of Jews to build the sinagogue of Et- Ahaim (The three of life). The Jews who were expelled from France by Charles VI in 1324 took asylum in Edirne.
In 1492, King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isebellan of Castilia banished the Jews out of Spain. The Jews who were expelled from Spain because of their faiths and traditons and thus were turned out to be people belonging to no country , were embraced by Bayazid , the sultan of Ottoman Empire, being accepted for settlement in Anatolia.

In the meantime, the jews have since been maintaining their way of worshiping until present times in their own sinagoguers situated in Istanbul, Izmir, Ankara and Bursa…