St Nicholas Ways

Geography and history:
The area is a hilly limestone area about 300-500 m above sea level, on the north side of the Demre gorge. Above/north is Alacadağ (many-coloured mountain), which rises to about 2000m. So in many places there are great views. The area is partly forested with pine, and partly ancient terraces or slopes, and partly areas of mediterranean scrub, with spiny bushes. There is only one asphalt road; other roads are unsurfaced and rough. The paths are rough and stony.
In the 2nd C BCE, the first (Lycian/Roman) settlements were built in this area - usually defensive towers. They spread gradually northwards. In the 5th-6th C CE, groups of monks started building monasteries here. There are about 10 large churches, all built to a similar plan, and many smaller chapels, village buildings, workshops etc. The monks and villagers built paths and roads between churches, terraced the hillsides and built wells; our network follows the old paths between the churches. We are still finding more churches and chapels, at least one a year. We expect you to discover something!

In the 9th C, the area was abandoned and not re-occupied until the 18th or 19th C, so the remains are a snapshot of a specific Byzantine period. You will learn a lot about Byzantine history and how to identify ancient ruins.
Today there are scatttered villages and camps of shepherds with their flocks of sheep and goats, and forestry workers.

Working conditions:
You will be away from base or camp for the whole day, so you will take a picnic and enough water to last all day. You will also take work gloves, hand-tools and paint and brushes for waymarking. It's your responsibility to make sure you have everything you need before you leave base and to look after your equipment (eg. refill paint bottles) when you return.

You will be outside all day, so you should have sunscreen or sunblock, sunglasses, a long-sleeved shirt and long trousers, a sunhat and scarf. Your feet are most important - you need comfortable boots or thick-soled walking shoes and good thick socks. Your clothes will get torn or marked with paint - bring plenty of old clothes!

We want you to record what you are doing. One of the group or the leader will record a gps track on their phones. We have the following equipment - movie camera, tripod, etc, drone, a good-quality pc for uploading and editing film and photos. If you have some media skills, you are welcome to make a film, blogpost, social media posts or whatever you want to do. We will use the gps tracks to update the maps; if you have previously worked with QGIS or open street map, then please let us know! If you use the equipment, take care of it!

One of the leaders may take a small group on foot to do some difficult/inaccessible work or look for new routes; this area has many ancient ruins so this gives you a chance to find something new. Exploring groups may carry extra food and sleep out for a night.

Base:
Our working base is about 45 minutes by bus, up a steep hill, from Demre, in Muskar village.
Demre has the nearest shops, bank, reliable internet and restaurants etc. The village is small, with mainly stone houses, but our base is a two-storey building. The top floor is one big room which will be the sleeping area, so there is very little privacy! (You can sleep in a tent if you wish).

The ground floor has a shower, toilet, terrace where you can eat, indoor space where we can set up a kitchen. We may cook for ourselves, or one of the village women may prepare evening meals. Opposite is the forestry firefighters' depot; they have a terrace where they will offer us tea and gossip. We will arrange to use their shower/toilet too. The firefighters will help with water, transport, etc. The school bus goes from outside our building down to Demre (45 mins) each morning and comes back at around 3.30pm, so you will meet the schoolkids. The bus drivers will also help us with transport.

We will have a full set of tents, sleeping mats, some sleeping bags (if you don't want to bring your own), cooking equipment, a few spare rucksacks and all the work equipment. You need to bring a small rucksack to carry your equipment and water for the day.

There is no shop in the village, so you have to organise personal shopping on your days off. There is internet, but not always reliable.
Days off:
You will have 2 days off each week and can spend them at the Andriake camp site at Demre. It has showers, washing machine, beer, snacks, internet and there are shops and a cafe nearby. The campsite is close to a beach, river and a harbour. From there you can visit the Lycian Civilisation Museum, the historic site at Myra, the church of St Nicholas, or walk on the Lycian Way, organise a boat trip, take a bus to Kaş or Üçağız, etc etc. Your days off may not be at the weekend, and you may not all be off at the same time. Your leaders will help you arrange activities.
You will get 45 euros per week for pocket money and weekend food.