Do we really know Santa Claus?

Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year to all!

It is now the season...season for Santa Claus! We all know him, and most children in the world know him. His presence with us is  maybe as old as the Christmas tree, although i haven't searched that. Commerce use him to the fullest, with lots of his images of all sizes, as well as the gifts he will be giving yearly. And there is even a Santa Claus University. In 2011 alone, there are 2000 enrollees in one University of Santa Claus in South California. And because there is the idea that he is from North Pole, there is even a Santa Claus Village at the University of Lapland in Finland, and says that he lives in that village.


It was also told that Santa enters the house through the chimney. How about kids in the tropics, where chimneys are not a part of the house! I wonder if you experienced waking up at midnight trying to spy on Santa Claus. But most kids, as they grow-up, learn that Santa Claus is either their moms or their dads who put the gift in that famous sock, which contains Santa's gift when they wake up every Christmas mornings. 


But Santa Claus is a real person in history, who is actually St. Nicholas. I happened to visit Myra, Turkey in 2009, the home of Santa Claus and his church. Rather than explaining it here, these photos will give you clearer information.

 St Nicholas in front of his church in Myra, Turkey

Left: St Nicholas Church painting on the wall; Right: remnants of the old floor

Left: The columns of the original church; Right: the church basement passages

 

Different rooms of the church. More church photos HERE

I enlarged the above epitaph below to be more readable.

 St Nicholas is born on the 2nd half of the 3rd century AD, and he was the Bishop of Myra. The basic story why St Nicholas became Santa Claus, HERE.

Please take note of the different rooms in the church, and there is even a room for the Infidels

Most of the roads to Myra from Antalya are along the shore of the Mediterranean

 The rock tombs of Lycia are also in Myra (This is a very good reading reference)

The old theater is just beneath the rock tombs of Myra

Beside the old theater, below the rock tombs are the modern vegetable production areas, using modern cultural management practices and modern hybrids. Turkey supplies most of the fruits and vegetables for some European countries. The very old and the very new scenery exist side-by-side in Myra. The old towns during the time of St Nicholas are buried by earthquakes about 8 meters under these modern vegetable farms.

Foreign Plants in my Files

You from the temperate climates have been posting these flowers a few months back in time for your spring. Many blogs I follow take turns posting these flowers, and I've always been elated at them, even if they seem to be the same. That goes true for the crocus and the gallanthus. Crocus differs in colors and forms, but gallanthus is different, except for some patterns and multipetals. Despite its always drooping habit, it is always beautiful and admired.


Now that you are past posting them, it is my time to post mine. They had long been in my files, but I always think of them even if they are alien to our climate. The story and the habitat behind these photos are so special. They are found growing naturally at the top slopes of the rocky mountains of Antalya, Turkey, almost near the snow caps. When the ice melts these flowers start to bloom and the people in the area hold "The Snowdrop Festival" with festivities, dances, and food. Lots of tourists also come. Being in that city that time, we were lucky to be invited to join a group attending the festival. And i didn't think twice in joining. A three-hour trip to the top is an experience of a lifetime.

Rocky mountains of Ibradi, Antalya,Turkey

 That was my first time to see crocus, gallanthus, grape hyacinth, and a lot more flowers i still don't know until now. They just look like weeds in their natural habitat, but very fascinating. I was also smitten with the white flowers of the wild plums (below). They grow just near the roadsides at random.

I found the above flower in a container in front of a hotel, which magnify its importance. But i haven't been able to know its name. A later comment supplied its name as Lotus bertolii, thank you very much to Veronica of Tassels and Twigs 

Lastly, this is my favorite flower, Wisteria sp.  I found it for the first time in Sweden trained in a habit much different than this one! I was told that we already have this in our country, but was observed to be invasive, which stopped me from planting it.

         

Snowdrops

I really love these snowdrops. A snowdrop plant looks like three drops of milk hanging from a stem. This accounts for the Latin name Galanthus which means milk-white flowers. They said these Snowdrop bulbs, are originally from Britain but actually they came from the easterm Mediteranean countries specifically Asia Minor. They are scientifically called Galanthus and many species occupy the genus. So i must have pictured maybe endemic species because i got it from the wild below the snowcapped Taurus mountains of Ibradi in Antalya, Turkey. For a previous Slideshow of these flowers i placed it here. These are temperate flowers and i found mine at the rooftop of Mediteranean. They are the earliest flowering bulbs because they don't wait for the snowcaps to fully melt before they sprout.

The other flowers in my slideshow might not be snowdrops, but i took all photos of seemingly snowdrops from the site, they are very beautiful also. Please forgive me because this is the first time i came face to face with snowdrops. Please take a look at the slideshow, the other small flowers are enchanting also. There is a story behind my trip to the Snowdrop Festival.

The white flower is the snowdrop, the yellow at the side i don't know

A hybrid snowdrop photo from: http://www.copyright-free-photos.org.uk/ as used by http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=5003023115854661475&postID=1756033998119586665
More snowdrop links: http://www.theflowerexpert.com/content/aboutflowers/wildflowers/snow-drop

I love their style of describing snowdrops here: http://www.broadleighbulbs.co.uk/months/january_snowdrops.htm

ID Quest Solved, Wisteria sp.

My previous posts in October about plants/ornamentals found in Antalya, Turkey were not fully identified. I am not so good in looking for IDs in the web, or maybe i need more time. There is this very beautiful plant with wonderfully hanging bunches of lavender flowers. Actually, i thought it is a tree but on the final analysis, it actually is a climbing tree-vine, depending on how old the plant is and how it was trained from planting. I am very glad i found the blogsite of The Galloping Gardener in Autumn Belle's My Nice Garden. She has wonderful awesome photos of gardens mostly in UK and great writing style, so i immediately put her in "My Favorite Links". Thank you very much Charlotte for identifying my unknown flower as Wisteria. Now my mind can rest happily and contented! The world is really full of generous-blessed people.
I realized Wisteria has around ten species, and it takes time to get the wonderful tree-vine to flower profusely. I remember in Svalov, Weibull AB in Lund, Sweden (where we stayed for one month in 2005), the old main building facade is fully covered by this vine. I just was not able to get a better photo.

I am reposting the photos from my previous post, and reiterating my thanks to Charlotte of The Galloping Gardener. The Wisteria sp. is a tribute to her. More power to you and best wishes.

Flowers and Plants in Turkey

foreign(I will still be editing these plants, am still identifying them)

In the very short time i was in Antalya to attend an international conference, i just did not let my plant encounters unrecorded. Maybe at the innermost fiber of my consciousness, i am a botanist, a horticulturist, a hobbyist, an agriculturist, or just a mere plant enthusiast. April was the beginning of spring and lots of flowers are already in bloom.

Date palms are common sights, in parks like this at the back of Dedeman Antalya Hotel and Convention Center, facing the Mediteranean. They are also seen along roadsides, in small parks and car parks of buildings.

The next photo is the stairway to the Mediteranean, at the back of Antalya Hotel. Friends and pets even had picnics here sometimes. The paths downstairs is lined with lots of plants growing in rock crevices or sometimes intentionally planted by the hotel staff.

The plants above and below are all growing on the calcareous rocks on the cliff to the Mediteranean. I hope i can identify them, but it is very difficult and i don't know the right references for them, yet, but i hope i can.

This is the only one i am sure of, the ivy. At the right is a fern, species unknown.

These are just weeds growing on the wooden pavement and rock crevices.

Lantana camara on the left trying hard to find soil but still vigorously flowering, the yellow Cassia flowers. The flushing shrub on the right i still dont know.

These are already tended plants on the roadsides or on the pots near the hotel's garden. At the right is a while Lantana camara bush.

At the right is an Iris lily, which is just a weed here.

The purple flowers: Wisteria sp.

Wild plums in Ibradi, Antalya

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