Fethiye to Rhodes Day Out - Go With The Tourist Flow

An idyllic, sleepy, stereotypical Greek island is exactly what Rhodes is not. Well, at least not the mediaeval Old Town. We're accustomed to exploring the back streets and harbour of the Greek island of Meis and wandering around Paspatur in Fethiye in relative solitude. So, when we sailed from Fethiye to Rhodes a few days ago, it really was a shock to the system.

Cruise ships are a regular feature in Mandraki Harbour, Rhodes

Common sense tells you that anywhere where there is a cruise ship, there are going to be masses of people who have disembarked and swollen the previous population by a sizeable number. This is Rhodes. Hardcore tourism that took us an hour or so to acclimatise to. We live in Fethiye which is a big tourist area - but it's not that big of a tourist area. We were as interested in the people around us as we were in Rhodes itself.

Walking from the harbour to the entrance of Rhodes Old Town

Most passenger boats dock in Mandraki harbour and there's no confusion about which direction to go in once you get off your boat. You're greeted by the old fortress walls; minarets and church spires peeping over the top of the old battlements. These days, your biggest battle is negotiating your way along the narrow pavement and across the main road to actually get inside the walls.

If everyone walked in single file - and kept walking - then everything would be fine. But when in Rhodes, you're not a person. You're a tourist. And what do tourists do? They walk aimlessly, they walk in groups, they carry big bags - they stop dead, right in front of you, and fiddle around with their camera to take a photo! Yes, this was the bit that made us want to tap people on the shoulder and say, 'Excuse me, but when you've quite finished faffing about, trying to get your memorable photo, there's a football-crowd-size amount of people trying to get past you!'

Rhodes Old Town - busy streets

But then you realise the football crowd behind you is also blocking the path doing exactly the same thing; blocking everyone's way to take photos. And you know what they say: If you can't beat 'em, join 'em! There's only one way to fit in in Rhodes Old Town. Go with the flow, get your tourist gladrags on, get your camera out and unashamedly take as many photos as you can. Don't worry about getting in the way because no one else is worrying about it. 

It was bizarre. Many of my photos from the day are full of people taking photographs of other people stood in various poses in front of historic buildings. This wasn't intentional on my part. There was no choice. 

Some people might watch this video and think, 'Well, it's not so crowded.' For us though, after Meis and Fethiye, it was a culture shock. Packed streets, packed bars and restaurants, people buying from souvenir shops - and streams of people following the man with the big umbrella or the plastic lollipop; their tour guide for the day. What wouldn't Fethiye give for just a handful of these tourists? 

We had a great day on the Greek island of Rhodes and the people watching / dodging is a happy memory of the day...once we realised we just needed to go with the flow instead of allowing our blood to reach boiling point. 

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Living in Turkey: Finding a Haven

We're bar people. You know that, if you read this blog on a regular basis. Wherever we are, we always find ourselves a little place; a haven where we can just sit, rest, feel comfortable with our surroundings, not worry about the outside world. We're no strangers to a few beers - we love a beer! - but it's not just about the beer. It's something else.

Some people like to sit in cafes and coffee shops. Others like to while away a few idle moments, sitting on a bench overlooking their favourite view. We like all of those things, too...but for us, they're just not the same as a bar. A bar has it's own unique personality and is a familiar, friendly face even when you're in unfamiliar surroundings. 

And we know it's not just us. At the moment, Barbara at Turkish Muse is on the hunt for that special somewhere in her current home city of Izmir; somewhere along the kordon where she can sit with a glass of wine at the end of a long day. She is yet to find that place and we feel her pain and wish her luck in her quest!

I don't know if we've been lucky in being drawn to our special havens (or maybe we're actually just not that fussy), but wherever we've been to on our travels, we have vivid memories of the pubs and bars we have settled into. There's something about the atmosphere of a building that makes us think, 'That's my bar!'

Living in Turkey, spending time in bars has helped us to break down a few barriers. Deep Blue Bar in Fethiye is where we've met almost all of our Turkish friends. We know tour guides, dentists, teachers, computer programmers, students, civil servants - all people we wouldn't have met had we not spent time in the bar. A person we met in there introduced us to Baraka Bar in Istanbul; somewhere we would never had found without her suggestion.

Deep Blue is also where we heard our first Turkish rock track (Bir Derdim Var by Mor ve Ötesi) and from that, we're now huge fans of many types of Turkish music. That's been an important part in helping us to settle into life in Turkey - we like our music!

And maybe in Turkey, that's what it is for us. Maybe the music plays quite an important part in this equation. Our friends' occupations are not important. Much of the time, the type of music determines the type of people who go into a bar and therefore determines whether you enjoy your experience in that building. 

Filika Bar in Antalya's Kaleiçi drew us immediately. It was our oasis in a city centre we were struggling to get to grips with. Don't get us wrong; downtown Antalya is a beautiful city and a must see...but for some reason, it just wasn't happening for us. Filika Bar however, is a fond memory.

Filika Bar in Antalya

We wandered in there on our first night in Antalya and that was us for the weekend. Live music on all three nights, good crowd, good staff. On one afternoon it poured down with rain just as we were wandering around to take some photos. Oh, how we were pleased we had a haven - a happy shelter - nearby. 

I say that because as we rushed inside and ordered a beer, we watched the torrential rain outside. We also watched through the window as other tourists stood outside - in the rain - getting wet - wondering where to go - flip flops - bedraggled. That's what put this blog post in my head. 'What are you doing? Come inside, get dry and experience this bar,' we wanted to shout. But even though they were getting wet and looked lost and confused, they obviously weren't bar people.

That day is our best memory of this bar. We were the only people in there, taking shelter from the rain. Black and white photos of various Turkish rock stars from the 1960s and 1970 lined the walls. The usual suspects: Cem Karaca, Erkin Koray, Barış Manço and another face we didn't recognise. We asked the guy behind the bar who he was. Bingo!
"It's Kasım Koyuncu," said our previously bored bartender, now looking a bit confused.
"Is he a famous singer or musician?"
"Yes! And the other people are..."
"We know those people," and we proceed to say who they are to the surprise of the 20-something bar guy.
A conversation follows and it turns out that Kasım Koyuncu sadly passed away in 2005, was an environmental activist and was also a fantastic musician.  

For our introduction to Kasım Koyuncu, we thank our Filika bartender. Many a moment has been passed on YouTube searching out Kasım Koyuncu and he's now a part of our music listings. That afternoon in Filika, we spoke people-to-people, rather than waiter-to-customer. And for that Antalya memory...well, it was the people, the music...and the bar we went to to come across the people and the music.

2011 Çalış Carnival - Final Day in Pictures

Yesterday was the final day of Çalış Carnival 2011 so we spent most of the day with friends along Çalış Beach. We had no idea what was supposed to be happening in the daytime. All we knew was that Turkish band Dolapdere Big Gang were playing the carnival out later on in the evening and we were definitely going to be around to see that! 

When we arrived at the beach, we soon realised that hundreds of people knew what we didn't because Çalış was packed with onlookers waiting to watch the passing of the carnival parade and many of the bars and restaurants were decorated with multi-coloured balloons. 

Motorised paragliding - the in vogue mode of transport in Fethiye

If you're getting a feeling of deja vu here, this is not the same motorised paraglider photo you have seen before. They seem to be a bit of a Fethiye fashion at the moment and appear in our skies whenever there is an event taking place. 

We've watched paramotors plying the route along Belcekiz Beach in Ölü Deniz during the Acroludeniz Paragliding Championships. We've watched them glide along the coast between Fethiye and Çalış to commemorate Atatürk, Youth and Sport Day. And yesterday, we watched the guy in the photo above going back and forth along the length of Çalış Beach, trailing his weighted Çalış Carnival banner behind him. Do they get bored, I wonder? 

The new AKUT helicopter?

After the motorised paragliding came the helicopter display. What is it about helicopters that command your attention and force you to take notice of them? This one was a huge, noisy piece of machinery that appeared from over the mountains and swooped down to land on the far end of Çalış Beach so that admirers could get a closer inspection. Unfortunately, we were too far away but we got to see it in flight.

The helicopter was displaying an AKUT flag at its base so maybe this is a new addition to the AKUT resources. (AKUT are the Turkish search and rescue organisation. They carry out mountain rescue in Turkey and have worked all over the world, assisting with the aftermath of earthquakes and other natural disasters. You can get more information about them via the AKUT website.)

May 2011 Çalış Carnival Parade 

Next, it was time for the actual Çalış Carnival parade. A marching band lead school children, local business representatives in fancy-dress and traditional attire, Çalış Children's Charity, AKUT - and many others who no doubt passed by without me noticing - along the length of the promenade while we clapped and cheered them on. The whole procession lasted around 15 minutes...

The Çalış Boat parade

...and then it was the turn of a few of the boats from the Çalış Boat Cooperative to do a sail-by, honking their horns, playing music and strutting their stuff with on-the-water versions of handbrake turns.  

Eventually, the sun started to go down and, after a mad dash to meet some more friends who had just arrived in Turkey, and a quick pide, we headed over to watch what we had been waiting for - Dolapdere Big Gang.

Dolapdere Big Gang playing out the Çalış Festival

It appeared there was at least one band member missing but the guys on stage did a fantastic job and we weren't disappointed. We bopped the night away, sang along with all the classics - including this one...(if this looks wrong in an email or feedreader then view it here)

...and then went for a couple of Welcome-to-Turkey Efes Pilsens with our newly arrived friends before heading off home and to bed for some much needed sleep.

If you enjoyed Dolapdere Big Gang then you can preview and download some of their tracks from Amazon here

Update 31/05/11 - Many thanks to the singer for retweeting this blogpost on Twitter! Here it is:

2011 Calis Carnival - Final Day in Pictures http://t.co/A9aPn1Y via @turkeysforlife yağmura, ses düzenindeki sorunlara rağmen güzeldi.thanxless than a minute ago via Tweet Button Favorite Retweet ReplyErtaç Demirçelik
ertacdemircelik

Day Trip From Fethiye To Rhodes

In our previous post, we bid farewell to Meis for a while and said we hope to still go there again in the future on a day trip or overnight stay. Yesterday was very possibly our last visa trip for the foreseeable future so we decided to return to the Greek island of Rhodes; an island we haven't been to in over three years.

Getting across to Rhodes from Fethiye is very simple since there is a catamaran that leaves from Fethiye harbour (opposite the police station on the Karagözler). In high season, the aim is that this is a daily service but if you've read our post about the last time we tried to book a day trip to Rhodes from Fethiye, you'll know that it never quite works like that. At the moment, the Aegean Queen catamaran is leaving three times a week. 

Early morning on Fethiye harbour

We've been itching to try out the Aegean Queen ever since she appeared in Fethiye harbour last year. As someone who isn't keen on choppy waters, she looks a lot more sturdy than the Flying Poseidon hydrofoil which used to make the crossing to Rhodes from Fethiye. 

The interior of the Aegean Queen

The interior is as you'd expect; not too much different than the Flying Poseidon except of course,  the Aegean Queen is much wider with seats arranged in rows of 3, 4, 4, 3. There's also a shop selling hot and cold drinks and snacks. We would have liked to have gone upstairs to sit in the upper salon but this was closed off yesterday. 

Docked on the Greek island of Rhodes

Sometimes, there is a benefit to the heavy, humid weather that Fethiye is experiencing at the moment - no breeze equals no waves. We had a flat crossing and were in a bright and sunny Rhodes 1 hour and 50 minutes after leaving Fethiye. The trip is advertised as a 90 minute crossing which isn't a fib - you just have to give them a bit of leeway and add a few minutes extra for manoeuvring in and out the ports and anchoring.

Marmaris Express docked in the harbour on Rhodes

Other visitors to Rhodes from Turkey had already arrived on the Marmaris Express. If you're in this area of Turkey, the crossing from Marmaris is only 45 minutes. We've been to Rhodes on the Maramaris Express in the past and it's very similar to the Aegean Queen.

Hydrofoil from Bodrum in the harbour at Rhodes

We were also surprised to see this hydrofoil anchored in front of our catamaran. Resembling the Flying Poseidon, this vessel had made the journey from Bodrum. Visitors to Bodrum usually make a short journey and hop over to the Greek island of Kos. It appears Rhodes is also an option but I'd guess crossing time is well over 2 hours. 

We've got a few posts lined up about Rhodes that we'll sprinkle into the blog over the coming weeks - it's a Greek island that's a shock to the system when your mindset has become accustomed to laid back Meis.

Useful Information

• We booked our trip from Fethiye to Rhodes with Yeşil Dalyan, owners of the Aegean Queen. Their office is on the main road on the Karagözler,opposite Fethiye marina. Other travel agents offer the trip via Yeşil Dalyan but you may be charged a small commission fee for the booking.  
• At the time of writing, a same-day return costs 60 Euros per person. If you are making the trip to renew your tourist visa, the cost is 40 Euros per person and then £10 / 15 Euros for your new visa on arrival in Fethiye. Make sure you know which days the Aegean Queen is running so you don't overstay your visa. (As you may already know, visa rules are set to change. We will update this post as soon as we know definite information about the changes.)
• If you're off to do a bit of Greek island hopping, a one way journey will set you back 50 Euros.
• When booking any of these trips, you need to book at least one day in advance and take your passport with you to make the booking. The travel agent will take a photocopy of your passport and the photocopy will then be forwarded to the passport police. You will then be registered on the trip.  
• Don't forget your passport on the day of your trip or else you won't be going anywhere! Your passport will be stamped on exit and re-entry to Turkey. British tourist visas for Turkey are multiple-entry so providing you won't be exceeding your 90 days for the remainder of your stay, you won't need to pay another £10 on arrival. 
• Weather permitting, the catamaran leaves Fethiye at 9am and arrives in Rhodes at around 10:30 - 10:45. It leaves Rhodes at 4:30. 
• All visiting passenger vessels from Turkey dock in Mandraki Harbour, directly opposite Rhodes Old Town.

Book popular Rhodes hotels on Turkey's For Life

A Farewell To Meis...For Now

If you read Turkey's for Life regularly, you'll know that we've been heading to the tiny Greek island of Meis (known to most as Kastellorizo) every 90 days to renew our Turkish visa. It's been a part of our life for the last few years and let's face it; it's hardly a chore, sailing across the Mediterranean to spend the day on a beautiful Greek island every once in a while. 

Farewell to Meis; a beautiful Greek island in the Dodecanese, close to the Turkish coast

But, all that is set to change. This post is an ode to and a farewell (just for a while) to Meis. Although there is no definite date as yet, visa rules for British visitors to Turkey are set to change and Turkish residency fees for nationals of European Union countries have been drastically reduced. Now could well be a good time for us to take advantage of the situation and become residents of Turkey. 

We need to renew our visas one more time before we think about the residency option so this time, we've decided to take the Aegean Queen catamaran over to Rhodes from Fethiye. We haven't been there for a few years and probably won't be heading there again in the foreseeable future so why not make the most of it?

It is only a farewell to Meis. I'd like to think we'd hop over there just for a day trip when we start to miss it and, even when the visa rules have changed, it will still be possible to do a day trip to Meis aboard the Meis Express. They have an office in Kaş and also along the Karagözler in Fethiye if you'd like to visit the island. (We should point out that for now, they are also still doing the visa trip to Meis from Kaş. People in Fethiye get a transfer included in the price.) 

We've done a series of posts on Meis and as it's only a 20-minute sail, it's a beautiful Greek island day trip if you happen to be in Southern or Southwest Turkey. Ironically, if you're in Greece, it's a bit of a trek. Its nearest Greek island neighbour is Rhodes; 70 nautical miles away!

If you do fancy a day (or maybe even a few days) on the island, click Top 5 Things to do on the Greek Island of Meis to find out what you can do to occupy your time once you climb from the boat. As we've said before, this island is not for everyone...but we love it.  

(This post is for Travel Photo Thursday, kindly hosted by Nancie at Budget Travelers Sandbox.)

Turkish Drinks: Ayran - Yoghurt Not Milk

Dad comes out to Fethiye for a visit so we phone him to check he got here okay.

Me: Hi dad. How's your apartment? We'll come round to see you in a few minutes.
Dad: (In a very grumpy voice.) Apartment's fine and when you come round, bring some milk with you! I've bought two bottles and they've both been sour. It keeps curdling when I try to make a cup of tea and it tastes awful!

We have lots of conversations like this with people who come to Turkey and go self-catering. I can't decide if there are lots of Turkish shop owners who have a good old chuckle to themselves as unsuspecting foreigners pay for their 'milk,' (only to return to the shop again a few minutes later to make another attempt) or if the shop owner thinks everyone loves ayran as much as they do. I prefer to think it's the first option just because it's funnier. 

Ayran: A Turkish National Drink
Just as we recently learned the art of drinking that other Turkish national drink, rakı, we've only started to drink ayran in any quantity over the last couple of months; it's an acquired taste! Ayran is not milk. It's a mixture of natural yoghurt, water and salt and, as the hotter weather creeps along the shores of Southern Turkey, now seems like the perfect time to add Ayran to the blog. 

You can't miss ayran. It's part of the fabric of Turkish society. It's a fact of life. It's sold in plastic bottles (exactly the same as a British milk bottle), plastic cartons, by the glass, people make their own - everyone drinks ayran and we've now joined the fan club.

4 Fantastic Reasons to (learn to) love Ayran:

1. It's easy on the budget and filling.
If you're in Turkey on a budget, most of the eateries where you sit down to eat your food will sell ayran. The glass of ayran in the photo cost us 1 lira (about 40p). Eat your food, drink your ayran and it'll be very cheap and, just as important, you will be extra full. 

2. Hot weather.
The summer months in Southern Turkey can see temperatures in the 40s and, especially along the Mediterranean coast, this is sometimes combined with sweltering humidity. This is where you begin to understand why Turks swear by ayran. Served icy cold, straight from the fridge, the yoghurt's magical properties help cool down over-heated bodies while the salt replenishes those salts lost during bouts of ridiculous and uncontrollable sweating. 

3. Prevention is better than cure...but it can help the curing process, too!
Because ayran is yoghurt-based it helps to settle the stomach should you be unfortunate enough to develop a dose of the Turkey Trots (you know; griping, gurgling stomach, running to the loo every few minutes). Again, the salt will restore those salts you lose while this unpleasant action is taking place! We all know too much sun and alcohol shouldn't be mixed but we've all done it. In a majority of cases, this is what causes your illness - not last night's kebab. Get yourself to the chemist, swig your medication down with an ayran and you'll be back up and running in no time at all.

4. It's good!
For some people (like us) it takes a while to get your head round drinking salty, watery, yoghurt. But, once you've acquired the taste, you'll wonder why it took so long to have this traditional Turkish drink in your life.

Have you tried ayran? Are you an ayran fan?
Have you ever bought ayran accidentally, mistaking it for a bottle of milk? 

Turkish Music: Çaliş Carnival 2011, Dolapdere Big Gang!

We've posted a few times recently about events in the Fethiye region and it seems we just can't keep up with what's going on. We would have missed the Ölüdeniz Acroludeniz Paragliding Championships had we not just happened to suggest a quick visit to Ölüdeniz to my dad while he was in Turkey. I'm not sure how interested he was in men tumbling and somersaulting through the sky - but we loved it all the same.

Yesterday marked the beginning of a week-long Çalış Carnival; a different set-up to last year's Çalış Carnival which ran over a few days and had a parade along Çalış Beach. This year is a published programme of events, running over a week - with a super-exciting climax!

Craft stalls line the main street in Çalış

We walked into Çalış yesterday to see what was happening on the first day of the carnival. The main street heading towards the beach was closed off for a craft market; all low key but a lovely atmosphere with the bars and restaurants along that same street all benefiting from the extra custom. The idea behind the carnival is to raise money for local charities at the same time as promoting Çalış and it appears proceedings got off to a decent start. We walked down the beach later to meet some friends and it was also busy along there with tourists, expats and Turkish families enjoying their traditional Sunday day out. 

Just what we wanted to see

But we have to own up. This is what we really came to Çalış for. We'd heard that the weekend entertainment was going to be provided by one of our favourite, good fun bands in Turkey - Dolapdere Big Gang.We're really excited about this so we had to go to the Çalış Carnival yesterday to check if it was true that they really are coming to Fethiye. Well, the banner in the photo above (attached to Delta Hotel) confirmed what we hoped was true.

If you're anywhere near the Fethiye region of Turkey, they're a must for pure, good fun covers of famous tracks. You don't need to take our word for it. Have a listen to these tracks we've chosen from Amazon.

(if you are viewing this in email or feed and it looks wrong then please visit our blog)

Well, that's our weekend planned - a feast of live Turkish music. Cancel whatever we've said in the past about famous bands never coming to play in Fethiye. We can't wait for this one. If the introductions to the tracks in the link above have whetted your appetite and you're itching to listen to a full track, then the old classic, 'Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood' shouldn't be missed. We've created a Dolapdere Big Gang playlist on our YouTube channel. If you click on the song, we hope you love this version as much as we do. A decent video, too. 

Turkish Recipes: Tepsi Boreği

We've posted a few Turkish recipes recently that involve the use of yufka; the last one being sigara böreği (cheese rolls). I've got a minor obsession for working with fresh yufka which I have to keep in check, otherwise we'll become obese, pastry-munching, couch potatoes. Because of this, the next recipe we were going to post was going to be a light, fresh, healthy meze; something to reflect the warmer weather and eating alfresco in the dappled shade of a lush garden...

Well, there's lots of time for that. A few weeks ago we had a red meat treat and I made a chilli con carne. We had a small amount of minced beef left over and some yufka in the fridge. Another börek recipe was called for.

A Recipe for Tepsi Böreği
This was only the second time I'd made this börek recipe. Why it came into my head on this particular day, I have no idea. Maybe it was a fitting farewell to winter - good, wholesome, no-nonsense, comfort food.  

Tepsi is the Turkish word for tray so we're making a tray pastry - a pie! 

Step 1: Choose a filling
Lots of food in the fridge meant we had options. Traditional Turkish fillings include cheese & spinach and potato & spinach. 

Potato, meat, onion and spinach filling

We had potatoes, we had cheese, we had spinach and we also had some leftover minced beef.

• Peel and grate 1 large potato and begin to fry slowly in a non-stick pan.
• Finely chop 1 onion and add to the pan after a few minutes.
• As the onion begins to soften, add 100g minced beef and cook until the meat has browned.
• Add salt, pepper and chilli flakes to taste.
• Roughly chop 250g of spinach and stir into the mixture until it wilts (spinach holds a lot of soil between its leaves so give it a good wash before you use it).
• Leave to cool.

Step 2: Prepare your yufka case

The puzzle of folded yufka

I've mentioned in previous börek recipes that yufka is made as huge, circular sheets. These sheets are then folded into squares (as in the photo above) and I am yet to work out how the yufkacı does this. The sheet of yufka never opens up as you expect it to. 

Layer 1 trails over the tray edges

• Place the yufka in the centre of a baking tray (our baking trays are 12 inch by 11 inch)
• Open out the yufka carefully so that it trails over the sides of the tray.
• Beat an egg, add a splash of milk and a glug of olive oil. (I've seen recipes where a knob of melted margarine is also added to this mixture. You can add this if you want but I decided the calorie and fat content was already more than enough.) Use a pastry brush to brush the mixture over the pastry that sits in the tray.

Layer 2 sits inside the tray

• Lay another sheet of yufka over the first one - but this time, tear off the edges. It doesn't have to be neat and tidy (as you can see). 
• Keep the torn yufka pieces to one side. You'll need them again in a short while.

Step 4: Add your filling

At Step 3, you can paint the egg mixture over the second layer of yufka if you like and add another layer of yufka. I was trying to keep this börek recipe as light as possible so 2 layers was enough.

Your filling will have cooled down by the time you get to this stage

Spread your filling in the tray so that it reaches the edges and corners. 

Step 5: Make the börek case

Now you're ready to encase your filling, resulting in tepsi böreği.

The first layer for the lid of your tepsi böreği

• Take the pieces of yufka you tore from the previous layer and place them over the top of your filling. Again, it doesn't have to be neat and tidy. Just make sure your filling is covered.
• Brush the egg mixture over the top. If you want to, add another layer of yufka at this stage (I didn't) and brush the top with the egg mixture again.

Fold in your trailing edges

At the moment, you've got your original sheet of yufka dangling over the sides of the tray. This is now going to make your parcel. 

• Fold the bottom edge over to the top and brush again with the egg mixture.
• Now fold the side edge of yufka over to the top and brush.
• Repeat with all 4 edges until you have a yufka parcel sitting in your oven tray.

Ready for the oven

Step 6: Bake and Eat

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees and bake in the middle of the oven until the top is golden brown. (About 35 minutes.)

A slice of tepsi böreği

Once cooked, remove from the oven, slice into squares and enjoy. Tepsi böreği is perfect party food. 

Afiyet olsun!

Turkish Food: Honey, Nuts and Kriko

'EL-WAJ-EE, EL-WAJ-EE.' Stick around in any of the Fethiye bars and cafes for only a short amount of time and eventually, you will hear a male voice shouting something resembling that sound. This guy is a Fethiye institution; trundling up and down the harbour, around Fethiye Tuesday market and Paspatur throughout the summer season. You'll see (hear) him in winter too, but not quite so often.

 This guy makes and sells his own honey and nut bars

This is the face behind the voice and what he is actually shouting is, 'HELVACI, HELVACI.' (A seller / maker of helva). We only found out recently that this was what he was shouting and we've been buying his goodies for years. It's not that we don't know what helva is; it's that what he is selling isn't helva - to us.

Helva bars for sale along Fethiye harbour

Inside his basket are rectangular bars of nuts or sesame seeds, bound by smooth honey and wrapped in cling film. Hazlenuts (fındık), peanuts (fıstık), sesame seeds (süsam) or mixed (karışık), all for the very cheap price of 50 kuruş (around 20 pence) for the nutty ones or 1 lira (around 40 pence) for the sesame seeds. They're an ideal snack; natural, really good for you and a bargain!

Fıstık (peanut) helva bar

A few days ago, we were sat along the harbour with friends and we were all starting to feel the need to satisfy rumbling tummies. We shouted the helvacı over and I opted for the fıstık (above) bar. Our friend chose the sesame seed bar. Rumbling tummies were soon cured.

If you've ever been to Turkey, you'll know that just about every kind of food that is touted to tourists is described as natural viagra. These bars are no different. Our friendly helvacı knows only a couple of words in English but he'll make sure he stresses to you, with a knowing smile, that his honey bars are natural viagra.

We assumed this was the usual tourism sales pitch - but we were talking with a Turkish friend later on that night and we asked him why the honey and nut bars were called helva. It turns out that that's just what they're called. But then he asked if there were any sesame bars in the basket. 'Yes,' we replied.
'Ahh, well they're called kriko,' he said. No smile. Completely serious. He turned to his friend for confirmation and asked him what they're called. Kriko was the reply.
'What does kriko mean,' we asked. Kriko is not a Turkish word we've ever come across.
'Car jack. We call them kriko because...well...you know.' 

Being intelligent enough human beings, we didn't press for the answer. We got the picture. Car jack is a decent enough analogy for anyone. 

Commemoration of Atatürk and Youth & Sport Day

The people of Turkey are no strangers to a national holiday and proud display of the Turkish flag (Türk Bayrağı) and today is no different. Today is Commemoration of Atatürk and National Youth & Sport Day or Atatürk'ü Anma ve Gençlik ve Spor Bayramı.

A paramotor has been gliding around Fethiye to celebrate Commemoration of Atatürk and Youth and Sport Day

This Turkish national holiday commemorates the beginning of the Turkish War of Independence when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk arrived in Samsun on May 19th, 1919 to rally his troops against the plans of the Allies to carve up the remains of the Ottoman Empire between themselves. The Allies obviously hadn't banked on the will and determination of Atatürk's troops...and the rest is history, as they say. That day means we are now sitting in our house in 2011 in the Republic of Turkey. 

May 19th is also accepted as Atatürk's birthday. His exact birth date isn't known but he said that he felt May 19th to be his birthday. His year of birth was 1881 and so today, Turks all over the world are celebrating his 130th birthday. Today is also dedicated to the youth and sports at the wish of Atatürk.

On Children's Day, I said that Turkish flags are always a give away that it's a national holiday. We woke up this morning to see our neighbours displaying their Turkish flag, adorned with a picture of Atatürk, from their window. We knew May 19th was Commemoration of Atatürk and National Youth & Sport Day - we just hadn't realised that today was May 19th until we saw the flag. 

You might recognise the photo above from a selection of the photos I posted from the Ölü Deniz Acroludeniz Paragliding Championships a few days ago. He was trailing a Turkish flag and image of Atatürk as he flew up and down Belcekiz Beach. Today, I don't know if it was the same person, but we have had the same paramotor flying between Fethiye and Çalış Beach as part of the commemorations.

19 Mayis Atatürk'ü Anma ve Gençlik Spor Bayramı Kutlu Olsun

Fethiye Harbour Changes 2008 - 2011

There are many reasons why we never get bored of being in Turkey and one of them is, you can't get bored of being in Turkey. Towns and cities are constantly growing and changing at a rapid rate; new apartments, improved public services...new harbour.

From building site to harbour - a huge change for Fethiye

Obviously, when change on such a grand scale is announced, it inevitably divides opinion. When we moved into our house nearly 8 years ago, the powers that be in Fethiye had already been making noises about extending the harbour so that it linked Fethiye and Çalış for a number of years. Nothing ever happened (and we know now, living in Turkey, not to get excited or worried about proposed changes until they actually begin) and then one day, the diggers appeared.

The new marina in Fethiye - we watched daily as boats pushed the pontoons into place.

This was a huge project that friends told us would be complete within 12 months. Make that 3 years. The sea was dredged and made deeper for boats that would be able to dock in the future marina. The road quickly disappeared and turned into a massive building site as countless dumper trucks trundled back and forth, emptying the sea bed onto land near Çalış. For two of those 3 years, we climbed over rubble, waded through puddles that had become shallow ponds, teetered along gang planks, detoured through back streets, just to walk from our house into Fethiye. It became the norm to go for a night out at weekends in walking boots.

Once the extensions to Fethiye harbour had taken shape, the landscaping could begin

Eventually, we could see the outline of Fethiye's new harbour taking shape. Palm trees arrived and were planted in the sludge, hardcore was laid, kerb stones were placed for the new roadside - and then the cobbles, flagging and landscape gardeners arrived. Some friends rejoiced in the changes while others chuntered about their town being spoiled. 

We're in the rejoicing category. We can now walk from our home, all the way into the centre of Fethiye along the promenade, passing boats, restaurants, cafes, parks and gardens and crossing the bridge. Before the new harbour was built, the sea reached the main road, there was no pavement and cars would whizz by, just a few centimetres away from us. Now, pedestrians can walk along the kordon (promenade) with the main road at a much safer distance, 20 metres away.

Why are we telling you all this? Well, this phase of the development stopped around half way between Fethiye and Çalış Beach and rumour had it that phase 2 will begin at some point soon. Rumour also has it that in this area, there is going to be a pier built so that cruise ships can dock in Fethiye. We don't know what will happen, but a couple of mornings ago...

The digger has been hard at work morning till night

Dumper trucks are dropping rubble into the sea

...the road was closed, dumper trucks, a digger and a steamroller appeared and work began - on something. What's it going to be? We shall wait and see...

The Very Secret Akkaya Garden Restaurant in Dalaman

A few days ago, we were chatting to a family at Cafe Pazar and we asked them where they were staying while on holiday. 'Oh, we have a villa in a secret valley.' Well, that was what we thought they said and it made me curious.
'Can you tell us where your secret valley is, or is it a secret?'
'No, it's called Secret Valley. It's in the mountains around Dalaman. Instead of turning left at the junction for Dalaman airport, you turn right. Oh, and there's a fabulous restaurant that you really must go to. Just follow the signs for Akkaya Garden Restaurant.'

On Saturday, we hired a car to take my dad back to Dalaman airport. As we were already in that area, it seemed an opportunity too good to pass up and so we set off along 'that road' and followed the signs. Eventually, we reached the summit of the narrow, winding track and a whole area of Dalaman we never knew existed opened up before us.

The beautiful Akkaya Valley, Dalaman

A sign along the road told us the villas nestling in the hill below were part of the Secret Valley complex and we're presuming the area is called Akkaya (going by the name of the restaurant). Beautiful river and mountain views - and you can't help but wonder how long this place is going to be 'secret'. We got back in the car and continued to follow the signs, down the hill towards the river and the restaurant.

Groups of villas are under construction, at some points, the road is a single-lane, potholed track and I wasn't getting a good feeling. I was starting to think we'd driven a long way to go to a deserted, soulless, on-site restaurant built to serve a few villa owners. But then we parked up and walked up the garden path...

Lilly ponds in Akkaya Garden Restaurant

We were greeted by lush greenery, ponds, streams, the sound of waterfall and the breeze rushing through the dense treetops. A friendly waiter greeted us and pointed us to the different seating areas.

A little maze of walkways winds through the woods that surround Akkaya Garden Restaurant

Wooden bridges and paved walkways lead to different secluded areas, hidden by trees. We heard voices and the waiter pointed up into the trees. A couple of Turkish families were sat high above the ground in what the restaurant has called storks' nests. It had to be done. We wanted to sit in a storks' nest, too.

Perch in the trees in a stork's nest

A steep climb up the steps and we were soon in our very own stork nest, sat amongst the treetops, loving the seclusion. We couldn't see or hear the other families enjoying their Turkish breakfast.

Stork's nest seating areas

We didn't look at a menu, we didn't know the price of anything...but we were already sold and we didn't care. We'd already spotted a lady preparing gözleme by an open fire so we ordered gözleme filled with potato and a couple of drinks.

A very filling gözleme

The potato was in soft chunks rather than grated and leeks and spices were mixed in, too. We were really hungry but both of us were completely full by the time we'd worked our way through our favourite - and generously filled - Turkish snack.

The stone-built indoor restaurant

Akkaya Garden Restaurant also has a large indoor restaurant, and you can see from these photos that whoever built it, has big ambitions for the place. You can't help but feel it's only a matter of time before coaches and jeeps are rumbling down the mountain track. There's a swimming pool for use just outside the restaurant, we saw signs for lake trips and horse riding on offer and from what we saw of it, it's a place that deserves to do well - we'd just like a little bit longer to be selfish and make the most of the peace and quiet of the beautiful Akkaya valley.

And if all that wasn't enough...

Just very cute and fluffy! 

...they've got cute ducklings, too! 

• We ordered 2 potato gözleme, 1 large Efes beer and 1 Diet Coke. The total bill was a very reasonable 15.50 Turkish Lira (around £6). We were so impressed, we got back home to Fethiye and wrote a review of Akkaya Garden Restaurant on TripAdvisor
• To get there under your own steam from Fethiye, go to the main crossroads where you turn left for Dalaman airport. Take a right and follow the green signs for Akkaya Garden Restaurant. If you haven't got transport, the restaurant does a transfer service. 
• We looked at a menu before we left. Meze plates, steaks, fish, kebabs and a few international dishes. You can view the menu and get more information about the transfer service by visiting the Akkaya Garden Restaurant website.