Fethiye Entertainment: Folk Dance Performances

Cards on the table: we cannot be doing with 'Turkish Nights.' Throughout the summer, hotels in Fethiye and all along the Aegean and Mediterranean coast of Turkey will have been holding their weekly Turkish Night, persuading their guests to come along and join the fun. Last summer, in the Fethiye area, some restaurants decided to join the trend so that almost any night of the week, you could attend a 'Turkish Night' if you so desired.

We love meze. We love barbecues. Both are pretty much the standard fayre at a Turkish Night. We enjoy watching the odd belly dance performance. So what's the problem? Well, for us, it should end right there. Appreciate the talent of the dancer, round of applause, we all go home. The problem is the dreaded audience participation where people are forced to wear ridiculous outfits whilst wiggling their backsides and whatever else, much to the amusement of the rest of the audience. Call us miserable, but...

Fethiye folk dance troupe

However, this summer has seen a welcome new trend (for us) around many of the eateries and bars of Fethiye, Çalış, Hisarönü and Ölü Deniz. Cue the folk dancing youth of Fethiye who have made themselves very visible in the area by performing anywhere and everywhere on a nightly basis. It's difficult to miss them. We went to our friend's bar a few weeks back because we knew they were performing and we wanted a nosey. They're good.

The troupe have performed all over Fethiye

If you've seen the folk dance troupes performing around Fethiye, you might be thinking, 'But there's audience participation with this bunch, too.' With this particular troupe in the photo, there's a few minutes where an audience member lies on the floor with a chopping block on their tummy. The lead dancer then throws knives into it, from his mouth, blindfolded. Now, you wouldn't catch me taking part in that (out of pure fear!) and it's also possible to slip into the background as the dancers come round at the end to try to get you to do one dance.

By and large, if you're like us and aren't big fans of audience participation, but you happen to find yourself in a bar where these folk dancers unexpectedly appear, you don't need to neck your beer and make a sharp exit. Sit back, enjoy the folk dance performances - some of the dances tell a story - and just avert your eyes when you see the knives coming out; unless of course, you fancy lying on the floor while shiny blades hurtle towards your torso.

To The Greek Island of Meis Once More

Some time back, we did a post about saying farewell to Meis, thinking we weren't going to be seeing this beautiful Greek island again for quite some time. Strange how life takes twists and turns and forces you to eat your words as, on Monday, just 6 months after we were last there, we found ourselves once again on a day trip to Meis to renew our visa.

Arrival into Meis harbour from nearby Kaş

Right at this moment in time, we should be sat here, wondering how long it will take for our Turkish residency booklets to come through so we can officially call ourselves 'resident in Turkey.' Since residency fees have been reduced, many foreign people living in Turkey have taken up residency for anything between one and five years and we were expecting to be a part of those statistics by now.

Fishing boats line the harbour of Kastellorizo

Our day trip from Fethiye to Rhodes in May was going to be our last visa trip...and then summer came - and it came with a bang. We're almost in September now and since 7th May, when my dad came to visit, our feet have hardly touched the ground as we have been swept through the months - we have no idea what we did when and who with.

Apart from a 16 day gap - which we are just coming to the end of - we have had a continuous flow of friends coming to Fethiye on holiday; some of whom we haven't seen in years and they all chose summer 2011 to come to see us.  

Meis/Kastellorizo Harbour

So, a realisation came upon us. If we got residency this month, it would last us 12 months, meaning that this time next year, and in years to come, we could be in exactly the same position. If friends are out to visit, money will be tight and we don't want to be arranging all the running around to the relevant authorities with passports, documents and fees. All of that officialdom sounds much more appealing and doable in three months' time during the much cooler and quieter month of November. 

The unexpected day trip to Meis was an added bonus. By sleepy Meis standards, the island was packed - the busiest we have ever seen it. We got to eat some Greek sausage and another pork meal which we'll show in another post. And once again, we'll say farewell to the Greek island of Meis. 

And just for any British passport holders out there who might be wondering about it; the port authorities in Kaş are still issuing the 90-day multiple entry visas.

**UPDATE 2012: Visas for British passport holders are now the 90 out of 180 day visas.**

Fancy an overnight stay in Meis? Check hotel prices on Meis island

Turkish Recipes: Spicy Chickpea and Aubergine Stew

It wouldn't be surprising if just about every town and city in the UK had one. I'm talking about those book clearance shops that you just can't resist entering in the hope of a little bargain. Many years ago, we were in Wigan's clearance store, no doubt looking for a cheap Christmas present for someone, when we came across what was to become one of our favourite cookbooks: The Best Ever Mediterranean Cookbook, by Jacqueline Clark and Joanna Farrow. I can't remember if we bought a Christmas present for someone, but we certainly bought a present for us.

I know. We too are suspicious of any item that calls itself 'the best ever' - but this book is just packed with quality photography and recipes from the shores of Southern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. It's huge, it's colourful, the recipes are tempting and easy to follow...and that includes its Turkish recipes.

A Turkish Recipe for Spicy Aubergine and Chickpea Stew  
This dish is popular throughout the Middle East as well as Turkey and we love to make it because it's really easy, very healthy and filling. The recipe is adapted from the book - well, we just had to copy their topping for the stew. Take a look.

Our serving of spicy chickpea and aubergine stew

This is a quick recipe that we eat at just above room temperature in the summer months. In winter, served hot, it's really hearty and warming.

• Gently heat a couple of decent glugs of olive oil in a large pan. Peel and slice 1 and a half large onions into half moons and add to your pan. (Keep the remainder of your onion to one side for the garnish.)
• Peel and crush 3 cloves of garlic and add that to the pan also and give it a stir. Sautee the contents of your pan until the onions soften.
• Add salt, pepper, a good pinch of ground cumin, a sprinkling of ground coriander and chilli flakes. For a more Middle Eastern flavour, you can also add a tiny bit of cinnamon. We do this in winter. 
• Now chop 3 aubergines into bite-sized chunks and add to the pan. Stir it all up so the aubergine pieces become coated with the oil and spices and let them cook for a few minutes. 
• Roughly chop 4 large summer Turkish tomatoes (or use 3 tins of chopped tomatoes) and add them to the pan. 
• Drain the juices from a tin of chickpeas, add to the pan, stir everything up, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes, until your aubergine goes soft. 

For the Garnish
This topping for your stew is optional but it really does make a difference. It's about the contrast in texture and flavour.

• Add a little olive oil to a frying pan and get it really hot.
• Slice your onion into half moons as thinly as possible.
• Take 2 cloves of garlic, peel and slice those thinly, too.
• Add to the pan and fry till dark and crispy.

And to serve... 
Serve your spicy chickpea and aubergine stew on a bed of Turkish rice or bulgur wheat. Sprinkle freshly chopped parsley over the dish and then top it all off with your crispy onion and garlic garnish. We also can't resist a side serving of good quality, Turkish süzme yoghurt whilst we're eating this.

Have you had a look through the Turkish Cookery Books we've picked out for our Amazon shop?

Visiting Fethiye Museum

Confession time. We've been in Fethiye nearly 8 years, on and off, and in all that time, despite saying, 'We ought to visit Fethiye Museum some day,' we'd never made it till a couple of days back. It took the delivery of the newly discovered statues at Tlos to gee us up into finally making a visit.

Entrance to the garden at Fethiye Museum

Most of the main guidebooks for Turkey will tell travellers that Fethiye museum isn't really worth their time and energy - and maybe that's so not surprising when Turkey is home to so many fabulous museums dotted about all over the country. There's a lot to compete with. But, if you're like us and you enjoy the odd museum visit but get a big bogged down with the huge buildings with masses of rooms, then Fethiye Museum makes for a pleasant hour or so.

The building has recently been refurbished, displays are pleasing to the eye and it looks as though it's been styled along the same lines as Antalya Archaeological Museum. There are two separate rooms and each area lights up as you enter. You're not going to be blown away by the finds in there but it's enough to keep you interested - ceramics and jewellery dominate and there's also a pretty impressive mosaic, unearthed at the ancient site of Letoon, mounted on the wall.

As you walk in through the main gate, there's also a garden entrance to your left - lined at the moment by the Tlos statues. 

 Artefacts situated in the garden of Fethiye Museum

There isn't a lot of information about the artefacts in the garden, but each one is labelled with where it was discovered and the period it's from. Most of the finds are local; from Fethiye and Kaunos, near Dalyan and are from the Lycian, Roman, Greek and Byzantine periods. A water feature, complete with fountain, creates a really pleasant atmosphere. We spent as much time in the garden as we did in the museum building itself.

Torso in the garden of Fethiye Museum

The highlight of the garden for me was this guy. He was found in Fethiye's Telmessos Theatre. Telmessos theatre is yet to be restored to its former glory, but wouldn't it be great if archaeologists could work out where different statues might have been and then add replicas? I think somehow, we might be a long way from that though...

As we said, Fethiye Museum is not huge but it's well worth an hour or so of your time. All the finds are local which makes it more interesting - at least there is context to what you're viewing. And the big bonus is, 3 lira Entrance Fee. It's worth 3 lira! 

Fethiye museum is open every day, 9-6,  except Mondays.
It's situated on 505 Sokak and is about 5 minutes walk from the dolmus station. You can view it on our map of Fethiye.

Tlos - Exciting Excavations At Fethiye Museum

Imagine being an archaeologist on a dig - I'd love to be one - scraping away at the earth day after day. You might find a little clay pot or the odd earring every now and then. Apart from that, days are probably pretty uneventful but all the time you'd be secretly hoping for the big find; the one that's going to hit the headlines. 

Tlos has an amazing, dramatic setting overlooking the Xanthos Valley

If you read this blog a lot, you'll know that Tlos is one of our favourite archaeological sites with its mixture of Roman ruins and Lycian rock tombs - so we were really interested when we found out some time ago that a team of archaeologists would begin another dig there. We've made it up there a couple of times recently and each time, a little more of the Roman past has been uncovered - great to see more and more being gradually revealed.

And then on Thursday, we were reading this article in Hürriyet. I wonder which archaeologist it was that was scraping the earth and then hit something hard. Scraped a bit more...and a bit more...marble reveals itself...bingo! Statues of the Roman Emperor Hadrian, emperor Antoninus Pius and his daughter, Faistinaminor, the goddess Isis and it says Mareus Aurellus but we think this may be a misprint. We're wondering if it should say Marcus Aurelius as all these men were contemporaries and their statues always look similar.

Fethiye Museum - You can see the statues lined up by the entrance gate

We assumed the statues would be whisked away to Istanbul, Ankara or at best, Antalya Archaeological Museum - but, thanks to Twitter, we saw one of the Turkish language newspapers had reported the statues had been taken to Fethiye Museum. Often overlooked by visitors to Fethiye, the museum finally has in its possession a bit of a draw in the recently discovered statues. 

We went up there yesterday to see if we could see them, expecting them to be packed away somewhere, not for public viewing just yet. But, maybe we got there at the perfect time and the museum hasn't decided what to do with the statues yet because there they were, greeting us at the gate.

Goddess Isis and the daughter of Antoninus

How the archaeologists managed to identify the statue on the right is beyond us being that she has no face. Maybe there are clues in the clothing she's wearing. Whatever the case, these are the two female statues - and one of them is a goddess.

As for the males. I've looked online at various sites, including the British Museum website to try and identify which is which - and I've got to say, they all look very similar. We'll have to wait till the staff at Fethiye Museum mount them and label them.

A young Marcus Aurelius?

If it was a misprint in the newspaper and the third statue is Marcus Aurelius, we're guessing this is him as he was younger than Hadrian and Antoninus.

Emperor Hadrian?

Is this the statue of Emperor Hadrian? Curly hair and beards were in fashion at the time and so all three of these important people have curly hair and beards - not good for an amateur identifier of Roman statues! 

Antoninus Pius? 

So that must mean that this is Antoninus Pius - his face is slimmer than that of Emperor Hadrian and that's the only reasoning I can provide.

We were lucky to be able to get photos of these fantastic finds from Tlos. If Fethiye Museum chooses to move them indoors for display, cameras are not allowed to be used inside. So, if you're in the area and you're interested in archaeological discoveries - and taking photographs of them - get yourself to Fethiye Museum. 

Ramazan Events in Fethiye

Apart from the daily sunset cannon, friends fasting or absconding from drinking alcohol and us enjoying the special Ramazan bread, Ramazan in Fethiye usually passes by quietly for us. At the beginning of this month, we did a post on how Ramazan would affect your holiday in Fethiye and said that you probably wouldn't even notice anything different.

The stage on Fethiye harbour

However, that was before we knew that Fethiye Belediyesi (Fethiye council) had arranged a free 'Ramazan area' along the harbour with nightly plays, musical performances and dance displays. It was here that we were able to see the Whirling Dervishes display their Sema ritual on Wednesday.

 The stalls along the kordon in Fethiye

Stalls have been set up, selling gözleme, spices and ice cream from Korkuteli (a small town, high up in the yayla between Fethiye and Antalya). Dodgems crash and race around to the rear of the stage...

Happy family atmosphere in Fethiye during Ramazan

...children cry and hassle their parents for helium-filled balloons only to start crying again as they let go of the string and watch their new, shiny toy float off into the night sky. 

Yes, this is Ramazan 2011 in Fethiye. The council are advertising these events under the slogan, Tüm Halkımız Davetlidir (Roughly translated as Everyone's Invited) so, if you're in Fethiye between now and 28th August, rather than let Ramazan pass unnoticed, you could choose to let it be a significant part of your time here by visiting this special area, even if it's just to soak up a bit of the atmosphere. For the next few nights, it's mainly music concerts. We're big music fans so I think we might be heading up to see the Turkish folk music show on Wednesday. 

Whirling Dervishes - Ramazan in Fethiye

We're halfway through the Muslim holy month of Ramazan and, in Fethiye, the council (belediye) have organised free evening entertainment for each day of this special month. Last night, the crowds - including us - gathered early, knowing the open-air stage was about to be graced with members of Turkey's Konya Mevlevi Order; better known to those in the West as Whirling Dervishes.

We attended a sema ritual (the Whirling Dervish performance) at the Galata Mevlevi Monastery in Istanbul a few years ago and it's a beautiful memory that will stay with us forever. Obviously, it's impossible to compare the circumstances and the atmosphere of an intimate sema ritual in Istanbul and a sema ritual performed on an outdoor stage in Fethiye - but we're privileged to have been able to witness this mesmerising scene for a second time in our lives.

Musicians belonging to the Mevlevi order perform before the sema ritual

After we attended the Mevlevi sema ritual in Istanbul, we became interested in Sufi music - we now listen to it quite regularly - so we were as excited about the pre-ritual musical performance as we were about the actual whirling. The musician playing the reed flute (this is called a ney and the sound represents the breath of Allah) began with a haunting solo before the remaining musicians and vocalist joined him. 

Applause was allowed after each song last night. This was a bit of a relief because it was difficult to contain ourselves in Istanbul where we were specifically requested not to clap at the end of each section as it was a religious ceremony. It's amazing how frustrating that can be when you've enjoyed a musical performance so much and you want to applaud someone's talent.

It was only as the musicians left the stage last night that we were asked not to applaud and not to use flash photography. The Sema Ritual was about to begin.

The sheikh sits as the sema ritual begins

The sheikh and the musicians, this time in their symbolic clothing for the ritual, re-entered the stage. As the music began and the sheikh took to his red sheepskin rug, the black-cloaked semazen (the Whirling Dervishes) entered the stage, one at a time and took their places.

Semazen in the early stages of the sema ritual

Rising from their knees, the semazen walked round in circles, exchanging greetings with the sheikh as they passed. Afterwards, their black cloaks were dropped, revealing their flowing skirts. This action symbolises the revelation of truth, the flowing skirt represents the shroud of the ego and the crossing of the arms symbolises the unity of Allah. And then, one at a time, each semazen began to rotate with the music, in a state of trance. 

Conical hats, symbolising the tomb of the ego, were slightly tilted to one side as they were spinning round the stage, arms aloft, right palm facing upwards to allow the divine energy to enter. The left palm faces down to allow the energy to pass through and enter the earth. 

The semazen are supervised during their state of trance

After the whirling ceased, cloaks were once again worn and the semazen bowed heads, representing a return to a state of subservience.

If you visit Turkey and you're interested in attending a sema ritual, then you might be lucky and catch a display similar to the one we witnessed last night in Fethiye. This was still a wonderful spectacle but if you want to really take all in, sit in silence and be mesmerised by a beautiful ceremony that climaxes with the whirling of the members of the Mevlevi order, then do your homework and make sure you're in Istanbul on performance dates. Alternatively, you can be very organised and attempt to arrange a stay in Konya (the spiritual home of the Mevlevi) around 17th December. This date celebrates the birth of Mevlana Celaleddin-i Rumi, founder of the Mevlevi Order and is the only time the dervishes are in residence in Konya. 

Turkish Recipes: Zeytin Yağlı Bamya

If you read yesterday's post about okra, you'll know we decided to give it one last shot before it defeated us completely. I was given some at a Turkish friend's house last year and her mum had cooked it in exactly the same way as zeytin yağlı yeşil fasulye (green beans in olive oil). It was really tasty and there was no slime.

Keep the okra whole and don't pierce it

A bit of research was done and we had a rough idea what we were looking for: 
Bamya (okra) pods that are firm, not soft. 
They must feel like they're going to snap, rather than bend. 
No more than 5-7 cm long.

Well, okra is in season in Fethiye and it appears the pods are in peak condition. But what about the slime we'd encountered previously? That really put us off okra. We weren't convinced bamya fans were happy eating gluey meals - and our friend's mum had served a non-slimy okra dish to me last year - so there must be a trick. And  there is. And it's really simple...

A Turkish Recipe for Zeytin Yağlı Bamya

• Firstly, give your okra pods a good wash. 
• Now, you need to prepare them. Here's the trick: Leave them whole! The mucilage that causes the slime is on the inside of the pods and will not affect your sauce if it can't escape. Slice the stalks off carefully without opening the pod at the top. (See photo above.)

This Turkish olive oil dish is really simple to prepare

Now you can prepare the rest of your ingredients.

• Gently heat a decent-sized glug of olive oil in a frying pan. (This is a Turkish 'olive oil dish' but we make ours with less oil and more tomato.)
• Cut a large onion in half and slice it into half moons. Add to the oil and sautee until they start to go transparent.
• Now add your okra (500g) and stir until the oil has coated the pods. (I spotted two or three pods where I had slightly revealed the opening at the top. I was ruthless and fished them out straight away. We don't want slime!)
• Deseed and roughly chop a red pepper and add that to the pan. Let that sautee for a couple of minutes.
• Now chop 2 large tomatoes, finely slice 2 cloves of garlic and add them to the pan. (We're using the huge summer Turkish tomatoes. If you can't get ripe, red, beef tomatoes, use a tin of tomatoes instead.)
• Mix everything together, add salt, pepper, sweet paprika and a light sprinkling of sugar. Half a teaspoon is enough for us.
• Turn the heat right down, cover the pan and simmer for 30 minutes.

A lovely August lunch of bamya and yoghurt

This okra and tomato stew is eaten around the Mediterranean and the Middle East. In Turkey, it is served at room temperature. If you want to make large batches, it can be frozen, once cooled.

We had our zeytin yağlı bamya for lunch this afternoon. It was served at room temperature with süzme yoghurt. We also toasted some bazlama and lightly rubbed a clove of garlic over the top. Delicious - and no slime!

Did you know okra is fantastically good for you?
I did a quick Google search on 'okra health benefits' and was amazed. It's a wonder food!

It's very low in calories and is packed with dietary fibre that's better for you than bran because the mucilage (that's the 'slime') coats the walls of your intestines. It's a great laxative.

The mucilage balances your blood sugar and also aids digestion.

Okra contains no saturated fats or cholesterol.

It's also packed with Vitamin A, Vitamin C and Vitamin K and essential minerals.

There are other tricks to removing the mucilage from okra if you want to slice it up BUT most of the healthy goodness described above is contained in the mucilage. And, if the okra is cooked over a low heat, as in the Turkish recipe above, the goodness in the mucilage is preserved.

We've definitely rediscovered bamya through this Turkish dish and, now we know how healthy it is, I suspect we'll be stocking up on more at Fethiye pazar on Friday.

Seasonal Food in Turkey: Bamya (Okra)

It's August and in Fethiye, okra is in its prime! I love the Turkish word for okra: Bamya. It's just got a nice sound to it...but that was all it had until recently. Poor old okra is not well loved by the masses out there. Have you ever tried it? 

We tried it about three years ago as part of our love of buying all-things-seasonal from Fethiye market. We'd never had it before and, as is the norm with us, we bought half a kilo, got it home and only then did we look in our recipe books to see what we could do with it. We opted for an Indian dish, cut the bamya up, cooked it as the recipe instructed - and the result was a slimy sauce with a gluey stringy stretchiness to it. The dish tasted great but neither of us could eat it - it just looked so, well, slimy.

We've finally beaten our fear of bamya! 

And then last year, I was at a Turkish friend's house and her mum popped round for a visit, bowl in hand. She went into the kitchen, shared out the contents of the bowl between three plates and handed me the food, smiling. It's rude to refuse these generous offerings in Turkey and I dread to think what my fake smile must have looked like when I realised I was about to eat a more-than-adequate serving of slimy bamya!

Except it wasn't slimy. And it was a really tasty Turkish vegetable dish in a sauce I was familiar with.

And so, at the moment we are doing our very best to get into shape, lose weight, get healthy, get fit for our run in Istanbul in October. We were walking around Çalış market on Sunday and the stalls were just full of baby, crunchy okra. We hate to be defeated by food so we went for it - we bought half a kilo of okra! Bamya / okra / lady's fingers / gumbo (call it what you will) is, I have discovered, amazingly good for you. We can't afford not to be eating this apparent wonder food, especially while we're in training...so tomorrow, look out for our yummy, thankfully successful (I made it tonight!) Turkish recipe for okra!

Turkish Food: Ali Nazik Kebab

Whenever we go to a restaurant advertising an Ottoman kitchen, I always have to order Hünkar Beğendi (it's a work of genius) while Barry will usually go for the Ali Nazik. 

Ali Nazik is an odd one. I've sampled this dish at a few restaurants (read, 'plunged my fork into Barry's meal') and it tastes different every time. Do a search on the internet for Ali Nazik recipes or scan through Google images and you'll see what I mean. Whether this is people adapting the dish to suit their personal tastes or whether the original recipe is not quite set in stone, we're not sure.

Ali Nazik kebab - chips and rice not necessary

I've read recipes for Ali Nazik on the internet in the past and thought, 'No, you've just made Hünkar Beğendi.' They're two Ottoman dishes using similar ingredients: lamb (or beef) and aubergine puree.

But, where Hünkar Beğendi uses stewed lamb pieces, Ali Nazik is made with ground meat. It also contains a liberal amount of natural yoghurt. The Ali Nazik in the photo above was served to us when we were in Dalyan a few weeks ago. I've never seen the ground meat served from a skewer before (as in the photo) but it really worked. 

The main conflict between recipes seems to be the way the yoghurt is served. Some chefs blend the yoghurt into the aubergine puree (as above) to make one thick sauce while others keep the two separate. The yoghurt is served over the aubergine and the ground meat mixture placed over the top.

Barry's a mixed yoghurt and aubergine person. I prefer my yoghurt and aubergine served as separate ingredients. How would you prefer your Ali Nazik to be served? How do you think it SHOULD be served?

Rhodes Old Town - The Ottomans

When I was younger, I was an expert armchair traveller (I still am) and had an image in my head of all Greek islands. They all looked exactly the same and you can probably guess the picture: idyllic, whitewashed buildings with blue-painted doors and window frames, geraniums and bougainvillea surrounding the houses, sheer cliff faces plunging into an azure sea below. Yes, it's that photo that appears on the front of every holiday brochure, guidebook and tourism poster that advertises the Greek islands and it's the island of Santorini. Santorini is the face of Greece.

Because we had done no research before we first visited Rhodes Old Town years ago, I was genuinely surprised by the sight that greeted us as we pulled into Mandraki harbour on the ferry. Not a whitewashed building in sight. If we'd been dropped there blindfolded and asked to guess where we were, I would have perhaps chosen a Middle Eastern country rather than a Greek island. 

Rhodes Old Town is packed with Ottoman history

Rhodes sits in a strategic position and, as such, has always found itself on the wanted list of conquering armies menacing the Mediterranean. It took two costly attempts...but in 1522, under the rule of Süleyman the Magnificent, the Ottomans finally wrestled the island from the occupying Knights of St. John. Mosques were erected and, as a result, it is domes and minarets, jutting skywards from behind the fortress walls that welcome you into the harbour in 2011. The building of idyllic, stereotypically Greek whitewashed houses are evidently not high on the list of priorities of expanders of their empire.

The mosque of Süleyman

Knowing what I know now (that, of course, not all Greek islands are covered in whitewashed buildings), Rhodes is all the more interesting. Rhodes Old Town is practically an open-air museum with evidence of its various conquests on full display to all - if you can see past the many tourists - and despite visiting there on quite a few occasions, there's more we'd like to see of the physical history of the area. For example, the Ottoman library, pictured in the centre of the top photo, houses original Ottoman scripts and handwritten copies of the Quran. This is the one building we took the time to enter on a past visit - very small but well worth it.

When we were there at the end of May, you'll remember we were just in shock at the density of the crowds, and most of our day was spent buying Rhodes sandals and being bewildered by just how many tourists could visit a small corner of an island in one day. So, if you're a history freak like me, perhaps you need to soak up the history of Rhodes Old Town out of season when you'll be able to photograph and walk around empty fortresses at your leisure and take yourself back into mediaeval times.


Compare rates for popular Rhodes hotels on Turkey's For Life

Turkish Food: Turkish Bread - A Ramazan Photo Story

Turkish bread is nothing short of paradise to your taste buds! Whenever friends come to see us, one of the first things they want to do (apart from purchasing Efes Pilsen!) is go to the nearest little market or bakery and get some fresh bread. It's just so warm, crusty on the outside, hollow-sounding, soft-centred, light...the perfect bread. We're not being biased here. It's that good! 

Before we actually published the first post on this blog, we used to discuss what we would write about and Turkish bread has been on the list from that time. But, it's taken till now to do 'The Turkish Bread Post.' Why? Because it had to be the right time; a time when bread was in the forefront of our minds.

A good Turkish bakery should only have a few loaves in the window. the rest should be bought before they get there!

Turkey is full of local bakeries. Find yourself a good bakery in your local area and your "I'm cutting back on bread" willpower will be tested forever! Freshly baked bread, throughout the day...Across the top row in the photo above, you can see your average Turkish loaf. Whenever we say we've been for a half-bread (yarım ekmek), whether it be fish in bread on Popeye's boat, a döner kebab or a Şampiyon kokoreç, picture one of those loaves cut in half across the middle. That's your yarım ekmek!

This warm, Ramazan pide bread was sold before we left the shop.

But we said we wanted to do this post when bread was at the forefront of our minds. Today, we've walked a little further to our favourite local bakery - rather than to our nearest one - because at the moment, it's Ramazan. We knew there would be a queue as this bakery is really popular and it was just before sunset...

Most people bought large Ramazan pide breads. We bought a small one, just for 2.

...and just before sunset, during Ramazan in Turkey, is Turkish-Ramazan-pide-bread buying time. Local bakeries are almost unbearably hot; fans whirring, ovens packed with round, criss-crossed doughy lumps which transform into divine freshly-baked-bread smells. The queues lengthen as sunset approaches and the bakery owners - probably hungry themselves - serve everyone at breakneck speed. No time for small talk now. Choose your loaf, get it wrapped in paper (you don't want it to sweat because it's still warm), pay your lira and leave the building. 'Next please!' The sunset waits for no one!

The most amazing bread oven we've ever seen - but the photo doesn't show you that

I wish the bakery was lighter so I could have taken a better photo to show you this scene properly. We have seen some big Turkish ovens in our time but tonight, we were amazed at how many Ramazan pide breads we could see, glowing and baking in this oven. So deep and a beautiful sight!

Of course, we don't do Iftar (the meal people eat after sundown during Ramazan) so why were we at the bakery this evening, joining the clamour for fresh pide bread? Well, it's Barry's potato and aubergine jalfrezi for tea tonight. This bread is perfect for tearing and sharing - even if it's just the two of us!

Just a quick tip: 

Turkish bread is baked without preservatives so it tends to go soft and chewy after just a few hours. If this happens to you and you don't fancy toast instead, stick it in the oven on around 150 degrees for about 5 minutes and you'll get that 'just-baked' texture back.

Caretta Caretta in Turkey: Meet Deniz!

A couple of years ago, you may remember we went to Iztuzu Beach near Dalyan to watch the release of Özlem the loggerhead turtle back into the wild. A few weeks ago, while killing some time before dropping friends off at Dalaman Airport, we returned to Iztuzu Beach because these friends wanted to see the turtle rescue centre we had told them about. We'd hired a car so the journey was a minor detour.

Iztuzu Beach, Dalyan, from above

After taking a left before you hit the centre of Dalyan, you climb a narrow road through the village of Gökbel and past Sülüngür Gölü (göl means lake and you could easily spend an afternoon picnicking by the roadside here or sitting at one of the little lakeside restaurants. We intend to at some point!). Eventually, as with many of the amazing sea views in Southwest Turkey, you come face to face with a sweeping, panoramic scene set out before you. This is Iztuzu Beach (often referred to as Turtle Beach) and it demands you stop the car to take photos. 

Difficult not to see the signposts

We can't remember how much we paid on entry to Iztuzu Beach but know that it wasn't too expensive - we would have remembered very clearly, otherwise! The Sea Turtle Research, Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre is clearly signposted and is situated in understated shacks along the forest path. It's smaller than you'd expect but definitely worth a visit. Why?

One of only a few occasions that Deniz popped up for breath

Because volunteers from Pamukkale University will introduce you to turtles like Deniz. When we were there this time, there were only two turtles in the centre and one of them didn't look too well. He was floating, seemingly without life, just under the surface of the water. We asked one of the volunteers about it, thinking she was going to give us the sad tale of the demise of this turtle.

But no! Meet Deniz. A gash along his shell from a boat propeller (unfortunately very common in this area of Turkey) and a semi-severed front flipper from fishing line (again, a common problem) are healing slowly and they're hoping to release the beautiful creature that is Deniz the Turtle later on this year. 

The donation box in the turtle rescue cdentre

I know we've mentioned the turtle rescue centre in Iztuzu in the past on this blog but it's such a special place to visit - and now, they've achieved their foundation status. This means you can leave your donations in the box (in the shape of a turtle of course) as you leave. We love to watch the turtles frolicking in Fethiye harbour and seeing them in the Dalyan centre with their injuries is very sad...but also hopeful...so I guess you can expect another blog post about the Sea Turtle Rescue, Research & Rehabilitation Centre in the future, next time we go.
 

Turkish Food: The Sote Dish

We usually eat Turkish sote dishes during the winter months as they're so warming and comforting. However, when friends come to Fethiye on holiday during the summer months, there always seems to be at least one occasion where someone will order a sote (pronounced sautee) dish. On this occasion, we had a vegetarian friend staying with us for the week and, when we went to eat out, while we ordered the chicken şiş and aubergine kebab, she plumped for the sebzeli sote.

You can probably work out from the photo below why we wait for the colder months before making our own Turkish sote dishes at home. On menus in many of the restaurants in the tourist areas, the beautiful, rich-tasting sote dish is often called a 'Turkish stir fry,' - but for us, this description says so little. 'Stir fry' suggests a hot wok, crunchy vegetables and maybe meat or seafood tossed around for a couple of minutes before being served, still crunchy and hot.

Sebzeli Sote (Vegetable sote) at Mozaik Bahçe in Fethiye

That's what a sote dish isn't. Yes, a pan matching the description of a frying pan is used but a sote takes time. It's more like a tomato-based stew that (in the UK at least) would be cooked in a casserole bowl or stewing pot in the oven for a few hours on a low temperature. Et sote (beef sautee) is not far removed from the beef stew my nana used to make when I was a kid and is simmered for quite some time. So you see, it's not a stir fry. For us, a good sote is perfect, winter comfort food. 

We'd like to know more about the history around this style of food - but many Turkish recipes like sote and olive oil dishes are cooked (sauteed) on the hob in a shallow pan for an hour or more, rather than being placed in the oven. Stone and clay ovens and holes in the ground have been used traditionally in Turkish cuisine for breads, pide and tandır (slow-cooked lamb) amongst others...so why not the sote?  

We'd love to hear your thoughts if you know more about this...otherwise, we'll definitely do some food history research of our own when we hit the bookshops of Istanbul in October. 

The All-Seeing Eye On Rhodes

Today's post is a photo that I've been meaning to add to the blog for a while and I've just rediscovered it buried in my laptop folders. Quite often, whenever we visit somewhere new, it's not the tourist sites or the famous monuments that stick in our minds months after our return. 

No, it's the little things that we notice suddenly, as if they pop up from nowhere. The little things that make you smile and reach for your camera. The little things that are easily missed. Earlier this year, we loved keeping an eye out for all the Downtown Antalya street sculptures; boring, noisy, soulless dual carriageways were all of a sudden full of interest. 

Rhodes Old Town is packed with historic sites, but this eye stood out for us

A few weeks ago, while we were wandering around Rhodes Old Town (aimless wandering was impossible due to the astronomical number of tourists in the area) we headed around the outer-walls of the Palace of the Knights. Just to the rear on a relatively quieter walkway, there were rows of street artists sketching portraits of passing families. 

I was photographing the battlements, palm trees and stones that made up the huge palace walls when Barry noticed this. An ancient tree grows between two layers of the walls and someone has painted this eye onto it. It watches constantly as tourists stroll around the fortress. Whilst the all-seeing eye looks like a recent addition, I wonder how old this tree is and how many battles for this strategically placed island it has seen waged over the centuries.


Check rates for Rhodes hotels on Turkey's For Life

Fethiye During Ramazan: How Will It Affect Your Holiday?

Yesterday, Muslims in Turkey and all over the world began a month of fasting during daylight hours; the holy month of Ramazan is upon us. As it follows a lunar calendar, Ramazan is 11 days earlier each Gregorian calendar year, meaning this year, and for the next few years, Muslims in Turkey and in other hot countries are going to have a pretty tough time of it as they fast - and work - through the hot summer months. 

The hot summer months are also when many tourists descend upon the Turkish coast for their holidays.

How will Ramazan affect your Fethiye holiday? 
Well, put simply; it won't - especially if you are heading to the bigger resorts of Ölü Deniz, Hisarönü and Çalış. There are more clues in Fethiye itself but, even then, you have to look for them. 

 Lazy days on the beaches of Fethiye

Not every Turkish person in the Fethiye region will be fasting during Ramazan. Some of our Turkish friends are not religious at all and don't observe any type of fasting. Others will choose to give something up - usually alcohol or cigarettes - for the duration of Ramazan and then we have other friends who will be observing the fasting hours in strict fashion.

In Fethiye, it's easy to forget that we are in the month of Ramazan - so below are a few clues for you to look out for and a couple of things we try to bear in mind during this time:

Spare a thought for your waiter!
Just becuase it's Ramazan, Fethiye does not close for business! We are in the busiest part of the summer season in Fethiye. The weather is scorching, the days are long and hotels and restaurants are packed, meaning staff are extra busy. They may also be fasting! So, if your favourite - usually sprightly - waiter looks a little vague and lethargic in the daytime, cut him or her some slack. They'll be back to their usual self after sunset, once they have eaten.

Hotel and other staff may be fasting during Ramazan

Listen for the morning drums and the evening 'BANG!'
Just before dawn, drummers will walk around the streets of Fethiye, beating a steady rhythm to wake people up so families can eat and drink together before sunrise. Of course, these days, people are perfectly capable of waking themselves up with an alarm clock but the drums are a tradition; a symbol of Ramazan. 

As the sun dips below the horizon and the sky darkens, the call to prayer will sound from the minarets of Fethiye and those who are fasting will wait for the cannon (actually not a cannon but it sounds like one) to boom from the hill behind the castle.  

Now it's Iftar
As you can imagine, once the sun has set and the 'cannon' has boomed, people are hungry and thirsty! Whilst some families will eat together at home, these days, more and more Fethiye locals are choosing to head to the restaurants. You may notice a few tables (particularly in the centre of Fethiye) reserved and set up for people taking up this option. Lokanatas will also be geared up for feeding and watering local workers. If we're eating out in the centre of Fethiye, we tend to eat before sunset or we leave it till after the initial Iftar rush. 

Take care on the roads!
As the end of daylight hours approaches people are in big rush to get to whichever eating station they have chosen. Keep an eye out at this time. The traffic can get speedy and wayward as hungry and thirsty drivers have Iftar on their mind.

Fethiye resorts operate as normal during Ramazan

In summary...
Although the situation will be different in other areas of Turkey, the coastal resorts of Turkey will certainly remain in full summer holiday flow throughout Ramazan and your break will not be affected. Shops, bars, restaurants and beaches operate as normal...and so, to all the workers who are fasting during this hot, August Ramazan, hats off to you! 

Turkey's For Life - We Really Want To See Those Fingers!

It's now August 1st and, a couple of days ago, we asked you to upload your favourite Turkey Summer 2011 photos to the Turkey's For Life Facebook Page. Thanks to all who did that because we've now got a bigger selection of Turkey photos for everyone else to look at. We relied on people to contribute and, through the internet, we have all created a great photo collection of this area.

The internet has also allowed us to create our blog, our Facebook page and our Twitter profile. It has also given us access to other far flung corners of the web, such as Digg, StumbleUpon & Reddit, that most normal people should probably never have heard of. Yes, we are fully immersed in the internet and it's changing all the time. 

Google has now become a verb in the English language as well as being the name of a super-successful company. We don't just search for something on the internet anymore. We Google it. And for today's post, Google is the name of the game. We write our blog and (thankfully) people read it. But, new people need to be able to find us too. We are so grateful for your Retweets, Facebook 'likes' and shares, stumbles, forum posts etc, etc in helping us in this process. Please keep them coming!

And now, we have a new kid on the block: Google +1.

On the top-right hand side and at the bottom of each blog post you visit, we now have a +1 button. As with all things 'internet and Google', there is a lot of speculation about how much influence your actions have on websites and blogs - but the way we see it is, we're grateful for all of your input to Turkey's For Life. It's all good!

So what are we asking from you...again?

If you have a Google Account (it can just be a gmail or googlemail account) and you think a blog post we have written may be useful to others, or you think others might want to see it or you just simply enjoyed it, we'd love a +1 click from you. That simple. Probably not this one today - and maybe not that old one about a Turkish Grandma sliding down a mountain in the snow - but just whenever in the future you think a post we do is worthwhile, then a little click on that button might help us get found by other new potential visitors to Fethiye.

What happens to Turkey's For Life from there.....we're not sure yet, but it can't be a bad thing, can it?  

In Summary...
We know it's yet another pretty, colourful button we're asking you to click but aside from my blog-post-writing and photographs and Barry's unknown (to me) techy stuff, it's your blog comments, Facebook comments, Twitter comments, Facebook shares, retweets, stumbles (& all manner of other social media) AND now your +1 clicks that keep us going.

Thanks to all who pass us along to others. VERY MUCH appreciated!