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Fethiye Life – Two Month Catch Up

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Wow, well, we think it’s high time we had a little update about life in Fethiye, don’t you?

We’re supposed to do monthly news updates but, as usual, at some point during the year, time runs away with us and all of a sudden, two months have passed us by.

And, as you are no doubt fully aware, they haven’t exactly been the most normal humdrum run of the mill months for this beautiful country we call home.

So, let’s get that bit out of the way first…

Our Daily Life In Fethiye Continues

We’ve had a good few messages – both from blog readers and people who follow our social media accounts, too – mainly asking us about the situation here and what life is like at the moment.

There’s no nice way to dress up the phrase, ‘state of emergency.’ And nor should it be dressed up. But it is a phrase that scares the bijaysus out of many potential visitors to Turkey.

But the basic, simple fact is, daily life, here, on the ground in Fethiye is just as it has always been.

Fethiye Daily Life
Whenever we go for a morning run, I always stop to take a photo somewhere

We’re still waking up in the morning and going for a run (some days) and the photo above is a typical morning scene in Fethiye.

All the bars and restaurants around the area are still open – many with live music at night.

Fethiye’s main attractions are all still there, the beaches haven’t disappeared off anywhere and the waves still crash onto the pebbles and sand.

The Çalış to Fethiye water taxi still chugs across the bay every half an hour, the daily boat trips still set sail, we cook at home, we eat out, we go for a drink with friends and we’ve still got travel plans lined up, too.

In the Fethiye area, there are no extra police, jandarma or military pounding the streets, or anything like that…and there are no extra tourists, either, for that matter.

But the people who have come are still leaving in tears because they’ve had their usual lovely time and don’t want to leave.

It’s not that people in Fethiye are wandering around with their heads in the clouds like nothing has happened…it’s just that, well, we are where we are and all is as was in Fethiye.

Turkey’s For Life always has been, and will continue to be, a politics-free zone. The media can tell you all you need to know – and more besides – about Turkey’s political situation (some more accurately than others).

We, and lots of other bloggers around Turkey, are just reminders that normal daily life happens, too, and we feel contented and safe.

No lies, no dressing anything up, just life.

And so, with that in mind, let’s look at the last couple of months…

Two Trips To Kabak

Our Balcony At Tree House, Kabak
A balcony with a view at Tree Houses

Two months to cover – and two trips to Kabak in two months.

The first one, in June, was because we had friends out and they fancied staying overnight as they’d never done it before.

They’d listened to us so many times about how much we love the place and how staying overnight is so blissful – time for them to try it, too.

And just as we’ve mentioned a lack of tourists above, it wasn’t the case for Kabak in June.

We had to do a bit of scouting around and eventually found two bungalows at Tree Houses; somewhere we’d never stayed before.

What a find that proved to be!

Fethiye News - Kabak
Can’t think of a much more peaceful view than this Kabak view

Our second trip to Kabak was towards the end of July for Barry’s birthday. It’s tradition now.

Last year, we stayed at the very chilled Sultan Camp and the two years before that, it was the very popular Olive Garden.

This year, it was lunch at the Olive Garden (fab – we’ll tell you about that in another post) and visits to Sultan Camp…but for this birthday, at least, our bed was at Tree Houses again.

Two nights, this time, which meant the middle, full day was spent in complete relaxation down on the beach.

I mean, seriously, when it feels like the world around you is all just a bit bonkers, how are those views not gonna sort you out, eh?

Two Daily Boat Trips

Fethiye Daily Boat Trip
Idyllic scenes when you’re out on a daily boat trip

We don’t do boat trips very often. We hadn’t been on one for over two years in fact – and then two came up at once.

Those same friends again who came to Kabak with us; we gatecrashed their boat trip.

Then we had another group of friends on holiday and it was a special 15th and 30th joint birthday outing.

Both times, we did a Blue Bays daily boat trip – and, both times, it was with the Çalış Boat Cooperative.

A different boat each time but all the same great food – oodles of meze choices – and idyllic bays for swimming in. Yeah, this is our town.

Gotta pinch ourselves, sometimes.

Out & About Around Fethiye

We’re always out and about somewhere – can’t remember when we last had a day where we didn’t leave the house, to be honest.

It’s often just for a wander along Çalış Beach or, if we fancy the opposite direction, we’ll head off to town.

Of course, all of our running and all of this wandering around builds up a thirst…

Cafe Park Teras Iced Coffee
Love the iced coffee at Cafe Park Teras

Hey, and guess what…

That thirst is not always quenched with an ice cold beer. Iced coffee is my new mini obsession. And there are yummy ones to be had at Sea Horse Beach in Ölüdeniz, at Deep Blue Bar in Paspatur and at the lovely Cafe Park Teras, where you can also enjoy fab views, too, of course.

Obviously, there are loads of other places where the iced coffee is great – Kahve Dünyası at Erasta shopping centre does a very tasty iced Turkish coffee – and we’ll no doubt discover more over the coming weeks.

And speaking of speciality coffees, we added a new place to our Fethiye eating and drinking page back in June. Kukina Caferia on the famous street of umbrellas does a whole host of weird and wonderful coffee combinations…that we haven’t tried (update 2024 – Kukina is now Qalbi 1803).

Kukina Caferia Entrance
We love this entrance to Kukina – leaving the street behind

Back to thirst quenching, though. We went to Ölüdeniz Waterworld recently (blog post to come) and decided to stop off and visit a friend at a nearby hotel…and have a drink in the process.

That meant we got to have a nosy around their hotel. If you ever fancy a holiday in Ovacık, Hotel Leytur is definitely worth a little look. Lovely place!

Fethiyespor Matches

Fethiyespor Fixtures 2016-17
Spor Toto 2nd League White Group

That time of year is creeping up on us again. We’ve got a lovely summery August to enjoy first, of course, but, in September, the football season is once more underway.

There’s some (half) British interest in the team with Jonathan Berat Ustabaşı. He’s a midfield player from Wythenshawe, near Manchester and he qualifies to play for Fethiyespor because his dad’s Turkish.

He could be in for a good season as he’s scored a couple of goals in Fethiyespor’s warm-up matches. So, watch this space…

New Addition To Fethiye – A Bit Of Patriotism

Fethiye Musical Notes
The Fethiye musical notes even sing, daily

So, this has popped up, recently. The council gardeners arrived along the harbour one day with lots of metal. And, within three days, we had a stave and part of a tune.

The words revealed the song – known by just about every Turkish person in Turkey – and seaside plants have been planted in each note.

The song is by female Turkish singer, Ayten Alpman, and is called (Bir Başkadir Benim) Memleketim.

It’s a very patriotic song about love of Turkey. ‘Memleketim’ means, ‘my country.’

Apart from a section of the song playing on repeat there is also to be found various people taking selfies in front of this new addition to town.

It’s drawn mixed reaction – but, we’ve gotta say, we have never met a Turkish person who doesn’t like this song.

And as for the grass in front of it – the grass that runs all along the third phase of the harbour – well, that is now a nightly picnic spot for local families.

It’s so lovely to see every evening – and especially on Saturday nights.

The first time we went to Izmir and saw everyone sitting on the grass by the sea in Alsancak we said how lovely it would be if Fethiye had the same thing.

Well, now we have!

Facebook Photo Fav & Other Daily Life

So yeah, daily life in Fethiye continues, as you can see. Last month, we also wrote a guest article for Foxnomad about living in Turkey and if you want to keep up with even more daily life, as it happens, you can also follow us on social media.

We put a daily photo on Instagram – and now, they have also introduced Instagram Stories. We’re playing around with that.

So, if you can’t get enough of Fethiye (or wherever else we travel elsewhere in Turkey), those ‘stories’ are completely up to the minute, in a fun way.

On Facebook, it’s daily life, reminders and any other bits of Turkish-related info…and photos, too.

Well, we never could resist capturing a great Fethiye sunset. A bit of recent cloud has made for some beautiful scenes as the sun goes down.

Oh, and by the way; we recently went through 15,000 likes on our Facebook page. Thank you very much if you are one of the people who follows our updates!

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MARK DANTONI

Monday 19th of September 2016

Reading about Fethiye reminds me of the wonderful months we spent there. Your friendship was so much appreciated. As usual, the photos are beautiful and really make me miss Turkey a lot. Glad to hear everything is as fantastic and idyllic as ever. Best to you both.

Turkey's For Life

Tuesday 20th of September 2016

Yeah, everything in Fethiye is still ticking along fine at the moment and we like to keep people up to date with goings on with our news from around town. :) Hope everything is going well for you. :)

Linda

Tuesday 9th of August 2016

Beautiful photos and lovely blog. Warm greetings from Montreal, Canada.

Turkey's For Life

Tuesday 16th of August 2016

Thanks very much, Linda. Greetings to you, too, from Fethiye.

mette

Sunday 7th of August 2016

Glad to read that life goes on in Fethiye, in spite of the worrying political development. The views of the coast and the iced coffee certainly look as tempting as ever.

Turkey's For Life

Tuesday 16th of August 2016

Politics and daily life are often two completely different things, Mette. We've certainly learned that, recently. Yeah, none of us know the future but life in Fethiye certainly plods on as normal...complete with iced coffee. :)

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