September In Fethiye – Summer Becomes Autumn

I don’t know why we keep thinking, “Ahh, this summer is relatively quiet, for us.”

Summer’s in Fethiye are just not quiet – there are always friends around to play out with and September has been no different. October is going to be the same, too.

But back to September and our news from Fethiye – goings on around town and a bit of looking back at what we’ve been up to over the past few weeks…

News From The Harbour

Lots of news from the whole stretch of the harbour this month!

Fethiye Rekreasyon Alanı

It was a slow start in September. After sharing the artist’s impression in August and noticing the projected completion time of 330 days, all went quiet.

Not for long, though, and it’s all systems go now on Fethiye’s new Rekreasyon Alanı (recreation zone).

The kordon (promenade) is being laid and diggers are flattening other areas in preparation for the different sections of the park to be created. All very exciting to see it taking shape.

Although the gates are open at the entrances, these are for work vehicles.

Signs have now gone up around the fencing telling workers to wear hard hats on the site and telling pedestrians that entry to the area is forbidden and dangerous.

Still lots of photo-taking vantage points, however, so we’ll always be nosying around the vicinity.

And the fishermen clearly don’t think the ‘forbidden’ signs relate to them – at least not for the moment, anyway.

Palm Trees

For a long time, Phase 3 of Fethiye harbour had intermittent squares cut out of the paving stones along the seashore.

We all knew these were for palm trees, continuing the pattern of the rest of the harbour.

But the palm trees never came and months became years as the empty squares lay idle and useless – well, they were good at tripping people up.

Anyway, hooray! 13th September saw palm tree delivery and planting.

Canal Safety

If you know Fethiye, you’ll be familiar with the canal that dissects the Fethiye market place before eventually running into the sea.

It used to have a pretty wooden fence and wooden bridges but as the years went by, pretty was no longer practical.

Sections of the fence had fallen away, other parts were rotting and, if someone hadn’t already, it was only a matter of time before one of the kids from the adjacent high school tumbled into the water.

Anyway, all that has changed and we now have the customary DSI (Turkey’s state hydraulic works) wrought iron fencing running along each edge.

As state fencing goes, it’s not unattractive so that’s a bonus. At the time of writing, the bridges across the canal have also been rebuilt and strengthened but they are still awaiting their hand rails.

We cross with caution – unlike the school kids on their mountain bikes!

Beşkaza Meydanı

It’s been a while since there’s been much to report from Fethiye’s town square hasn’t it?

Well, slowly, slowly, the wibbly wobbly businesses and apartment blocks that were demolished along the edge of the square are starting to reappear.

It’s been a long wait for him but Fethiye’s long-established seafood restaurant, Kefal’in Yeri, is now once more fully open. Next to him is a fast food place.

And see that business right on the left hand side. Hmm, yes, some people will be delighted by this whilst others will have eye rolls. It’s another branch (we already have one branch in Erasta Shopping Centre) of that very famous coffee chain that writes your name on the cup.

You know the one…

Eating And Drinking Around Town

This month, we’ve added another eatery to our places were you can get fed and watered around Fethiye.

Not everywhere has to be super posh and expensive.

Sometimes, you just need a simple snack, and Babadağ Kafeterya on Yerguzlar Caddesi is a great place for that!

And when you’ve got so many friends around, enjoying their holidays, it’s inevitable you end up at some of the old faithfuls, as well as catching them at places you’re yet to venture into.

We’ve had drinks at Cafe Park Teras, a yummy pide and homemade chips lunch at Güven’s Restaurant, we’ve bobbed along to Surf Cafe beach area to catch up with sunbathing friends.

And, a new one for us. Çalış Spor Cafe is on our list of Fethiye beaches but we’d never been there until this month.

A great spot for watching the kitesurfers whipping up and down the shoreline.

Benyamin Sönmez Classical Music Festival

We love the Benyamin Sönmez Classical Music Festival. It would be great to be able to get to every event but, you know, time and all that.

One year, we hired a bus to the top of Babadağ in Ölüdeniz to see one of the performances. Such an amazing memory.

This year, there were again performances on Babadağ but we opted for a cello recital that took place at sunset on Çalış Beach. Lovely!

There are lots of events that take place around Fethiye. Don’t forget to keep an eye on our events calendar so you know what’s going on around town whilst you’re here.

For starters, October has the Ölüdeniz Air Games and also Yaşam İçin Yarış – a 5k charity run with proceeds going to oncological services at the Fethiye State Hospital.

It’s Not Just About The Kids

Yes, so there we were – eight adults enjoying drinks at Cafe Park Teras. After a few more drinks had been enjoyed, the conversation somehow turned to water parks.

It was soon established that some of us (I don’t include myself in that group) love a water slide. But, despite numerous breaks in Fethiye, they’d never been to a water park here.

“Yeahy, let’s all go, tomorrow,” said we.

And so we did. Eight fully grown adults – some of us a little bit worse for wear from the night before – all trouped into Sultan’s Aqua City in Çalış for their penultimate day of the season.

We ate, we drank, we had a swim and we played on the water slides…and laughed a lot. Highlight of the holiday for one of our group!

Moral of the story: If you usually wait for kids to be around to give you an excuse to go to Sultan’s Aqua City or Ölüdeniz Water World, don’t!

Get yourselves off there and be kids yourselves. It’s good fun!

The Joy (And Pain) Of Fethiyespor

Ahh, what to say?

You seriously cannot predict anything that is going to happen at that club. Bet there aren’t many football teams out there that can play their first three matches of the season under three different technical directors!

We like us an odd claim to fame…

Anyway, the third technical director is still in place and, hopefully, things will start to settle soon.

One win, two draws and two losses in the league, so far, and that sees us firmly in the lower half of the league (Pre-publishing update… make that three losses). Not so wonderful.

We did win in our first match of the Turkey Cup, though.

The crowd are patient for now. Early days and all that – no calls of ‘Yönetim Istifa’ (Management Resign) just yet.

The most recent home match against Kahramanmaraşspor last Wednesday night ended in a 1-1 draw and that seemed to be despite the match officials.

Most of the classic football rants were directed firmly at those three chaps who were loudly (and amusingly) jeered from the pitch at full time.

At Home In The Kitchen

It may be that the weather’s a bit cooler now. It’s certainly not been a case of having more time on our hands!

Anyway, at some times throughout September, we’ve found a few moments to stock the fridge up with home cooked goodies and enjoy a few snacks.

This month, we’ve reshared our recipe for stuffed mushrooms. And we’ve enjoyed a naughty-but-yummy brunch of yumurtalı ekmek.

Most tellingly of all, we’ve definitely noticed the changes from late summer to early autumn.

The barbunya on the markets is still plump and crimson so we’ve made what could well be our last batch of barbunya pilaki for this year.

Also, after buying some seabream at the fish market this week, we decided to serve it with green lentil salad. This is such a summery dish for us and that, too, feels like the last batch of the season.

Those dishes feel like the last batch of the season because, this month, we’ve also welcomed autumn into our kitchen.

A cool down in temperatures and a reduction in humidity and we couldn’t resist – this month, we’ve already worked our way through two large panfuls of Turkish red lentil soup!

Oh, we love soup season. Visit our collection of comforting Turkish soups and other Turkish recipes.

September Instagram Favourite

Well, we’re glad this happened. Up until the last week of the month, we had a three way tie.

Three Fethiye photos all on the same amount of likes. A recent photo I took of the kitesurfers from Surf Cafe put pay to that, though.

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This photo stole the show for this month and it’s quite apt because much of September has been spent along Çalış Beach watching them.

What’s Next?

We’re away for a few days at the beginning of October. You can follow what we get up to, as it happens, by watching out for updates on Instagram (Stories, in particular) and Facebook.

As usual, our travel plans are very vague so we’re not committing anything to writing, here, just yet. Kaş and the Greek island of Meis are definitely involved, though.

The rest of October is busy, busy, busy with friends and family out to visit. Let’s see what the month has in store…

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