And so another month passes us by.
Aside from it being a roasting hot and humid month, it’s also been a super busy one, too. Friends over from the UK, a couple of national holidays, new announcements for upcoming events, Fethiyespor pre-season prep. And so on.
So let’s do a round up of our news from Fethiye.
A Private Boat Trip
It’s rare these days that we do a boat trip in Fethiye. No bad reason.
It’s just that when there’s only so much money to go round and there’s lots you want to do with that money – and you’ve done countless boat trips in the past – other outings take precedent.
All different this month, however.
Our friends have come over as a big group with their family so they booked a private boat trip from Fethiye for themselves and then invited us along, too.
When you’ve not seen your friends and their kds for a couple of years, what better way to spend the day than cruising around the Fethiye bays – and swimming – and drinking?
Anyway, when you haven’t done something as lovely as a private boat trip for a while, it’s always nice to remind yourself of how great they are.
No More Green Sea
And just whilst we’re on the topic of swimming in the beautiful crystal clear waters of the Fethiye bays, if you follow news from this little corner of Turkey, you’ll know there has been an algae issue in the harbour and along Çalış Beach.
Lots of suggestions from various official departments about what the cause is / who is to blame and a pledge to look into the situation further so the same doesn’t happen again.
Whatever the situation, we can report that the sea is back to its usual colour and the beach goers of Çalış are enjoying their cool down dips.
Fethiyespor Pre-Season Prep
Ahhh, how we’d love to tell you that the Fethiyespor pre-season warm up matches had gone swimmingly. Well, they haven’t.
First league game of the season is tonight at 20:00. We’re hoping that the friendly matches are not a sign of things to come.
A plethora of new signings, a new technical director. Let’s see if we can get out of League 3 at the end of the season!
At this stage of proceedings, we usually unveil our league table and fixtures list for the season ahead. A few technical glitches are delaying that for the moment but we’ll hopefully get it sorted soon.
For now, if you are planning on going to a match, here’s the official TFF league table and fixtures. There are three groups in League 3. Fethiyespor are in Group 2.
2 Bayram Holidays And An Anniversary
August was the month that hosted Kurban Bayramı (the Feast of the Sacrifice or Eid al-Adha) and also Zafer Bayramı (Victory Day).
This is all about Turkey’s victory in the War of Independence and, therefore, the journey towards the birth of the Turkish Republic.
We decided to mark Kurban Bayramı ourselves by taking ourselves off for lunch.
As lamb is one of the meats traditionally eaten at this time, a lamb lunch was definitely on our agenda.
And, if you know us, you’ll know one of our favourite places to eat lamb is Motif Restaurant along Çalış Beach. Juicy lamb şiş and a casserole of lamb chops.
Don’t mind if we do.
And this very same restaurant was also our chosen venue for our anniversary lunch a couple of weeks later. Well, always nice to round your meal off with a celebratory infused gin.
In The Kitchen
No surprises that much of our kitchen time for the month of August has been centred around experimenting with different salads.
Of course, seasonal produce from the Sunday market in Çalış has been the inspiration for this.
So, two new recipes have gone onto the blog this month. One has been added to our Turkish recipes collection whilst the other salad can be found amongst our international recipes.
Our roasted green bean salad has become a firm favourite and we’ve also had a few weeks of indulging in purslane.
We’ve always bought the occasional bunch of purslane in the past but, for whatever reason, this year, we’ve just really appreciated its flavour and texture.
Pair it with tomatoes for this tasty tomato and purslane salad.
Out And About
It’s been a busy month with friends being over to visit so, as well as our two visits to Motif in August, we’ve also frequented good old Deep Blue – our friends love it there.
And, post boat trip, the special request was put in for an evening at Cafe Park Teras. That meant 11 of us all ordering food and drinks at different times across three different bills.
Somehow, the waiters and chef managed to get all our orders out to us throughout the evening. Well done to them – we can’t have been the easiest group of customers that night.
Whilst out and about around town, it’s always nice to stop off at Kukina for some midshopping refreshments and/or food.
And, back in Çalış, Lukka Bar and Meri Bar have come up with the goods for our sport-loving friends whilst Lokum Kokoreç has given us a post night out satisfying lunch.
All of these places – and many more besides – can be found on our list of suggestions for where to eat and drink around Fethiye.
Instagram Fethiye Favourite
And that brings us to our most liked Fethiye photo on Instagram for the month of August. Wherever we are, I always snap a photo – well, okay, lots of photos.
Our afternoon at Deep Blue earlier in the month was no different.
It’s always lovely to capture sleepy afternoon scenes around Paspatur.
As the sun goes down, all of these rows of empty streets along Bar Street will be packed with holidaymakers and locals alike.
A summer afternoon at Deep Blue, though, is all about a post of people watching under the whirring fans – with an ice-cold drink.
And Finally…
As we head towards late summer/early autumn weather over the next few weeks, the slightly cooling temperatures make it possible for various events.
If you’re coming to Fethiye towards the end of the season, there’s going to be lots going on. Keep an eye on our calendar of events so you don’t miss out.
And, if you don’t follow us on Facebook, you may well be missing our little bit of weekend jigsaw fun.
Look out for our new Fethiye jigsaws (occasionally other places, too) each Saturday.