Oh, October, where did you go? Clearly, it came and went very quickly because we’re already a few days into November. Let’s get cracking with some autumnal Fethiye news, then.
A full summer of running, waking up at silly o’clock to get out there before the heat of the sun takes over. And then the culmination of that training was a couple of long weekends away either side of this month.
First was a trip to Bodrum for the Bodrum Yarı Maratonu 10k races. Then, last weekend, it was off to Dalyan for the Caretta Run 14k and 21k – and a little sail over to Köyceğiz.
Friends over on holiday in the weeks in between and that’s another month ticked off the 2019 calendar!
Autumnal Life In Fethiye
Well, we say autumn. It’s only the last three or four days that the weather has given us autumnal clues. October was still very warm.
But, October is the month where events seem to come along thick and fast just because the weather is a bit cooler. Oh, and of course, we have an important national holiday in October, too.
International Ölüdeniz Air Games
For this year’s event, we didn’t make it over to Ölüdeniz itself for the fun and games but we did see some of the paramotors and other ‘flying objects’ as they made their way over to Fethiye on one of the days.
The Ölüdeniz Air Games seem to get bigger and better – and longer – every year. This year, Fethiye’s new mayor, Alim Karaca, made the public leap from the top of Babadağ as part of a tandem paraglide.
Race For Life – Yaşam İçin Yarış
No partaking in this year’s Fethiye Race For Life for us, this year, unfortunately. A change in date meant it clashed with the Dalyan Caretta Run.
However, lots of money was raised and over 200 other people did take part on the day; some of them in fancy dress. You can see pics in the Yaşam İçin Yarıs Facebook group.
Republic Day
29th October marks Republic Day in Turkey. In Fethiye, school children performed displays at the Fethiyespor stadium and in the evening, a live concert and fireworks marked the occasion.
Beşkaza Meydanı – the main town square – was the focal point for the event.
Keep an eye on our Fethiye events calendar for other upcoming goings on around the area.
Fethiyespor
It’s looking like there’s going to be a good turnout for the next Fethiyespor home match this weekend. We’ve been bad supporters over the last couple of weeks.
Being away in Dalyan meant we missed the last home match where the team had a great win.
They also had a great away win at the weekend just gone. And a healthy contingent of fans made the journey to Istanbul to go and witness said win. Excitement all round!
8th place at the moment for Fethiyespor and a game in hand.
As the weather has cooled down, now, the next home match is an afternoon game. We do prefer sunny afternoon football!
End Of The Summer Season
The end of October/beginning of November marks the end of the summer season for Fethiye and a few restaurants have already announced they’re taking a well earned rest and closing their doors for winter.
Some will go into complete hibernation whilst others will take a little break.
Cafe Park Teras, for example, is going to be open daily, except Mondays, until next March. Babzen Kebab in Çalış is taking a winter break and will reopen in the spring. The guys at Charcoal Palace will also take a break.
Fortunately for us, most of our regular haunts in Fethiye continue on, regardless of the season.
Along Çalış Beach, a sunny winter afternoon at places like Calisto is difficult to beat. And this winter, we have the addition of Motif Restaurant. They’re going to be open in the daytime (except Wednesday) serving a reduced menu.
We will be updating our Fethiye Eating & Drinking page with winter opening hours as and when we find out.
Simit Recognition
This isn’t Fethiye news but Turkey news. And it’s good news for the simit. We can’t let it go uınmentioned.
If, like us, you get tired of Turkish foods being labelled as the Turkish version of something else – ‘simit’ is often called a Turkish bagel, ‘pide’ gets the annoying title of Turkish pizza and so on and so forth – you will be pleased to learn that in October, ‘simit’ was one of the new words added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2019. Thanks, OED!
So ‘simit’ now has an official OED definition…
Simit, n: A type of ring-shaped bread roll originating in Turkey, typically coated with molasses and encrusted with sesame seeds before baking.
In The Kitchen
Cooler weather means more time to spend in the kitchen and countless salads make way for some more substantial comfort foods.
In October, we’ve indulged in a few favourites from our Turkish recipes collection.
Although the weather was still hot in October, we could wait no longer and kicked off our soup season with yummy spicy red lentil soup.
Good fuel for running, our Turkish rice has been bubbling away on the hob on more than one occasion. And a recent purchase of some huge village eggs has meant tasty treats of sucuklu yumurta and spinach and eggs.
Local avocados are now also in season so what better than a big bowl of guacamole served with hard boiled eggs and lavaş bread?
Eating & Drinking Around Fethiye
Not much to report on this front really.
We did treat ourselves to a yummy mixed döner kebab from Yengen on the edge of Paspatur at the beginning of the month but most of our eating out has been done on our trips to Bodrum and Dalyan.
We’ve got an article coming up soon about some of the foodie treats you can find should you ever venture to Bodrum.
Instagram Fethiye Photo Favourite
Which leads us on to our Instagram Fethiye photo favourite. A very October-ish morning scene along Çalış Beach was the photo that got people clicking the ‘like’ button this month.
As we’re now in November, the beds and umbrellas are all packed away for the winter and the beach is once more a stretch of uninterrupted sand and shingle.
Click here to follow our updates and Stories on Instagram.
And that just about wraps up another month in Fethiye. The next few weeks often treat us to some of our favourite Fethiye weather and a slower pace of life.
That should mean lots of time for running, walking and hiking around the area…and, of course, blogging.