We know it’s already March – and this is our Fethiye monthly news update for February – but we do have a good excuse.
Runtalya
As is the general norm, we head to Antalya for the first weekend in March.
It’s for one of the biggest Turkish running events in the calendar; the Runtalya Marathon.
This year followed that general norm.
And, because of the how the days fell this year, the 2024 event was right at the beginning of March.
My birthday is the end of February – and so everything blended together perfectly – but, of course, daily routine fell by the wayside for a few short days.
For the run itself, we were blessed with warmth and sunshine. As we were on the other days.
All back to normal now though, so normal service shall resume.
We got our usual Fethiye to Antalya bus and stayed in Kaleiçi again. So we will be updating our Antalya articles soon.
Archaeologists have been busy!
Stormy Weather
And what could be more normal than talking about the local weather?
Fethiye gave us quite a bit of it throughout February.
I couldn’t decide which February photo to use for the weather section in this write up.
It was a choice between the harbour photo above…
..or a photo of a rather large hailstone, next to a coin – just for context.
That one appeared on our Facebook page though, so we went with the flooded promenade along a stretch of Şehit Fethi Bey Park.
Back in Antalya, they had suffered the worst of the storms. There was lots of flooding both in the city centre and around the province.
Stormy seas meant a big swell – and wet feet for anyone who wanted to walk along the promenade on that day.
Fethi Bey Commemorations
And while we’re on the subject of the park, February in Fethiye sees commemorations for Şehit Fethi Bey.
Pilot, Fethi Bey, lost his life on 27th February, 110 years ago.
Our local park, Şehit Fethi Bey Parkı, is named after him. And his statue stands in the meydan of the park.
Each year, commemorations are held at the statue.
And, this year, it was announced that SoloTurk would also be performing an air display.
And perform he did!
Picnic tables, chairs, blankets were laid on the grass along the harbour on a sunny day.
And the crowds lined the seafront to witness the solo F-16 jet with its expert pilot cut across, zigzag and swoop over the bay of Fethiye.
A completely different experience to watching Türk Yıldızları do their thing at the Ölüdeniz Air Games.
The pilot left us all in awe as he skimmed over the bay, barely higher than the surrounding rooftops.
A silent fleeting passing, immediately followed by the almighty roar of the engine noise.
The stuff of goosebumps.
Out & About
Well, as mentioned, February is birthday month for me. So that means the month of the steak!
And our favourite place to go for a steak is Çarıklı Et Restaurant along Fethiye harbour.
Meal presentation is different every time we go. But we always love the steaks.
On this visit, we were given puffy bread (balon lavaş) with butter and olives before our meze arrived.
We just had to have the yeşil tabak – mung bean salad with avocado and broccoli – which was our favourite dish on our last visit.
We also had a serving of fiery atom (natural yoghurt with feisty dried chillies) and a mini lahmacun each.
And another starter, too. But we ARE going to update our very old Çarıklı article so we’ll mention that dish there.
Creatures Of Habit
A bowl of beyran soup and a pide has also been devoured at Can Çekti before a recent outing to the Çalış Sunday Market.
If you think you remember this in last month’s news roundup, you remember rightly.
But we’ve been again since.
It’s our current preferred lunch treat stop on Sundays if we don’t eat at home.
In The Kitchen On The Blog
Obviously, we cook all sorts in the kitchen.
But, for relevance purposes, we’ll stick to the Turkish recipes we cook – and those that are on the blog.
Fırında Mücver
In February, we made our fırında mücver.
Usually, this is made with courgettes but we had a lot of cauliflower stems in the fridge.
Rather than let them go to waste, I grated them and used them instead of the courgettes.
It works!
Kebab Time
And we also decided it was time to add to our kebab collection on the blog.
Rather than leave chicken şiş kebab feeling lonely as the only meat-on-a-skewer recipe on the blog, we made a favourite of many; juicy Adana Kebab!
Naturally, we had to go with the full kebab experience and serve it with flatbread, charred green pepper and bulgur pilavı.
Also On The Blog
We were busy in February!
Çorbalar
February was the month where we had National Homemade Soup Day.
If you know this country, you will know how much Turkish people love their çorba!
That prompted us to give you our comprehensive guide to Turkish soups, including the soup recipes we have on the blog.
Salatalar
And there was no International Salad Day or anything like that in February.
But this year’s warmer temperatures are making us feel a bit salad-like.
So, we also created our list of famous and favourite Turkish salads.
Shopping In Town
Supporting local isn’t difficult in Fethiye because many businesses are locally-owned.
If you love shopping when you’re on holiday or travelling, this is our guide to shopping in Fethiye centre.
What to buy and where to buy it.
And you can tick off a few of our things not to miss in Fethiye in the process.
And…
We’ve continued to update our page of running events around Turkey as more dates are confirmed.
Registration is open for many of the races where dates are already confirmed.
Fethiyespor
Bottom half of the table for Fethiyespor, even after a 2-1 win in their latest match this afternoon.
We’ve been terrible non-supporters this year. We must make time to go to the next home match…
In Other News
Our random bits of news that jump out as the month goes on.
Here’s what jumped out in February…
Top O’ The World
Not surprising for Istanbul Airport because it’s also a major transit hub.
But we were surprised by this BBC article that said Istanbul and Antalya were two of the top four most visited cities in the world in 2023.
The data was based on airport arrivals.
Obviously, the whole Antalya Province is a hugely popular tourism area.
But it just boggled our mind that the local airport of Antalya is in the top four in the world for people passing through.
A New Mascot
Istanbul cats are much loved amongst many in the city.
And Hagia Sophia always had a famous cat, Gli, that the millions of visitors photographed and petted.
Gli sadly passed away in 2020.
In February HDN reported that a new cat mascot has made its presence felt in the visitors’ gallery.
No doubt, if the cat is lapping up the attention and sticking around for more, it will have a name by now.
A New Fee
Sticking with the Hagia Sophia theme; this entrance fee was actually introduced in January.
But we were waiting until an Istanbul friend visited to see what’s what.
If you do want to visit Hagia Sophia, there is now a 25 Euro entrance fee and a separate visitors’ entrance.
Tour By Train
Many of you are no doubt familiar with the phenomenal success of the Doğu Express tourist train that travels across the country from Ankara to Kars.
Such is the success, new routes have now also been announced so that unsung areas of the country can be explored.
One route will go from the Ankara area and head towards the Western Black Sea, taking in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Safranbolu.
Ankara to Diyarbakır will also be on offer.
As will Ankara to the town of Tatvan on the shores of Van Gölü (Lake Van).
Into March
We’re already a week into the new month but we’re sure we’ll have lots to tell you by the time the rest of the month has ticked by!
As well as new articles on the blog, you can also see what we’re up to via our Facebook page and our Instagram – especially Instagram Stories where I usually add random as-and-when pics and vids of what we’re up to at that moment.