And that’s October done with. Another flier of a month, so let’s take stock and have a look back at some news from life in beautiful Fethiye.
As usual, we’ll begin with the regular topic of conversation – the Fethiye weather.
The beds and parasols were still out until yesterday, all along the beach as people enjoyed the warm rays of the sun.
It’s been an unseasonably warm and sunny month with no rain.
And whilst that’s been great for people coming over for late summer breaks – and for us, enjoying beach walks and the like – the reservoirs of the Muğla Province, of which Fethiye is a part, are in desperate need of replenishment.
Come on, November, bring us some rain, please!
On the positive side, leisurely autumnal afternoons along Çalış Beach and fewer daylight hours mean the spectacular sunsets, that Çalış Beach is so famous for, are coming in thick and fast!
Just one of the reasons we love this time of year.
And friends who are over on holiday at the moment are absolutely loving it!
October Events
If you know Turkish history, you’ll know October is the month where we celebrate one of the country’s very important National Holidays.
And it’s also the month where the Fethiye area rounds off the summer season with an annual event that just keeps getting bigger and better each year – weather permitting, of course.
Cumhuriyet Bayramı – Republic Day
29th October is Republic Day – the anniversary of the declaration of the Turkish Republic by its founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.
In Fethiye, we had low flying paramotors of the Turkish Aeronautical Association; a flotilla of around 50 flag-waving boats in the bay and along Çalış Beach; a huge flag-waving, horn-beeping vehicle convoy; an evening procession along the harbour and all of that culminated in a live concert.
Not to mention all the school displays and separate processions in surrounding villages like Kayaköy.
International Ölüdeniz Air Games
And each October, we also have the annual Ölüdeniz Air Games which, these days, also involve Fethiye centre and Çalış Beach.
We were away for much of it but did catch the paramotor display team gliding by, up and down Fethiye harbour.
This same team were supposed to be doing a sunset display involving lights along Çalış Beach.
Unfortunately – for us – that was swapped to Ölüdeniz at very short notice.
Great for those on Belcekiz Beach who got to witness it. Quite a sight.
A Day For Everything
And not particularly Fethiye related but, well, we all know there’s a national or international day for the celebration of just about anything and everything, these day.
A little indulgence on 14th October when we celebrated National Dessert Day with our list of top Turkish desserts.
In The Kitchen
The days are still warm and sunny but the air is definitely cooler and that means the kitchen is now, once more, a happy place to be.
That means we added to our collection of Turkish recipes in October.
Homemade Labneh (Turkish Labne)
No cooking involved for this fantastically easy recipe. More of a process, in fact.
For years, we’ve bought Turkish supermarket labne in plastic tubs but now, we don’t need to anymore because we make our own.
Follow our recipe to make labneh balls and they’ll make great party food, too, so we’ve also added them to our list of Christmas and New Year party recipes.
They really look the part!
Soup Season
Warm and sunny or not, October heralds the beginning of soup season.
Obviously, we have to make spicy red lentil soup.
But, autumn winter 2024-25 could well be the season of Turkish tomato soup with vermicelli – şehriyeli domates çorbası.
This recipe has been on the blog since the very early days. But, in October, we revamped it with new photos because we made it again.
And then we made it again.
So quick and easy to make, absolutely delicious – definitely back on our radar in a big way!
Out & About
Another new addition to our list of places to eat and drink around Fethiye, this month.
EY’s
Seeing as we’ve spent a good few hours over the summer months enjoying the food, drink and atmosphere, here, we decided it was high time we wrote a review of EY’s Bistro Bar along Çalış Beach.
Nefis Pide Kordon
And creatures of habit; it’s rare a month passes without us having a pide treat at Nefis Pide in town.
We did partake in that activity in October!
Fethiye Sokak Lezzetleri
And in our September news round up, we told you we’d been to sample the new(ish) Fethiye street food trucks.
If you’re a Turkish street food fan, this area is a must.
Anyway, for our first visit, the köfte truck that we wanted to visit was busy and there was nowhere to sit.
So we continued further along the row and plumped for some very tasty, not-so-Turkish bao buns.
In October, en route to the Fethiye Tuesday market, we made it to the köfte and burger van.
And we’re happy to report the ekmek arası köfte (köfte half bread) is a classic of the genre!
Yummy!
Fethiyespor
After 10 matches played, Fethiyespor are hanging on in there.
It feels like the team are at the bottom of the table, sometimes, but they’re not.
Here are the current standings and here are past results and upcoming matches.
If you’re in town on home match day and you want to go along, you can just turn up at the stadium before the match and buy a ticket there.
Kaş Weekend
One of the reasons we haven’t been out and about much around Fethiye – and the reason we missed much of the Ölüdeniz Air Games – was because we were away for the weekend in Kaş.
From now until late spring, a lot of the country’s running events take place – cooler weather and all that.
Last weekend, we took part in Kaş Yarımadaton where Barry did the 12k Run around the peninsula and I, along with another friend, did the 6k Marina Run.
A lovely little round off to the summer and a perfect excuse for a weekend away in a great town with beautiful scenery.
On the same weekend, we also had the Fethiye Half Marathon and 10k as part of Fethiye Spor Fest and the Gökova Half Marathon in Akyaka.
In an ideal world, it would be lovely to have those spread out over different dates so people don’t need to choose one over the others.
Maybe next year…
And In Other News
Short and sweet, this month.
A good BBC article about the northeast city of Kars.
As well as the eerie Ani ruins, these days, Kars is also very famous as being the end of the line for the Doğu Ekspresi train.
Well, at least in Turkey, Kars is also well known for its cheese-making.
This BBC article explains how the city is leveraging that; both for tourism and for encouraging the younger generations to stay in the city to work in the small family run cheese factories, rather than making the move to bigger cities like Istanbul for employment.
Into November
Already a few days into the month. We’re hoping for a little bit of exploration – perfect temperatures for it – and also some good, steady rainfall at some point.
Cross fingers!
Let’s see what the month brings…