It’s that time of year – we’re almost at the end of another one – where, before we go charging into 2025, we stop and take stock.
In the year that we both hit the milestone of reaching 50 years old, let’s take a look back at 2024…
As is the theme of our blog; we’ll look back at some moments from life in Fethiye, some foodie highlights and a bit of travel, too.
And, looking back at our Fethiye monthly news roundups, we’ll also have the best bits from our ‘other news,’ section.
Fethiye History
Let’s kick things off with a bit of archaeology…
Over the last three years, clean up and excavation has been ongoing around Fethiye Castle. And in August of this year, the team spotted the head of a statue dating from the 2nd Century AD.
This head wasn’t simply buried in the ground.
No. This is Fethiye! Things are done differently around here.
At some point in the castle’s history, those that were rebuilding castle walls decided to use the head of the statue as one of the building blocks!
The castle area has been out of bounds whilst teams work on it.
Wonder if 2025 will be the year where it’s opened up to us to have a look around?
Everyday Fethiye
Nothing stays still for long in Fethiye. And the town centre and surrounding areas are changing rapidly.
Obviously, there are pros and cons to any changes. But where the town centre is concerned, shoppers currently have the best of both worlds. Fethiye’s older, more traditional, locally owned establishments are still hanging on in there amongst the high street chain stores and designer boutiques.
In 2024, we wrote our guide to shopping in Fethiye.
Whether you’re souvenir shopping or looking for everyday necessities, that article should tell you what you need to know.
Fethiye Events – Some 2024 Standouts
Especially outside of high season, there’s never any shortage of events taking place around Fethiye.
And because there are so many, we can’t go to all of them.
In 2024, however, there were a few standouts.
- As you might know, Fethiye is named after the pilot, Şehit Fethi Bey. Annual commemorations to mark his passing take place in Fethi Bey Park on 27th February each year. In 2024, we were also treated to an air display from SoloTurk. It really was the stuff of goosebumps!
- And no goosebumps – but no less pleasing; the Göcek Herb Festival took place in March. Always nice to have an excuse to spend some time in Göcek.
- And more local food appreciation at the Yeşilüzümlü Dastar & Mushroom Festival in April. We’ve been to a few of these festivals over the years. The 2024 event was probably the biggest and best so far. Morel mushrooms, dastar weave, folk dancing, live music…and the added bonus of sunshine!
- Of course, each October, we have the annual Ölüdeniz Air Games.
- And then, ones for the local artisans – food and craft, alike; we always love heading down Çalış Beach for the annual Spring Fayre and Christmas Fayre.
There are so many other events in the area, whether they be annual or one-offs.
Keep your eye on our Fethiye events calendar if you want to catch one when you’re in the area.
And don’t forget, we also have our page highlighting the top festivals and national holidays in the country as a whole.
Travel
Any opportunity for a bit of exploration is always a highlight and 2024 was a great year for us.
March – Antalya
Antalya and a stay in the old town of Kaleiçi is an almost annual event for us.
The Runtalya Marathon – and my birthday – is the reason for us hopping on the Fethiye-Antalya bus through the yayla to (usually) enjoy some very early spring sunshine after a Fethiye winter.
May – UK
In May, it was something very different for us – a trip back to the UK to visit friends and family for a week.
As part of that week, we returned to our old camping haunt – a haunt that we hadn’t visited for over 20 years.
A fabulous weekend in Keswick in the Lake District with friends. Perfect!
As we flew from Dalaman, that gave us the impetus to write our guide to Dalaman Airport.
July – Marmaris
Just a day trip from Fethiye, this time, but it was great to have a good wander around Marmaris centre and also explore the castle after years of saying we really should visit!
July – Symi
Another travel ambition realised in 2024 when we finally got the opportunity to spend a few days on the beautiful Greek island of Symi.
It didn’t disappoint!
The high speed ferry from Fethiye to Rhodes, a few hours wandering around Rhodes Town before hopping on the high speed ferry over to Symi.
Just a few hours travel taking us to stunning island getaway and – it has to be said – perhaps the best pork chop we’ve ever had.
August & October – A Bit Of Kaş
We always love a bit of Kaş and both 2023 and 2024 were years where the town has featured more than once on our radar.
August was a short break for our anniversary, passing through the crazy high summer traffic around Kaputaş Beach.
October was a another short break for one of the country’s running events; Kaş Yarımadaton.
Sadly, it was announced recently that that event won’t take place anymore – but that won’t stop us visiting this, one of our favourite towns.
Out & About
We are creatures of habit, but we do also like to try new-to-us places, too.
If we like where we go, it’s then added to our list of Fethiye bars & restaurants.
And this year’s foodie highlights have been very simple.
- We loved the home cooked Turkish cuisine at Oben Restaurant along Çalış Beach.
- We loved our ekmek arası köfte (köfte in a half bread) at the Fethiye street food trucks along the canal near the Tuesday market.
- And, not a new place but a mention for the Çalış Fishermen’s Cooperative along the canal. They’ve really nailed their balık ekmek (fish in a half bread), now.
Other standouts of 2024 have been the Gaziantep beyran soup at Can Çekti, Neapolitan-style pizza at Mojo Italian Gusto, meze and mixed grill at Motif Restaurant and pide at Nefis Pide Kordon.
And we’re always grateful for homemade chips. EY’s Bar & Bistro obliged in that department, this year.
Recipes & Food Guides
As well as adding to our ever growing collection of Turkish recipes, in 2024, we’ve also created a few guides and lists.
We’ve also improved our recipe cards to make them more practical – ‘cook mode’ is one such addition so that you don’t need to keep reopening your phone screen as you prep and cook.
Food Guides & Lists
- Amazing that we’ve taken so long to do this – but in 2024, we added our guide to the famous sweet treat, baklava.
- And we love us some kokoreç, so there’s now also an article dedicated to this Turkish favourite.
- And when you’re in the country, don’t miss out on any of these other popular Turkish street foods.
- Lots of us love a comforting bowl of soup so here’s our list of Turkish soups with recipes.
- And it’s almost unheard of to have a food table without one of the famous Turkish salads being present.
New Recipes
A few new recipes added over 2024…
Don’t forget, our recipes are foods that we make and eat at home – granted, some more regularly than others – but everything you see in the pics is the food we’ve made.
- Beyran Çorbası – After loving – and being inspired by – the famous beyran soup of Gaziantep at Can Çekti near the Çalış Market area, we made our own from some leftover lamb bones and lamb that we had. A perfect soup for winter in Fethiye!
- Adana Kebab – You loved our Adana Kebab recipe; making it our most popular recipe of the new ones that we added this year. Well, let’s face it; lots of us love a good Adana Kebab, don’t we?
- Pea & Feta Salad – In April, we always get excited with all the springtime seasonal produce on the markets. This seasonal pea & feta salad really celebrates the new baby green peas.
- Tavuk Kapama – If you love a traybake, you’ll love this Turkish chicken and rice traybake. Tavuk kapama is very much a regular on our menu. Quick and easy – and tastes great!
- Elmalı Milföy Tart – In September, we were once again celebrating foods of the season. This time it was apples – and an addition to our list of Turkish desserts. These Turkish apple tarts are so easy to make and are a great sweet snack or bigger dessert. Lovely served warm with ice cream.
And then in November – cooler weather and quieter days – it was a mini recipe flurry.
- Homemade Labneh – discovery of 2024 has got to be making our own labneh. Loads of ideas for coatings to roll labneh balls in!
- Turkish Tomato Soup – rediscovery of 2024 is şehriyeli domates çorbası – Turkish tomato soup with vermicelli. This was actually one of our very early recipes on the blog – but we revamped it after making the soup in November. And we’d forgotten how simple and delicious it is. So that’s been a regular, too, of late.
- Turkish Spice Blend – and another discovery. Why had we not made one of these up, until now? This Turkish spice blend combines lots of dried herbs and spices regularly used in Turkish cooking. Just a great multi-purpose bit of pizzazz for adding to your weeknight dishes.
And then in December, amongst all the Christmas cooking and prep, we managed to sneak in a last recipe of 2024.
And it’s our favourite meze dish.
Every meze table deserves to have a serving a Turkish atom!
Our Most Popular Article Of 2024
At the end of each year, we share our most read article of that year. The rule is that the article must have been written in that year, too.
And our most popular article of 2024 – that was written in 2024 – is our guide to the Fethiye Marmaris Seabus that began service in June of this year.
Rumours abound as to whether or not the seabus will run in the summer 2025 season. It’ll be a shame if the seabus idea was short lived because, clearly, the interest is there.
Let’s see…
In Other News (The Best Bits)
We’ve been back through the archives to look at our random news from around the country in 2024 and picked three standouts.
- Back in January, we shared the story of Mardin chef, Ebru Baybara Demir. She uses food as a tool for change to empower women and help refugees whilst also running her restaurant. This was a lovely New Year story to read in The Guardian.
- In March, each year, much of the country waits in anticipation in the hope that Yaren the stork will return to visit Adem amca – a fisherman the stork has visited for the past 13 years. Phew! Yaren once again returned. Great feel-good pics in this article.
- And finally, in November, the BBC released its list of the world’s most influential women for 2024. This year, our province of Muğla featured as local farmer and Village Head, Nejla Işık, was named in the list for heading the fight to protect the Akbelen Forest from mining. You can see the list here.
And that’s a wrap for 2024! All that’s left to say is thanks a lot for all your support – reading, comments, recipe ratings, social media interaction. It’s VERY much appreciated. And see you on the other side in 2025!
Wishing you all a very Happy New Year! Yıl Başınız Kutlu Olsun!