Dare we say, ‘Happy New Year’? Or are most of you in deepest, darkest winter mode and just wishing the summer would hurry up and come along?
For us, here in Fethiye, it’s been unsettled weather throughout January.
But we have had some fabulous sunny warm-for-the-time-of-year days that have seen ourselves and hundreds of other Fethiye locals enjoying the bars and restaurants along Çalış Beach.
And, unsettled weather usually means cloudy skies – which often means stunning sunsets.
The famous Çalış Beach sunset has certainly been on form in this, the first month of 2025.
Season Prep
When you live in an area that also happens to be have world fame for its sights and sites, the winter months obviously see a lot of prep for the upcoming summer season.
And, just from our daily wanders, it’s obvious that summer 2025 prep is already underway for some.
The Fethiye Belediyesi garden maintenance teams have been hard at work chopping all the eucalyptus trees in the area.
Whilst this all looks a bit drastic – these are the trees along Çalış Beach between Mutlu Hotel and the Yörük tents – it’s a necessary job.
And it’s amazing how quickly they grow back.
They’ll soon be providing some welcome summer shade again.
Along Çalış Beach, a handful of the hotels are having a facelift and room refurbs.
And on the opposite side of Fethiye in the Ölüdeniz – Hisarönü – Kayaköy area, the Fethiye Belediyesi Facebook page tells us we have more investment from Muğla Büyükşehir Belediyesi (the central municipality for the whole Muğla Province).
Work is going on at pace to be (hopefully) finished for the season – a 328 million Turkish Lira investment to:
- lay 11 kilometres of tarmac roads
- renew 2.2 kilometres of drinking water lines
- build 1.6 kilometres of rainwater line
- lay 6.5 kilometres of steel guard rails along the roads
A Fethiye Fest On The Blog
As the new year gets underway, that’s when we get to work, making sure some of our resources on the blog are brought up to date for the months ahead.
So, it’s been a busy month.
What To See & Do
First of all, we brought our article about the top things to see and do in Fethiye up to date.
That page has had a revamp and now – rightly – covers the Fethiye boundaries, only.
Boat Trips
If you love to be out on the water when you’re here in the warmer months, we’ve also written a new article about the different types of Fethiye boat trips on offer.
It really isn’t a case of one-size-fits-all when it comes to bobbing about around the islands and bays of the Fethiye area.
And Day Trips
And as if all of that wasn’t enough, if you like to explore further afield, using Fethiye as a base, we’ve now also created a resource of some of the best day trips from Fethiye.
These places are all an easy drive away up to a journey time of 90 minutes – give or take a few minutes.
Most are also easily visited by dolmuş if you don’t want to drive.
And Eating
Along Yerguzlar Caddesi, not far from Çalış Beach, are lots of eateries.
And one of them serves up one of our favourite Turkish street foods – kokoreç.
That place is Lokum Kokoreç.
Now, a couple of doors along, owner Sabri Yavuz has opened Lokum Döner.
We love great quality döner kebab. And this place is serving exactly that!
We’ve added the information to our original article in the link above.
Another updated article is our Çalış Seafood Products Cooperative article.
Since we wrote that when it first opened, they’ve made ongoing improvements to both the look of the place and what they have on offer.
Photos have been brought up to date, as has the info.
We still go there often for our balık ekmek (fish sandwich) fix. It’s our current favourite place for this famous food!
Countrywide On The Blog
Turkish Festivals & Events
Elsewhere on the blog, we’ve updated our page about Turkish festivals and holidays.
2025 dates for the holy month of Ramazan, Ramazan Bayramı and Kurban Bayramı are all on the page.
As are the national holidays and any dates that we know of for the bigger famous festivals.
We’ll update that as and when other dates are announced…
Running Events
A bit different in the Turkish running events calendar this year with Ramazan falling in the month of March.
Because it’s cooler at that time, that’s the month when many events are held.
All March events for this year have been moved to April – including Runtalya.
As usual, some 2025 events are taking place in a completely different month to usual.
So there’s been a bit of shifting around on the calendar.
We’ve also lost some events – very sad when it was recently announced that the Kaş Yarımadaton will no longer take place.
We loved that event last year!
But we’ve also added some new (to the calendar) events, too.
Again, we’ll update as more dates are announced…
In The Kitchen
Lots of hearty winter meals, this month. As you might expect.
We’ve just polished off a big pan of yummy Turkish green lentil soup – one of our favourite Turkish soups at the moment.
And Turkish lamb and chickpea stew has also been on the menu.
But, we’ve also been making the most of the local seasonal produce, too, of course.
It’s cabbage season, so we’ve added a new, famous cabbage recipe to our bank of Turkish recipes.
Cabbage rolls are an absolute classic – and are absolutely delicious!
Leftover cabbage – because Turkish cabbages are rather on the large side – can be used to make another cabbagey favourite; kapuska.
And does a month ever go by without us making tavuk kapama – our Turkish chicken and rice traybake?
Izmir Köfte is always a great comfort dish, too.
Barry is making this dish as I type!
And in January, whilst we were eating in a new local place (which we’ll be doing an article about very soon) we had a great dish.
So great, that we’ve since made it at home.
It was easy to make and tasted amazing – Barry thought it was a great as it was – but I think I just need to make a couple of little tweaks before the recipe goes on the blog…
Fethiyespor
The second half of the season has kicked off again after the New Year break.
And Fethiyespor have just drawn their home game against Iskenderun 0-0.
Here’s how the league standings are looking.
And, if you’re in the area any time before the season ends, these are your remaining fixtures.
In Other News
Some news from Istanbul to begin proceedings…
Hagia Sophia
This was actually announced in December but it very much deserves a mention.
The historic dome of the magnificent Hagia Sophia is set to be dismantled for much needed repair and restoration.
A temporary roof structure is going to be placed over the dome so that work can continue in poor weather conditions.
You can read more, here.
Topkapı Palace
If you visit Topkapı Palace when you go to Istanbul, there are now guards in 18th Century Ottoman era costume to bring a bit of historic life to the museum.
My initial reaction to this news was a cynical inward groan.
But from what we understand, they are working Jandarma in historic costume and are there to showcase military traditions of the time.
Ceremonial changing of the guard and stately processions will be taking place.
Ephesus
Amazing ancient Ephesus has made the news three times in the new year!
Archaeologists are always discovering new finds around the site.
And, now, a new route to walk around the ruins has been created so that visitors can view these newly excavated areas.
The second story is that the numbers are in and Ephesus received a record number of visitors in 2024. A massive 2.7 million people.
The site can now absorb more visitors with its new special lighting that makes night time visits possible.
And thirdly, a nice article in the Guardian in January by historian, author and broadcaster, Professor Bettany Hughes, describing why the Great Temple of Artemis at Ephesus is her favourite ancient wonder of the world.
And that’s January all wrapped up for us. Onwards with February!