Welcome to another roundup of the monthly news from life in Fethiye – and a few extras.
A bit late because it’s my birthday on the last day of February. So we’re just back from a weekend break in the always beautiful town of Kaş.
As usual, whenever we’ve been anywhere, we’ll have a new Kaş-based article coming up soon from this trip. Our first trip of 2026.
The Weather
The Fethiye weather often gets a mention in our news updates. But the month of February really needs a mention where the weather is concerned.
So many people – especially the farmers in the tomato growing areas like Seydikemer – are still reeling from the constant rain and subsequent floods. Reels and other videos filled our social media feeds.
Rivers like the Eşen Çayı, that flows right through the growing areas around Kınık and Kumluova where the ancient ruins of Letoon and Xanthos are, bursting their banks. Muddy torrents and high winds destroying countless greenhouses and polytunnels – and the crops growing inside.
It wasn’t just this area, either. All along the south coast and up the west coast – there’s a lot of fixing to be done.
But that is what this country is always so good at. It never ceases to amaze us how quickly people rally and get things back in order.
Local mayors and governors have been quick to visit farmers and promise help. And tourist areas are cleaning up, repairing damage and prepping for the summer season ahead.
In Şehit Fethi Bey Park in Fethiye, the sea came over the harbour path and right over into the park, depositing debris of various descriptions.
The day after, the municipality ground staff were out clearing up. By evening, apart from glass that needed replacing on the bridges, you wouldn’t have known there had been such a storm the night before.
The Silver Lining
The silver lining to all of this damage and storms is that the almost-constant rain of the last few weeks has replenished many of the dams in the area.
Some that were almost empty are now full. And one even had to start controlled release of water so that it didn’t overfill.
February Days
When the stars align – or the moon in this case. A rare occurrence that we had Chinese New Year, the beginning of Lent and Ramadan all around the same time – within three days of each other.
For us, personally, that meant we could nod to Pancake Day (Shrove Tuesday) with a gözleme.
And, of course, we’re loving one of the famous breads of Turkish Ramazan – the Ramazan Pidesi.
First Fethiye Hamsi Festival
If you’re someone who keeps an eye on our Fethiye Events Calendar, you might be thinking you don’t remember seeing anything mentioned about the first ever Fethiye Hamsi Festival.
Well, you’ll be thinking right. It seemed to be announced from nowhere. Advertising boards mysteriously popped up. And a couple of days layer, we had a hamsi festival on our hands.
On the final day of the festival, free hamsi tava from the Black Sea was given away. You can imagine the queue!
We went along on the first two days of the festival – and took a few photos – which also featured food stalls selling regional specialities and goods from around the country.
So we bought some kavurma from Rize in the Black Sea area. And the smell of all that fried hamsi, cooking away, whetted our appetites. But we wanted to cook our own at home so we headed over to Fethiye fish market to buy some.
On The Blog
February was a really busy month on the blog.
Running
It’s an ongoing task but as the month went along, some new running events around our general area were announced.
So they have now been added to our list of road and trail runs around Turkey.
Dalyan and Demre feature. And it looks like at least one of the Demre routes will go through the ancient ruins of Myra.
In The Kitchen
We had to make good use of the Rize kavurma that we’d bought at the hamsi festival. So it was a perfect excuse for an indulgent brunch.
Kavurmalı yumurta is a real satisfier! Our recipe gives you some substitutes if you can’t get your hands on kavurma.
In a month of contrasts, we’ve also had winter warmers like Turkish green lentil soup and lamb and chickpea stew.
And then, in contrast, lighter, more spring-like dishes.
Our Mediterranean stuffed peppers reminded us that warmer weather is just around the corner.
Updates
And then, because we were going to Kaş, it was time to check in on our guide the the Greek island of Meis, just across the water.
What ensued was a rather large and time-consuming – but therapeutic and enjoyable – update of things to do on Meis.
We’re also almost finished with updates/complete rewrites of two other articles which, as it is now March, we’ll add to the news round up at the end of this month.
February was definitely a month of multitasking around words and photos!
Out & About
The February weather meant there wasn’t a lot of ‘out and about’ taking place. A lot of staying at home – hence a lot of blog productivity!
But there was a couple of beautiful sunny days that also happened to fall over a weekend.
When everyone has been cooped up indoors, hiding from the storms, it was so lovely to see blue skies and crowds along Çalış Beach. It felt like the whole town had come out to play!
There wasn’t a seat to be had in bars like Calisto and EY’s. The promenade was filled with promenaders and people basked under the warm sunshine on the beach.
And on a not-so-warm day, on the way to the Sunday market, we stopped off at Can Çekti for the ultimate winter warmer – beyran soup. That is a soup that never disappoints!
Progress…
And speaking of Çalış Sunday Market and doing updates, we’re inching ever closer to the time when we will be updating our guide to our regular fruit and veg shopping haunt.
Progress is very slow – not surprising with the weather we had throughout February – but on our shopping trip on the last Sunday of the month, we had uprights!
If you read our news roundups regularly, you’ll know that we’ve been waiting for a roof over this particular market for some time. That roof now looks to be imminent!
In Other News
Hoşgeldin Yaren Leylek
And this is the best news!
Over the years, Yaren the Stork has been returning to the same nesting area near Bursa in the northwest. But not just the nesting area. He also visits Adem Amca – a local fisherman; landing on his boat.
Every year, the nation awaits the return of Yaren Leylek. Isn’t it just the good news we all need in times like this?
Yaren now has a mate, Nazlı, and she returned mid-February. Early.
So then, all eyes were on news of Yaren. And we got the news on 27th February that he had returned!
This is also early. We usually get the news mid-March.
Wildlife photographer, Alper Tuydes, is the man on hand to capture images around the time the storks are due to arrive.
This is the 15th year in a row that Yaren has returned and visited Adem Amca on his boat.
Into March
We’re obviously already into March and we’ve hit the ground running, playing catch up.
As you know, whilst we were in Kaş, Israel and the US went to war with Iran.
With regards to Turkish tourist resorts and areas, social media groups are now awash with questions about whether or not it’s safe to travel or book holidays. And they are followed by an untold amount of different answers and opinions.
All we can say is, all is as it usually is in Fethiye. And prep for the summer season is ongoing.
Should anything change, we’ll say it here. If nothing is said, well, daily life continues as usual and spring is springing!
Let’s see what the rest of March brings…