Turkey's For Life...

Spring Just Sprung In Eastern Turkey - And We're Loving It!

2013-05-20T22:28:00.000+03:00

At the moment, we're on the final leg of a bit of a trek around Turkey. If you remember when we wrote about our Turkey travel plans (so far) for 2013, we said we would go north from Fethiye by bus up to Eskişehir, across to Ankara by high speed train and then we would take the overnight Van Gölü Express train from Ankara to Lake Van in the east of Turkey.

A few train issues later, we persevered and finally got a train to take us east to visit our friend who is currently teaching in the town of Patnos, just north of Lake Van (we've got blog posts coming up on all of this in the future). Patnos, like many other places in central Eastern Turkey has a harsh winter and it's still cold - but the weather is on the turn. We've only been here a few days and the scenery has already changed dramatically.

View through the windscreen - note the crack

This is our friend's first year of teaching in the east and she said that when she arrived for the start of term last September, all you could see was scorched brown hills, after the dry summer. Scorched brown hills became white as the snow started to fall over winter. And now we're here in springtime and the white - still topping the higher hills and mountains - is turning green. And it's getting noticeably greener by the day - really special to watch. It's the first time she's witnessed the greenery, too.

But what's more special is the red you can see in the photo. This is a sure sign spring has arrived to the eastern side of Turkey. We've just completed a mini road trip of the area - and on early Saturday evening we drove into the town of Iğdır to stay the night for a rest. Today, on the way back to Patnos, we again drove along the same road, out of Iğdır, and from half a mile or so away, we could see a carpet of red that wasn't there a couple of days before.

Poppies flooding the plateaus of Eastern Turkey

We decided it might be poppies (I was really hoping it would be poppies) so we decided to make a quick stop when we reached the area. For years, we've looked at photos of the region around Lake Van and read about the masses of spring flowers, and to be honest, we hadn't seen too many until we were driving back today. This must be the time of year they appear and it's as though they've sprung to life over night.

Springtime

It was poppies! Happy days. We were travelling in convoy with friends in another car so we all pulled over to get out and go over to take photos. It's impossible to describe the vast open areas, the immense space, the mountains, plateaus, rivers and streams around Eastern Turkey - we'll let our hundreds of photos do that for us over the coming weeks - and this mass of poppies was a real sight.

Do you know what type of caterpillar this is?

And if you read this blog a lot, you'll be aware that our knowledge of flora and fauna is sadly lacking and, apart from finding out the names of a couple of the wildflowers around Kayaköy, doesn't stretch much past the wonder that is the poppy. So again, we're not sure what these yellow wildflowers are, but these too have burst onto the scene in abundance, lining the roadsides and occasionally partitioning the crowds of red.

We set about photographing these too, getting up close and personal - and then one of our group pointed out the caterpillars that were all over them. Unlike the processionary caterpillar, a quick search online hasn't given us any information about this little being, so we have no idea if it's dangerous. A quick couple of photos was enough for us before we left them to get on with life...and if they all become butterflies around the same time, imagine what a sight that would be.

As usual, if you know anything about either the yellow wildflowers or the caterpillars that so enjoy them, we'd love to hear from you. Thanks.

Getting Around Turkey - Fethiye To Eskişehir By Intercity Bus

2013-05-17T20:23:00.000+03:00

As you'll know if you read this blog a lot, we love to get around Turkey by intercity bus and, where possible, by train. Many of our friends prefer to make use of Turkey's budget airlines, particularly as these are increasing their flight network all the time, flying to more and more of Turkey's smaller city airports...but flying just seems like such a hassle to us. It's one of those perpetual discussions we'll always have to have with Turkish friends but we're more than happy to stick with our story.

From Fethiye otogar, it's possible to get to many of Turkey's larger towns and cities on a direct bus - but our recent trip to Eskişehir was slightly different because we needed to change. Lots more to come about Eskişehir in future posts but first, let's look at the journey there.

Fethiye to Eskişehir - The Bus Journey
Unlike the bus to Izmir, we travel at night. If you remember, when we posted about our 2013 travelling Turkey plans, we guessed the route the bus might take, and aside from being told there is no direct bus, we weren't far wrong.

The Istanbul bus takes you to Eskişehir

Whenever we can, we book with the Pamukkale bus company. This is personal preference, and again, if you're ever travelling in Turkey, ask any Turkish person which is the best company to use and you'll get recommendations for just about every company that operates from Fethiye otogar...complete with strong arguments for why one company is better than the other. All part of the fun.

The bus we need for Eskişehir is our usual 9 pm bus to Istanbul. We know the route well, but this time tactics need to be a bit different. We need to try to get some sleep as soon as possible because our change of bus means waiting around for an hour in Turkey's famous porcelain-producing city of Kütahya.

We're more comfortable than usual. Pamukkale are always introducing new services to try to entice travellers away from the flight option. They were one of the first, if not the the first, companies to introduce personal TV screens and internet connections by way of their 'technobus,' and, for this journey, we're happy to be placed on the new 'Pamukyol' bus. This bus has two seats down one side and one on the other...therefore much wider seats and much more legroom.

Afyon service area

The usual fitful sleep follows and we don't bother to get off the bus for a leg stretch in Afyon because we know we'll be in Kütahya an hour later at around 3:30 am. Typical then that we both fall sound asleep here and have to be woken up at Kütahya by the bus steward. We need to wait here now, groggy and sleepy, till 4:45 am for our connecting bus so we take it in turns to wander around - there are a few shops open, selling porcelain, as you might expect. One shop sells nothing only bleach and chocolate. An interesting mix that takes up a few minutes of time as we each study the window display to try to work out exactly what the thinking is behind this.

Groups of young lads are milling around trying, like we are, to kill time. They've all got short or shaved hair and each group looks to be an unlikely bunch of friends. We're half asleep so it takes a while for the penny to drop. This is a military area and youngsters doing their military service are waiting around for buses back home.

Eskişehir is very quiet first thing in the morning

At 5am, our bus sweeps into the station. Its final destination is Bursa but, fortunately for us, the bus steward is again more aware than we are and gently wakes us up in Eskişehir at 6:30am. Early morning in an unfamiliar city - but Eskişehir looks immediately accessible; it doesn't sprawl into the distance and, at this time, the roads are quiet.

We wander aimlessly out of the otogar and eye the tram waiting at the stop. Then we glance at the taxis. Then we consider walking (we know our hotel is only a mile or so away) and just at that point, I spot the Pamukkale service bus. We tell the driver we want to go to the centre. Where in the centre? How would we know?

So it's at 6:45am on a Friday morning with a chill in the air that we find ourselves sitting on the marble doorstep of a shop, looking at our map on the tablet. We work out where we are, where we need to be...and then we head off to the nearby börekçi to go and join the local road cleaners for a breakfast of pide and çay. It leads to the first of a good few of Barry's Eskişehir heartburn experiences.

Fethiye To Eskişehir By Bus - Useful Information:

Most buses to Istanbul (your bus for the first leg of your trip to Eskişehir) leave Fethiye otogar around 9pm.
Depending on which bus company you use, you will change bus at either Afyon or Kütahya.
Don't worry about falling asleep and missing your stop. The bus stewards know where everyone is going and will wake you up when it's time for you to get off.
We can't speak for other companies but Pamukkale offer a free shuttle service into the city centre once you are in Eskişehir. If you have a map, show the driver where you are staying and they'll drop you off in the nearest place and point you in the right direction.
Before you go, use our blog to compare prices on different travel websites for hotels in Eskişehir.

Fethiye World Music Festival - Our Playlist

2013-05-12T09:44:00.000+03:00

If you follow our blog regularly and like our Facebook page, you'll know that we loved the recent Fethiye Culture and Arts Festival. We enjoyed a low key afternoon in Kayaköy, listening to the musicians- and a major part of the festival was the consecutive nights of World Music which took place in Beşkazı Meydanı on Fethiye harbour. We went along to the final evening...

If this festival can take place every year, Fethiye is going to become firmly placed on Turkey's cultural events map because the whole event was just fantastic. During that final night, we were torn between just sitting back and enjoying the show or taking photos and videos. Photos and videos won the day - not surprisingly - and we now have a Facebook album of each act that performed on the night.

While I was taking photos, Barry was busy filming each act and, over the last few days, has put together a dedicated playlist on YouTube for anyone to watch. The first video is a couple of minutes long and is a fun montage of the night - and then each video after that is a full length track performed by each act.

(If you are reading this in your email or in a reader, you might need to click through to the Fethiye World Music blogpost to view the video or you can watch it on YouTube.)

Thanks to events like the one in Fethiye and the following social media updates, performers like this can get more recognition. There are already many videos on YouTube from the Fethiye World Music Festival that are being shared around the various social media outlets and we'll be, and have been, happily passing them along. This playlist is our contribution to that and, if you couldn't be there on any of the nights, hopefully you can get a feel for the atmosphere of the final show.

If you enjoy any or all of the videos, please give them a share so others can enjoy them, too. Thanks for watching - and thanks again to all the organisers of the Fethiye Kültür ve Sanat Günleri. We're already looking forward to next year!

Fethiye Events - Once More To Kayaköy For World Music And Exhibitions

2013-05-07T16:55:00.002+03:00

Where arts and culture are concerned it's been a busy fortnight in the Fethiye area, and events are set to continue through this week too. A couple of weeks ago, it was the Kayaköy Cultural Connections Festival. And, on Saturday afternoon and into the evening, it was the turn of Kaya Village photography exhibitions, art and live music performances, organised by Kaya Art Camp and friends. After our Kayaköy photo post last week, we decided to head up there again to see what was going on.

We loved this fun piece of art

We're glad we did. Fethiye's Beşkaza Meydanı (the new town square) has been the scene for fantastic, nightly world music performances. One or two of those musicians took time out to head to the upper church and Poseidon in Kayaköy to do some more low key performances, fitting of the atmosphere that's special to Kayaköy.

Singing inside the upper church

Apologies to these ladies because we don't know where they were from but they sang acapella inside the upper church while people milled around outside, looking at the photo and art exhibitions.

Bulgarian folk singers

There was an easy, relaxed feel to the afternoon. No one was in any rush to perform. No one looked as though they were working to a timetable - we don't know if there was any fixed timetable. These children from Bulgaria performed two songs before a group performed some English folk songs.

Upper church performance

This lady had the most beautiful folk singing voice, and the acoustics in the church courtyard were just perfect for her sound. The fiddler on the left has been very much a feature of the Fethiye Culture and Art Festival and he was a feature of the day in Kayaköy, too.

Folk music in the upper church at Kayaköy

He treated us to a solo performance while the other musicians accompanied him.

Food, drink and dancing at Poseidon
And then we started to make our way back down the hill and to Poseidon. There, the guys from Cafe Park Teras were preparing complimentary glasses of punch (of the alcoholic and non-alcoholic varieties) and complimentary canapes were brought round for everyone. These had a distinctly Turkish twist to them of course: sigara böreği and mercimek köftesi served with cocktail sticks.

The smallest saz we have ever seen

The youngsters from Bulgaria entertained us all while we ate - and then this guy had everyone up dancing - you wouldn't believe the sound this little saz can make!

Performing at Poseidon

And then it was back to our friend the fiddler again. This time he was singer, too, and accompanied by guitar.

The day at Kayaköy continued into the evening, but we took the opportunity of an early lift home from a friend. Why? Because the Fethiye Culture and Arts Festival is running through to May 11th. Lots more opportunity to take part in this great event.

Below is a short video of the performance by the folk musicians singing in English. We hope you enjoy the lady's singing as much as we did. (If you are reading in email and the video doesn't appear, then view the full blogpost here.)

Events for the Fethiye Culture & Arts Festival (Fethiye Kültür ve Sanat Günleri) run through to May 11th. Most events are taking place at Beşkaza Meydanı and the Fethiye Culture Centre (the big blue building on the edge of the square).

Eating On The Cheap In Fethiye? Get Yourself A Tost!

2013-05-05T22:05:00.001+03:00

When friends and family come to Fethiye on holiday, routine goes through the window. Last week, Turkish Food Focus wasn't very focused at all, in that it didn't even happen. Let's put that right this week by concentrating on another of the Turkish street food staples; tost.

Wherever you go in Turkey, you're going to see signs dotted around the area advertising tost. It's a classic Turkish snack, it's cheap, simple and, you'd think, the same just about everywhere you go. True, the fillings don't vary much. Expect cheese, sucuk and sometimes tomato. Expect a pressed half bread with any variations of those fillings.

But some tost is better than others and, fortunately for us, Fethiye has its very own tost institution. These guys are the ustas of tost: İksirci Tezcan.

İksirci Tezcan, Fethiye

For as long as we can remember, these purveyors of fine tost have been trading under the shade of the trees on the corner of Fethiye harbour, serving workers, school children, passers by and tourists. And for as long as we can remember, apart from a recent face lift to bring it in line with the other buildings around Uğur Mumcu Park, nothing much has changed. You come here to eat one thing only: tost!

Colourful seating

The chairs and tables had a fun paint job during the face lift process but they've always been the same, too. Tall people might struggle a bit as the chairs are tiny - but that doesn't seem to bother the folks that flock here day in, day out. We've never seen this place empty and you'll struggle for a table around lunchtime. As you can see from these photos, our eating times have been a bit unconventional of late and we managed to get to İksirci Tezcan at a rare quiet spell.

Karışık tost at İksirci Tezcan

The menu board, along with prices, is nailed to the surrounding walls, but you won't need to peruse it for long. You can either have a yarım tost (half bread which you can see in the above photo) or a çeyrek tost (that's the tost in the photo, cut in half - çeyrek means quarter). We always go for a karışık yarım tost which is cheese and sucuk. It's delivered to you within a matter of minutes along with a bowl of turşu (pickled chillies and gherkins).

And what about a thirst quencher? There's water, the usual fizzy drinks, ayran or this...

Mixed fruit juice at İksirci Tezcan

How about this for a perfect thirst quencher on a hot, sunny day in Fethiye? Freshly squeezed mixed fruit juice. There's definitely orange and pomegranate in there - but there are also lots of other fruit baskets on the counter. Which of these fruits go into this concoction, we're not entirely sure, but it's perfectly refreshing after you've finished your tost.

And the next great thing about İksirci Tezcan...if you're in Turkey on a budget, this is the place for you. 3 TL gets you a yarım tost. And this mixed fruit juice is the most expensive drink on the menu - that's 3 TL, too. 6 TL (around £2.20) to sit on Fethiye harbour, fill yourself up and quench your thirst with a vitamin boost has got to be a bargain for anyone.

İksirci Tezcan is on Fethiye harbour at the side of the Fethiye Culture Centre (the big blue building). You can view it here on our map of Fethiye.

Never A Dull Moment In Fethiye - An Intriguing New Addition For The Harbour

2013-05-03T10:57:00.001+03:00

A couple of weeks back, something started to happen along the harbour in Fethiye. Those of you who know about Phase 2 of the harbour will know that one section of it has never been used. Stylish though the building is, it's split into smaller kiosk-type areas with floor to ceiling windows, and we just couldn't think what type of business anyone could do there.

Well, this is Fethiye. We should have known better than to expect no one to take this area on, and a couple of weeks back, there was movement! Someone was doing something. The pool area that borders the floor space had been emptied and cleaned and there was construction going on...things were being built on the huge paved area that juts out into the sea and it was annoying us because we couldn't work out what these things were going to be.

Each day we walked past and by and by, the 'constructions' started to take shape - two square platforms of some description - and other objects started to arrive. We still had no idea what was going on, though. And then, the last time we walked past, we loitered a bit, taking photos (as we're prone to do) and a face appeared; a familiar face that speaks English. And all became clear...

This is Fantastik Fethiye
It's an interesting one, this one. And no, it's not another restaurant for the kordon. Well, there is going to be a cafe, but just for snacks and drinks. This is what can only be described as an outdoor amusement centre. There's an area where you can steer remote control boats on the sea. And there's this...

Ten Pin bowling on Fethiye harbour

They're not full-length lanes but Fethiye harbour now has its very own outdoor ten pin bowling alley. You can see why we were struggling to work out what was going on here. It's not every day a bowling alley pops up on your local harbour! And there's also this...

Ice skating on Fethiye harbour

Are you ready for this one? Not only did we not know outdoor ten pin bowling existed, we certainly didn't expect an outdoor ice skating rink to pop up right next to it. Yes, you read that right. Just as we have dry ski slopes in the UK, in the height of the Fethiye summer you will be able to go dry ice skating on the harbour.

Behind all of this, in one of the kiosks, is the little cafeteria and there are also a few table games set out. As you can see in the photos, the area wasn't quite finished when we walked past last time - but it wasn't far off.

There are all sorts of weird and wonderful business ventures that we see and hear about in Fethiye and we stopped being surprised by most of them a long time ago...but this one got us. We're looking forward to the next few months to see how this one works out.

Fantastik Fethiye officially opens at 12 o'clock on 4th May.

Two Kaş Beaches - Little Pebble Beach And Big Pebble Beach

2013-04-30T11:08:00.000+03:00

Although Kaş sits right on the edge of Turkey's southern coastline, it's not a town associated with beaches. When we think of Kaş it's usually the bougainvillea-covered narrow streets of the old town that spring to mind and also, for us, the harbour where the boat to the Greek island of Meis leaves from. Like the centre of Fethiye, Kaş is a harbour town, not a beach resort...but that doesn't mean you can't plunge into the Mediterranean for a quick dip.

Around three weeks back, we took a little drive around the Kaş and Kalkan area, stopping en route to get first-time photos of the fantastically beautiful scene that is Kaputaş Beach. As usual, it was a bit of a photo taking mission we were on and, after spending half an hour or so climbing up and down the ancient Antiphellos theatre and wandering around the old town, we set off to find the beach.

Little Pebble Beach - Küçük Çakıl Plajı
Küçük Çakıl Plajı is just along the harbour road about ten minutes walk from the harbour and in the hot summer months is packed with Turkish kids doing all manner of dives and jumps from the surrounding rocks and platforms. Look out for a painted wooden sign that points you downhill towards the beach as it's not immediately visible from the road.

Little Pebble Beach

It was the beginning of April when we were there, but southern Turkey's balmy spring of 2013 has brought the sunbathers and swimmers out earlier than usual. And okay, calling this place a beach might be stretching it a little. Little Pebble Beach is more of a rocky cove - but we are in a town centre and the sea here is pristinely clear.

We've been to Little Pebble Beach Beach a few times over the years but, although we knew Big Pebble Beach existed, we'd never been and weren't even sure where it was. Well on this day, we were in the car so we set off, further eastwards along the coast road. We saw a signpost for it after a couple of minutes drive and were lead uphill along a winding road before dropping back down to sea level.

Big Pebble Beach - Büyük Çakıl Plajı

And why had we never been to this place before? We're definitely coming back here someday!

Big Pebble Beach

No doubt the atmosphere changes a little in the high season as the beach will be more crowded - but on this day, there was a completely chilled feel to the whole bay. Kaş has always been well known for its bohemian vibe and it looks like this is the place where the young fashionistas of the bohemian look come to spend their lazy days, relaxing on the pebbles with a beer and a picnic.

Again, the sea is so clear and inviting here and a small row of four or so wooden snack bars complete the look. It's perfect. Very much reminded us of Kuleli Koyu in Fethiye.

Chilling out on Büyük Çakıl Plajı

And not everyone was enjoying company and sitting around on the beach. Some prefer to relax on a Saturday afternoon in solitude, just like this guy, enjoying a spot of fishing. Wonder if he caught anything...

This area is a whole new side to Kaş for us and as we left the beach, we noticed a Lycian Way marker pointing further along the road. We were on a roll now so we jumped in the car and set off to see what treats lay ahead. And treats there were. We'll tell you about that in another post, though...

Wandering The Ruins Of Kayaköy - Recording A Village In Photos

2013-04-26T13:48:00.000+03:00

A few weeks ago, we took advantage of the fact that the Müzekart had been made available to foreign residents in Turkey by shelling out 50 TL for a Müzekart+. And recently, we actually made use of it, showing it to the lady in the ticket booth amongst the ruins of Kayaköy. This year, entrance to Kayaköy costs a very reasonable 5 TL, so it might only be a small dent we've made in our Müzekart+ fee - 5 TL down, 45 TL to go - but it's there, all the same.

This year, it was announced that Kayaköy has been earmarked for tourist and local development by the government and we've heard and read various accounts of what this proposed development is going to entail. Well, just as we've been photographing the changes and restoration of Fethiye's ancient Telmessos Theatre, we've decided to capture as many images of Kayaköy as we can...so it looks as though our Müzekarts are going to come in very useful!

Strolling the narrow pathways of Kayaköy

Because we really don't know how Kayaköy is going to change, we want to record as much as we can in photographs, as it is now. When a friend was out recently, we went for a good wander around the ruins - he'd never been before so it was a good excuse to take our time and walk along pathways we haven't ventured along in many years and begin the photo taking process - not that I ever need much of an excuse to take too many photos.

The interior of the lower church

Over recent times, the ruins of Kayaköy have become more of a thoroughfare for us as we make the short climb up the hillside before dropping down more gradually to the lagoon on the Kayaköy to Ölü Deniz walk. We're usually with friends who also know the ruins well, so we trudge along the same path, past the same ruins and via the higher church. It was good to be able to spend a few solitary moments in the lower church on this visit.

Entrance porch to the lower church

The last photos we have of this building are from 1998 and we're not even sure where they are, anymore. From what we can remember, not a lot has changed. The remaining paintwork on the interior of the building makes it one of the more colourful constructions in Kayaköy and it's still easy to imagine a Greek Orthodox congregation in here, taking part in the church service.

New waymarkers amongst the ruins

While strolling through the ruins, it's not difficult to come across the waymarkers for the path that takes you over to Ölü Deniz, and this newly erected one also points the walker off in the direction of Ovacık, just above Hisarönü. We've never walked this route but it's been added to our mental list as a result of this.

Wildflowers in Kayaköy

Inevitably, we ended up on the footpath towards Ölü Deniz because our friend wanted to see inside the higher church which is along the route. Barry and our friend walked off with purpose but I hung back to get more photos of places previously unnoticed, places we've walked past countless times. There's a certain melancholic serenity about spring wildflowers growing amongst the ruins. You can visit this post for more photos of spring flowers in Kayaköy. It's our favourite time of year to visit the village.

There are quite a few buildings still with their chimney breasts intact

And this chimney, still intact. Quite imposing, in fact. How many times have we walked past this, heads down, concentrating on the route ahead without stopping to take time and reflect on the past.

Typical pathways of Kayaköy

When we first visited Kayaköy in 1998, it was with virgin eyes and we soaked all in. As the years have progressed, while we've grown to love this area and visited many times, we know we've lapsed into accepting our surroundings for what they are. This visit, a couple of weeks ago, has marked the beginning of looking at and photographing Kayaköy with brand new eyes, once again.

We'll be there again at the weekend, hopefully, for the Kayaköy Cultural Connections Festival - more photos are, of course, inevitable.

Fethiye Events: Kayaköy Cultural Connections 2013

2013-04-24T20:19:00.000+03:00

In our previous post, we said we were going to have a bit of a running theme on Kayaköy for this week. We started off by writing about one of our loves of life in Fethiye; kendin pişir, kendin ye. These are restaurants where you indulge in an array of meze before barbecuing your own meats. There are a few of these places in Kayaköy and our favourite one is Cin Bal.

So let's get to the next post in the mini series:

Kayaköy Cultural Connections - 27th April to 3rd May
If you read this blog a lot, you'll probably know we have a Fethiye events calendar - well, it also has a few of the major Turkey events on there, too, but we're mainly concentrating on the goings on in and around Fethiye. And it's already turning out to be quite a busy calendar; it's amazing how much there is going on once you sit down to make a note of it all.

Spring wildflowers carpet the ground in Kayaköy

One of those events is Kayaköy Cultural Connections which will run from 27th April to 3rd May; a great event for Kayaköy and for the area as a whole, and an event we hope to get to at least on one of the days, but we'll see...that time of year has sprung itself upon us where our visiting friends and family seem to be constantly spilling through the Arrivals doors of Dalaman Airport. We learned many years previously not to bother making plans when this happens. Spontaneity is the order of the day.

But what would we be able to see and do if we were to head over to Kayaköy for the Cultural Connections Festival?

Çağan Irmak: Well, let's be selfish and tell you first of all about the event that interested us most: On the first evening of the festival, film writer and director Çağan Irmak will be at Günay's Garden. You can watch his film, Dedemin İnsanları (My Grandfather's People), with English subtitles and speak to him afterwards. We watched a wonderful film of his, Babam ve Oğlum (My Father and My Son) last year and we're now big Çağan Irmak fans. Unfortunately, this is one of the events we'll definitely miss.

Louis de Bernieres: Not to worry. There's all sorts going on throughout the few days of the festival. Well, how can there be a festival in Kayaköy without Birds Without Wings author Louis de Bernieres? He's another favourite for us, and another one we'll have to miss - but we did catch him at Fethiye's Telmessos Theatre a couple of years back so we can live with that one. Louis de Bernieres is doing a guided walk through the ruins of Kayaköy, apparently, so that's going to be interesting.

Kayaköy

There are going to be lots of other talks by well known authors and historians, culinary events, dance and music performances and presentations going on throughout the festival, daytime and evening. Some of these will be at Günay's Garden and some at Kaya village school. According to the timetable, there's also a local food and craft fair at Kaya village square on the Sunday. This might have to be added to the essentials list for us, just to see what foods we can buy - you can never have too much nar ekşisi. Let's hope we can get some there. Let's hope we can get to some of the festival.

Kayaköy Cultural Connections - Useful Info:

The Kayaköy Cultural Connections Festival 2013 will run from 27th April to 3rd May
Some events are free to attend while others require a ticket and a fee of 20TL
For details of how to get tickets and what's on when, you can visit the website: culturalconnectionsfestival.com

Turkish Food Focus: It's Always Barbecue Season In Kayaköy

2013-04-21T12:08:00.000+03:00

This week on the blog, in the run up to the Cultural Connections celebrations between 27th April and 3rd May (post coming up), we're going to do a bit of a focus on that beautiful valley just south of Fethiye; Kayaköy. We've written about Kayaköy on numerous occasions but we hadn't been around the lower church or other sections of the ruins for many years.

Last week, buying our Müzekart changed all that and over the next few weeks, we're on a bit of a mission to get as many photos as possible, from as many viewpoints as possible, of the village as it stands right now. But let's put the village and the ruins to one side for now and get back to our favourite weekend topic: Turkish Food Focus.

The Cin Bal Experience

Traditional köşk - 2013 style

Again, as with Kayaköy, we've written about Cin Bal in the past. The Cin Bal winter experience surprised a lot of people - well, barbecuing indoors is not a winter activity that immediately springs to mind, is it? It works, though. We've also written about that favourite of Cin Bal foods, kuzu tandır, and we couldn't resist getting another photo of it for this post.

Cin Bal is constantly evolving with new additions appearing each year. This year, the traditional köşk seating areas have been brought right into the 21st century with plastic window surrounds to protect from the cooler breezes of the out of season weather. It's not just any old plastic either. Press the switch on the edge of the köşk and the plastic will slowly roll up or down, stopping wherever you want it to. (Yes, we did have a little play with it.)

Favourite Turkish Food? Meze!

Last week was our friend's first visit to Kayaköy so we couldn't let him leave without lunching at Cin Bal. It's an essential when we're being makeshift tour guides. And, fortunately for us, he had no idea of what to order and left it all to us. Free rein to go mad with the meze fridges!

We ordered thick süzme yoghurt studded with charred, dried chillies and smothered in chilli-infused olive oil.
Super-spicy, pickled chilli and aubergine salad. A favourite of ours that always comes with a look of concern from the waiter that we may not be able to deal with it. It's more tangy than spicy and if you're a fan of turşu (pickled vegetables) we can highly recommend this.
Mixed salad - well you can't eat all this lovely meze without a crisp salad dressed in freshly squeezed lemon and olive oil.
Roasted red peppers - just so sweet and ever so slightly crunchy. Perfect when they're homemade like this, not so perfect when they're slopped out of a jar (you'll spot the difference if you look closely at the meze fridges of restaurants).

And that wasn't all. Our friend was pointing at other meze. "What's this one? Right we'll have some of that, too. And this?" It's tradition - every time we go to Cin Bal, we order far too much food for our numbers. This was our meze table:

Cin Bal meze table

As well as the meze above, we ordered Russian salad, lightly-spiced pickled beetroot, haydari (garlic, minty süzme yoghurt that's a perfect accompaniment to our lamb that's about to be delivered), and sigara böreği. Of course, all of this came with a basket of bread, too. Once the meze dishes are delivered, your lamb tandır (if you've ordered it) will be delivered to your table. It's sold by weight and we ordered half a kilo.

500g of juicy lamb tandır

By now, forks and arms are crisscrossing across the table as we all stretch for tandır, accompaniments, bread, chilli flakes, kekik, cumin - your plate is filled with a mishmash of foods that probably don't go well together on normal occasions - but this is Cin Bal. Dive right in there while the waiter delivers the raw meats you've ordered along with onion, peppers and tomatoes. About this time, your pre-lit barbecue appears, too.

Kuzu pirzola

It's best to establish who in your party is cooking before you start your food so they can be sat in a good place to watch the barbecue. If you don't want to cook, sit at the back of the köşk in the middle and pretend you can't get out. Anyway, barbecues are traditionally boy things, so, apart from the odd occasion, I get away with not cooking.

We've ordered six kuzu pirzola (lamb chops) and for some reason, eight arrive. No one bothers to mention this. Barry sets about cooking them and rest-assured, none go to waste. You can imagine how full we are by now, but, because we were hungry right at the beginning, we also ordered köfte.

Wish we were hungry for this

We've ordered six of these - two each - so it's relatively painless to work our way through them slowly, between sighs and..."Oh, go on, I'll just add a bit of yoghurt and aubergine to it." We feel a bit sorry for the Cin Bal köfte because we're always full to the brim when it comes to eating it (it needs to go on the barbecue last after the coals have cooled a little), and we perhaps don't need to order it...but we do always order it.

Last week was our first visit of 2013 to Cin Bal and we're looking forward to many more visits as the year goes on!

Cin Bal - Useful Info:

Cin Bal is just off the Hisarönü-Kayaköy road. You can see it on our map, here.
There is no menu. Choose where you're sitting and then go inside to choose your meze and order your meat.
Kuzu tandır is sold by the kilo. 500g is enough for four people if you are ordering other foods.
Weekends, especially Sundays, will be packed with Turkish families and kuzu tandır sometimes runs out. Get there early, if you do go at the weekend.
Cin Bal is a 'kendin pişir, kendin ye' (cook it yourself, eat it yourself) restaurant. There are a few of these places in Kayaköy, all good and all an eating experience.

Travel Photo - Just Kaş

2013-04-18T10:36:00.000+03:00

Have we ever met anyone who has walked through the streets of Kaş and not found them to be completely enchanting? Probably not. While the higher rise apartments climbing further and further up the surrounding hillsides might be a bit of a challenge to the visual senses for some, the town's old alleyways around the harbour more than make up for that.

Classic Kaş

After visiting the Antiphellos Theatre last week, we strolled around these streets, taking photos. Strangely, despite numerous previous visits here, our Kaş photo archives are low in numbers. I think when we've spent time here in the past, it must have been pre-digital camera days. Post-digital camera days have been flying visits to Kaş to go to the Greek island of Meis so we've never really had chance to wander aimlessly.

The photo above is the classic Kaş scene. Anyone who's been here will probably have a similar photo in their repertoire - well, why wouldn't the photographer be stopped in their tracks here? We're in classic photo fodder territory here. To the left of the shot is the ancient Lycian sarcophagus, the King's Tomb which the local carpet shop opposite uses as a prop to display their wares. Again, this attracts many a camera-wielding tourist as the scene seems to pop up in any guidebook about Turkey.

We've got more posts on Kaş coming up over the next few weeks - on this trip, we made sure the camera was kept very busy!

Resident In Turkey? Have You Got Your Müzekart Or Müzekart+?

2013-04-16T12:51:00.001+03:00

A year and a half ago, after changing visa rules, the Turkish Foreign Ministry reduced residency fees for British nationals who were either living in, or spending significant portions of time coming backwards and forwards to Turkey. We took advantage of this and applied for Turkish residency and, we're happy to report, all is well. We own a little blue book which means we don't need to leave Turkish borders every three months, and the money we save by not having to do that means we can travel to other places such as Italy and our upcoming trip across Turkey.

Aside from that, daily life has pretty much remained the same. In fact, things are a bit more chilled because we don't need to keep half an eye on the calendar to make sure we don't overstay our welcome here. For us, personally, there were no more real benefits - and then the Müzekart (museum card) was made available to residents as well as citizens. Brilliant!

Entrance to sites such as Letoon is free

We love to explore different archaeological sites and visit museums in Turkey but, when you're travelling on a budget, these type of activities soon start to relieve you of a lot of your cash; entrance fees can be anything from free up to 25 TL per person. Becoming eligible for the Müzekart has solved a big travel problem for us - and so we took ourselves off to Kayaköy last week to make our purchase.

Müzekart & Müzekart +
What we didn't know is that there are two types of Müzekart; Müzekart and Müzekart+. As you might expect, the Müzekart+ is more expensive than its standard counterpart. That threw us a bit and we had to make a quick decision at the payment booth. The guy we dealt with had really good English and explained the difference between the two for us...and we plumped for Müzekart+. Here's why:

Müzekart:

The standard Müzekart (we were under the impression this was the only Müzekart) costs 30 TL and is valid for one year, from the date of purchase.
Entrance to all state owned museums and archaeological sites is free and there are discounts for entrance to some privately owned museums.
But entrance is limited. With a standard Müzekart, you can only visit the same place twice in your 12 month period. After that, you need to pay the full entrance fee.

Müzekart+:

The Müzekart+ costs 50 TL and is valid for one year from the date of purchase.
With the Müzekart+, entrance to sites and museums is unlimited - you can come and go to each site as many times as you please. Perfect for us, and the reason we opted for the 50 TL card.
The Müzekart+ also gives discounted entrance to many private museums, including free one-time entry to some, discounts in some museum shops and discounted tickets to state theatre, opera and ballet performances.

Accident insurance:

As we were passed our new Müzekarts, we were also given a Zurich Sigorta leaflet. "This is your accident insurance," said the guy. We thought this would be for if we had an accident actually inside one of the museum sites - but apparently, it is general accident insurance. We are yet to look into exactly what we're covered for (we need to get it translated) but as we'll be carrying our cards with us all the time, it's good to know we've got that extra bit of cover when travelling around Turkey...and hopefully, it is never needed!

NB: The accident insurance is included in the fee of the card. We're not sure if it's also available with the standard Müzekart or if it's just for Muzekart+ holders. Check when you go to make your purchase.

People in Fethiye can buy their card from Kayaköy

The Müzekart is perfect for people like us who love to go to different museums and sites. We will soon make our money back and, in the end, save. For example, if you're travelling to Istanbul, the 2013 entrance fee to Aya Sofya alone is 25 TL. There are too many other places to mention for Istanbul but you'll easily make a saving if you're hitting the museums there.

Around Fethiye, entrance to sites is generally cheap (Kayaköy, Letoon and Xanthos, for example, are all 5 TL per person) but this year, for various reasons, we'll be wandering around Kayaköy on numerous occasions. We'll probably make our money back locally before we've even travelled anywhere else in Turkey!

Getting Your Müzekart - Useful Info:

To get your Müzekart, you need to show your residency booklet and ID number. Your ID number is not your residency (ikamet) number. It's the number beginning with 99. If you took up SGK, you will have this already. If not, you can get it here. It only takes a minute to do.
In Fethiye, the only place you can pick up a Müzekart is from the entrance booth to the ruins of Kayaköy.
Along with your Müzekart, you will be given the relevant booklet which tells you the places, by region, where free and discounted entrance is available. It's a long list! Some places are listed on the official website but there are more listed in the book, too.

Exploring Kaş: Views From Ancient Antiphellos Theatre

2013-04-14T12:07:00.000+03:00

Over past years, because of going backwards and forwards to the Greek island of Meis (Kastellorizo) to renew our visas, poor old Kaş had become no more of a stop off point for us. It was a few years since we'd spent any significant time there - and so, last week, when we had a car for the day, we decided to hit the road and head that way.

After a quick stop to take some photos of Kaputaş Beach we continued towards Kaş with a few more photo opportunities in mind. During our many trips to Meis we'd noticed that while sailing across to the island, you could see an ancient theatre just to the west of Kaş centre. If it could be seen from the sea, it must have impressive views - Antiphellos Theatre was first on our list of little explorations for the day.

Kaş Antiphellos Theatre
As ancient theatres go in Turkey, Antiphellos is not going to take your breath away and make you go 'Wow!' We suspected that fact from what we had seen in the distance from the sea, but we were here for the views.

Antiphellos Theatre, Kaş

It's an easy 5-10 minute walk (and signposted), to the theatre along a quiet coastal road that leads westward, away from the town centre. And, set amongst olive trees and the rocky hillsides typical of Lycian Turkey, it makes for a pleasant half hour or so of your time - one of those places where you wish you'd taken a picnic with you. As usual in the springtime, bar a teenage lad texting his girlfriend from under the shade of a tree (she arrived a few minutes later), we were the only people there.

Restored seating amongst the ancient stone

According to the information board at the entrance, it's thought Antiphellos was constructed in the first quarter of the 1st Century BCE from local limestone. In recent years, parts of the theatre have been restored using the same stone and it has been used for public events.

It's a tough one for ancient sites such as this. The newness of the restoration does jump out at you. The stone is bright, clean and smooth, the lines a bit too neat. But what is the restorer to do? In years to come, this new stone will age and start to blend with it's ancient counterparts. Maybe we're being a bit too selfish in 2013 to expect it all to look so perfect for us if we want these theatres to be in use today and still be enjoyed by others, hundreds of years in the future.

The Greek island of Meis - looking across to another world

And we didn't not enjoy climbing to the top of the theatre to take in the scenery. Meis is clearly visible. Strange to think that the lump of land in the sea opposite is another country; that as we looked across to it, the same staff were probably serving customers from the same bars and tavernas along the harbour.

A view of Kaş from the top row of Antiphellos Theatre

And back to Turkey. From the very top row of Antiphellos, looking eastwards, there are views of the bays and islets around Kaş and, of course, the town itself with the harbour wall jutting out, providing shelter and calmer waters for the boats and gülets moored up there.

In the low lying hills beyond, you can make out a road that zigzags and climbs upwards, away from the sea. We were intrigued by this road, we had a bit of time to play with, so we decided to explore this, too. That's for another post, though...

Kaş & Antiphellos Theatre - Useful Info:

Antiphellos Theatre is a 5-10 minute walk from the centre of Kaş. It's signposted from the junction just before you reach the seafront.

Entrance is free.

If you visit Antiphellos in summer, protect yourself from the sun in the usual ways because, as with most ancient theatres, there's little shade.

Journey time from Fethiye to Kaş is just under two hours.

There are different companies running day trips across to the Greek island of Meis. We always go across on the Meis Express.

Fethiye's Clock Tower & The Tale Of Beşkaza

2013-04-11T11:22:00.000+03:00

There's always something to learn, living in Turkey. How long have we lived in Fethiye? How long had we been coming to Fethiye on holiday before that? Well, Fethiye has been part of our life since 1998 - 15 years - and yet, it was only a couple of weeks ago that we heard the phrase, 'Beşkaza.' And since then, we're hearing it and seeing it everywhere.

Why is this? Pure coincidence that now we know the phrase, we just recognise it? Or is Beşkaza making a comeback? If you're reading this and wondering what on earth we're going on about, allow us to explain:

How Beşkaza Introduced Itself To Us
Recently, we've been in contact with some passionate Fethiyespor fans who are behind the blog Fethiyespor1933. If you remember, they want more foreigners to go to the matches and they managed to convince us to go to watch the Fethiyespor 80th anniversary game. During the passing back and forth of messages, one of them said, jokingly, "Now you are Beşkazalı." We both looked at each other. "What's Beşkazalı?" We let it go and the conversation continued.

Fethiye Town Square - Beşkaza Meydanı

And then the day of the match came. We were following the Fethiyespor Facebook page updates and noticed that there was going to be a gathering in the morning at Beşkaza Meydanı (meydan is town or village square). Where's Beşkaza Meydanı? - we thought. We don't know our town as well as we thought we did.

Well, it appears the new Fethiye town square that we've written so much about is called Beşkaza Meydanı. Is this official or does everyone just call it that? Whatever the case, there's certainly more official acknowledgment of that, and we'll show you why:

What time is it?

When it was being built, the main talk about the new town square was that Fethiye was about to get its very own clock tower and, true enough, the clock tower did indeed appear. Here it is in the photo above. Not on the ornate scale of Ottoman versions like Izmir Saat Kulesi but we are in the 21st century and its design matches the rest of Uğur Mumcu Park, where the clock is situated. When they walk past the tower, the folks of Fethiye now know what time it is in Moscow, Berlin and London...

Fethiye clock tower - the early days

...and they also knew what time it was in Istanbul. As we're always walking around taking photos of Fethiye, this didn't go unnoticed by us. It seemed a shame that this side of the clock tower didn't say Fethiye on it. After all, it was our new Fethiye landmark. You know we love our trips to Istanbul, Istanbul is our favourite city...but this is Fethiye. This is where we live.

And maybe other people thought the same thing we did. And maybe those people pointed this out to the powers-that-be and the powers-that-be listened. Like we said, not much goes unnoticed by us, and recently, we noticed the 'Istanbul' has now quietly disappeared to be replaced by...

Beşkaza, not Istanbul - and not Fethiye, either

Yes, Istanbul has made way for, not Fethiye but Beşkaza. You can understand why we started to become interested in this word - it had now popped up three times in one week - and we needed to find out its meaning. As far as we were concerned, beş means five and kaza means accident. 'Five accidents' didn't really make any sense to us!

We asked friends and we looked on the internet. Not much help available on the internet so we set about asking as many of our other friends as we could. They all laughed and told us the same tale:

A Little Story About Beşkaza

The seat of the Ottomans was in Istanbul and the empire was vast. As such, each area needed a judge to keep law and order...except this little corner of the Ottoman Empire wasn't quite so easy. "They were a hot people," said one friend. "They were a fightly people," said another.

In this case, kaza means not accident but borough or township. Let's say the inhabitants of these five neighbourhoods (Central Fethiye, Üzümlü, Kemer, Esen and Seki) in today's Southwest Turkey were a bit unruly, a tad on the feisty side. They were hard work for the authorities...and they needed not one, but five judges (kadı) to keep law and order.

So next time you walk past the 21st century Fethiye clock tower (or should that be Beşkaza Saat Kulesi) and you see this word, you'll know what it means and you'll know it's a piece of history from centuries previous. We like this little story.

(This story is picked up from friends around Fethiye and bits may have been lost in translation - but you get the gist. We'd love to know more about the history of Beşkaza so if you're familiar with it, please let us know in the comments below. Thanks.)

The Treats Of Turkey's D400 - Looking Down On Kaputaş Beach

2013-04-09T13:32:00.001+03:00

Regular readers will know we have a bit of an obsession with the D400 road that runs along the length of the southern coast of Turkey (we have a post coming up soon dedicated to this lengthy stretch of tarmac) and anyone who has driven along it will know why. Mountains, Mediterranean, twists and turns, small villages and towns, Roman and Lycian archaeological sites galore...and fabulous bays.

Kaputaş Plajı (Kaputaş Beach)
As the driver passes above Kalkan and continues along the D400 towards Kaş, all powers of concentration need to be in operation to negotiate the road's sharp bends - and this is not easy when sheer cliff faces rise to your left and plummet to your right where the Mediterranean stretches away towards the horizon. It's a dramatic scene that forces you to stop the car (where possible) and take all in.

Kaputaş Beach from the D400

And the perfect, possible stopping point between Kalkan and Kaş is Kaputaş Beach. As the high road twists tightly around the cliff face on the right of this shot, the driver sees a deep gorge and passes over a bridge. A quick glance to the right (remember, you need to watch the road, too) reveals a breathtaking, stereotypical, idyllic Mediterranean scene down below (note the size of the people below for a bit of perspective).

This scene is Kaputaş and, certainly online, it's starting to rival photos of Ölü Deniz as the 'Turkey-beach-shot.' And why wouldn't it? Azure waters, golden sands and the surprise factor. If you're concentrating on the road the only clue to what lies below is a simple brown sign that reads 'Kaputaş' and a small parking bay to the right, complete with security box. In summer, cars arrive early to grab one of the few parking spots before the passengers begin the trek down the many steps to the beach below.

Looking southeast over Kaputaş Beach from the D400

We've only ventured down these steps on one occasion. It was a few years ago on a sunny January day and we were the only people there. Bliss. And the fact that it was January made the hike back up the steps to the car slightly easier! These days, we prefer to admire from above and, as you can see in the photo, this year's mild spring has meant early April is beach weather. There was someone coming out of the sea just as we arrived.

Commemorative plaque for Karayolları employees

This beautiful Kaputaş section of the D400, (and therefore access to the beach by road) has not come without cost. Attached to the cliff faces either side of the gorge is a plaque commemorating four road workers who were tragically killed when detonating dynamite to blast away the cliff face to build the road. (We'd like to say thanks to a reader who told us about these plaques as we'd never noticed them, previously.)

And between these commemorative plaques is another board, this time providing information about the nature of the local area, labelled as the Five Wonders of Antalya Conservation Project.

Conservation project for the Antalya Region

This conservation project aims to prevent the extinction of endangered plants that grow only in the Antalya region of Turkey. Amazingly, there are 250 such plants and 44 of them are described as 'critically endangered.' Seeds from these plants are being collected and stored in Turkey's Seed Gene Bank and local people are being trained in how to recognise each species and how to best protect them.

Our first thought was, well why is this board just stuck on the edge of a main road, easily missed by drivers and visitors to the beach. On reading the information, however, all became apparent. One of the endangered plant species is the Kaputaş Inula (the yellow flowering plant second to bottom) that grows only on Kaputaş Beach and around the immediate area.

According to the board, they bloom from June to August in rocky areas and are endangered purely because the range of their area of dispersion is so narrow. Keep an eye out for the Kaputaş Inula if you do visit this area, and here's hoping the conservation project is successful in its aims.

Kaputaş Beach - Useful Information:

Kaputaş Beach is below the D400 road around 2 miles east of Kalkan, heading towards Kaş. (View the location on our map)

Sunbeds and umbrellas are laid out in summer season but parking is limited to a few cars.

This really is just a beach - and a conservation area. No toilets, no refreshments. Go prepared.

The Fethiye-Antalya (sahilden) bus passes the beach after stopping in Kalkan. Tell the driver where you're going and he'll drop you off at the entrance. And of course, make sure you check the bus times to get back!

If you're driving from Fethiye, as we did, the journey time is approximately 60 minutes, allowing for getting stuck behind the odd tractor and lorry en route.

If you fancy staying near to Kaputaş Beach then try our "best-price checker" for Kaş Hotels or Kalkan Hotels.

International Fethiye - A Sushi Night At Shaka Restaurant

2013-04-08T13:16:00.000+03:00

Over the winter season a few of the different restaurants of Fethiye have been doing special nights - something away from the norm that might entice the customers to venture out of the house on a night they'd usually prefer to stay at home.

Cafe Pazar did a tapas night and a Hungarian night. Sundial did a cheese and wine afternoon, a perfect idea for cheese lovers craving the speciality cheeses of various European countries (imported cheeses are expensive in Turkey). And Shaka Restaurant, along Fethiye harbour, did a tapas night - and, if we remember rightly, they've now done three sushi nights.

Going out to organised events is just not our thing, but we thought we'd show willing this winter and try something a bit different. The only event we hadn't been to was one of the Shaka offerings. When we saw the poster advertising their third sushi night, we decided it must have been popular in the past, we knew we were about to start getting busy for summer with friends and family coming out to visit, and so we decided to go along as part of our 'farewell to chilled out winter season and hello to hectic, happy summer season.'

We like it when spicy means spicy

We're far from sushi experts, having only had the odd bits here and there when we've lived in Manchester in the UK, but we were looking forward to it - this is definitely something different for Fethiye's culinary offerings.

We were greeted with a welcome cocktail (which we neglected to ask about - it was good) and then soup and bread was brought to our table. According to the poster, this is spicy tom yum soup. Spicy was a good description - and you know us, we love spicy! A perfect start.

Unsettled weather brings a dramatic Fethiye sunset

While we waited for the sushi board to be brought out, the sun started to set. The restaurants lining Fethiye harbour are blessed with fabulous scenery and sunsets, and Shaka's huge sliding glass windows make the most of those views. Would the sushi board manage to take our eyes away from the scene before us?

Anyone for sushi?

Well, food has that effect on us - so yes, we were intrigued. What you see in the photo is a serving of sushi for one person! We were going to take our time over this one. On the board was:

3 rolls centred with crab and cucumber

3 rolls centred with salmon

3 rolls centred with tuna

2 tiger prawns in a light tempura batter

2 tiger prawns with rice and pickled ginger

A serving of thinly sliced salmon

A serving of amberjack

Now, with all of this came three sauces. A soy sauce dip, sweet chilli sauce...and wasabi paste. There was only a tiny amount of this wasabi and we soon worked out why. Wow! Put a miniscule amount onto your knife, spread onto the rice, pop it into your mouth and bam! Our meal centred around challenging each other to try a little bit more each time. And each time we tried, a rush straight up to the eyes and through the sinuses causing our eyes to water. All over in a split second and good fun.

According to this article on wasabi, it's related to cabbage as well as mustard and horseradish and is also known as Japanese Horseradish. We're not sure where the cabbage part comes in, but super-jungle-strength-horseradish would definitely be an apt description for this paste!

Shaka fruit salad

After a welcome gap between courses, a dessert of fresh fruit salad was served. We don't usually have dessert but this was part of the menu for the evening and it was light and refreshing after our sushi board.

We are big advocates of Turkish food and Turkish restaurants but we also think it's really good for the Fethiye restaurant scene that some restaurants are experimenting with quality international dishes, too. Due to an early Easter, the summer season has sneaked in quietly, but the main domestic and foreign tourist crowds are yet to descend on the area. We're looking forward to seeing how all these places fare as the season kicks in, properly.

The Shaka Sushi Night was 39 TL per person for the three courses and the 'welcome drink.'
Shaka features on our Fethiye Eating & Drinking page.
If you want to keep up with events going on in and around Fethiye, including a daily weather report, keep an eye on our Fethiye & Turkey Events calendar. We're updating it all the time, as soon as we find out about any upcoming events.

Seasonal Food In Turkey - It's Fethiye Strawberry Time!

2013-04-05T14:52:00.000+03:00

For this week's Turkish Food Focus, we're going seasonal. This is the time of year for the sour foods where erik (unripe plums) start to make an appearance and çağla (unripe almonds) abound on the stalls of the markets around Fethiye. Mild winter weather must suit almond trees because this year's çağla harvest looks particularly bountiful.

'tis the season of the çilek

And now is also the season of the strawberry. We've never written about strawberries on the blog in the past because there was nothing much to say about them, really. If there is one fruit Britain does well - the best in the world? - it's the strawberry. Whenever we saw strawberries on the markets here, the sweet aroma was there, they looked the part...and then when we got them home, compared to the British strawberry, they were tasteless. Fethiye's markets had much more exciting offerings than the strawberry for us.

Enter The Fethiye Strawberry! Over the last few years, all that has changed because we have now been blessed with the Fethiye strawberry and the çilek (strawberry) is now very much on our seasonal shopping list. We're not sure if there's more than one, but one of the little strawberry farms is on a piece of land in the suburbs of Fethiye and, each year, when it's time to harvest the strawberries, their stall, complete with huge banner, appears on Fethiye market. The trays are laden with huge, juicy strawberries and they go fast. We managed to buy one of the last trays on Tuesday morning. At 4 TL per tray, they're more expensive than other strawberries on the market, but they're worth it.

A Recipe For Çilek Ekmeği (Strawberry Sandwiches)
After eating rather too many of our Fethiye çilekleri as we walked back from the market, we had to decide what to do with the rest of them when we got home...

Sliced strawberries

And then Barry remembered a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recipe that had always interested us, that we'd never tried, and that Hugh defies anyone not to like. Hmmm, that's confidence. Time to try Hugh's Summer Strawberry Sandwiches, then. As we're using Fethiye strawberries and we're in Turkey, let's call them Çilek Ekmeği.

Choose your biggest, softest, juiciest, sweetest, reddest strawberries and slice them lengthways, about half a centimetre thick.

Now take a thin slice of freshly baked bread (soft-centred but crusty around the edge) and butter with real, unsalted butter.

Places your strawberries on the bread without them overlapping.

Sprinkle with crushed black pepper and a liberal sprinkling of castor sugar

And that's it. Summer on a plate! And the verdict? Well we had to agree with Hugh. Strawberry sandwiches - so simple, so seasonal, so delicious, and it really celebrates the strawberry.

Çilek Ekmeği - Strawberry Sandwiches

The flavour resembled a basic summer pudding and, for more indulgence (we're definitely stepping it up and going for the indulgence next time) Hugh Fearnely-Whittingstall suggests removing the crusts from the bread, forgoing the butter and, instead, using a thick spreading of clotted cream and even more castor sugar. As it is, the photo above was Wednesday's lunch...and we weren't complaining!

The original recipe is supposed to be a closed sandwich but we wanted to make more of plate meal from it - and closed sandwiches wouldn't have looked as pretty on the photo!

This recipe is on page 122 of our favourite (possibly) cookbook, The River Cottage Cookbook by Hugh Fearnely-Whittingstall

A Springtime Walk To Kayaköy - Scenes From A Stroll

2013-04-03T10:35:00.003+03:00

So far this spring, the weather has been kind to us - and a couple of weeks ago, we decided to walk to Kayaköy from Fethiye with a couple of friends. We've done this walk many times, so this post is really just a few photos of springtime scenes from the walk...we just love this road and forest track.

Morning scenes in Fethiye

Setting off along the Karagözler in the morning, before the daytime breezes disturb the sea around the bay, is the best time. So peaceful. Except on this occasion, the camera is lying because, just before we got to this point, we had to pass the boatyard. A messy queue of traffic waiting as a gület was slowly winched into place having been brought out of the water for repairs. The boatyard is noisy, dusty, smelly (paint and varnish) and jam-packed at this time of year as gülets and day trip boats have last minute repair and restoration before the summer season starts. We'll miss the boatyard if and when it moves...

Fethiye from the road to Kaya

For it to be so hazy at this time of year is strange, but you can still make out the snow on the higher mountaintops of the Akdağlar. This is one of the last views of Fethiye - and one of our favourite views - as you head towards the forest track and climb to Kayaköy. From now on, it's vistas through the pine trees and the distant sounds of hammers and drills from the boatyard.

First tortoise of 2013

But the forest brings with it its own little treats. Spring wildflowers coming into bloom, lush new greenery sprouting through rocks and red clay earth - and this, our first sighting of a tortoise this year. And a brave tortoise at that. He was in no rush to pop his head inside his shell as we peered at him through camera lenses.

Curious kids

From curious wild animals to curious farm animals. This young goat was also interested in the camera. The rest of the flock had scarpered to the other side of the field, but this floppy eared cutie wanted to stop and say hello...or eat the camera strap. One of the two.

Not a bull, after all

Our first thought was that this was a bull coming towards us. We stood firm as there was a sturdy wall between us and it. And then we saw the udders and realised he was a she, and a very pleasant 'she' at that. She came right up to us and our friend blew on her nose, gently. Cows like that, apparently. This cow didn't seem to mind, at least.

By now, we're very close to Kayaköy. We've already decided where we're going, so we head straight to Bülent'in Yeri for a well-earned Efes Pilsen and gözleme.

Gözleme at Bülent'in Yeri

And when we wrote our post about Bülent'in Yeri, we were very hungry and forgot to take a photo of the gözleme which we said was so tasty. So here it is. Minced meat and potato encased in börek. A perfect post-walk snack, especially when it's accompanied with that Fethiye area rarity, homemade chips...which we also ordered. They didn't last too long.

Turkish Food Focus Easter Special: A Nod To Village Eggs

2013-03-29T11:37:00.000+02:00

Spot the eggs on this stall at Çiftlik market

As this weekend is Easter weekend and we have a distinct lack of any egg-shaped chocolate in the house, this week's Turkish Food Focus will concentrate not on the chocolate variety but on those protein-packed staples that are produced by the chicken. Yes, we like to keep it real, here!

Eggs feature heavily in Turkish cuisine, which isn't surprising when you see the number of chickens popping up in random places. We've got used to this now and don't really give them a second glance - it's still quite common in Turkey for families to keep chickens, even in urban areas. These are the true free range chickens. They don't carry with them any special labels such as 'corn-fed.' They're not given x amount of metres per space per chicken so they can be labelled as 'free range.' No, they wander, they peck at the ground and eat whatever they find, they eat whatever their owners put out for them...and they produce the most fantastic eggs!

These are the eggs that are sold as köy yumurta (village eggs) at your local pazar and you need to keep an eye out for them. They're likely to be in a large plastic bowl, or already bagged up, and they can appear on any stall - it just depends whose hens have laid. This year, prices have fluctuated massively, even reaching a staggering 1TL per egg at one point. But, whenever possible, these are the eggs we buy for our Turkish recipes. They're sometimes difficult to find, they're certainly difficult to carry, but they're definitely worth your extra kuruş.

5 Turkish Foods Celebrating Village Eggs

1. Adana Menemen

Menemen is special. Most people who come to Turkey for the first time ask what menemen is and, when they're told, they look dubious about it. And then they decide to order it. The menemen is placed before them. It doesn't look too appetising, that mixture of scrambled eggs and vegetables. Tentatively, they take a forkful and place it in their mouth and then BAM, another menemen convert.

This Turkish brunch dish is genius and shows off the village egg perfectly. If you'd like to make this, here's our recipe for Adana Menemen.

2. Köy Kahvaltı

There aren't many better ways of passing a few hours on a Sunday morning than by sitting with friends and sharing a Turkish village breakfast (köy kahvaltı). Village eggs with village breakfast - perfect! The village breakfast trend in Fethiye continues to gain momentum and, these days, when you order, it's rare that you won't be asked how you'd like your eggs; boiled or fried. Difficult to resist a little pan of fried village eggs topped with a sprinkling of chilli flakes!

We had this particular köy kahvaltı a couple of years ago when we all set off in convoy to the 2011 Üzümlü Mushroom Festival.

3. Sucuklu Yumurta

Hmm, didn't we just say menemen was genius? Didn't we just say there was nothing better than sitting down to a Turkish village breakfast? So where does sucuklu yumurta (fried eggs with sucuk) fit into this gushing equation? Sucuklu yumurta with fresh, crusty bread is fabulous in its own right...but then you can also combine with it with a village breakfast. A double whammy of two Turkish breakfasts in one!

This particular happy event came about for us when we went out with friends to Yalçın in Kayaköy for our Sunday köy kahvaltı.

4. Antalya Usulü Piyaz

Turkish village eggs are not just used in breakfast dishes of course. Piyaz is a Turkish white bean salad and the Antalya version is special in that it also contains tahini. Piyaz is often topped with hard-boiled eggs - and what better way to celebrate the sunburst yellow yolk of the village egg than simply boiling it, slicing it into quarters and decorating your dish.

Here's our recipe for Antalya Usulü Piyaz. Served with Tekirdağ Köftesi (as in the photo) it's truly a delight!

5. Ispanaklı Yumurta

And, last but not least, if you thought you didn't like spinach (we were certainly in that camp before we came out to Turkey), go all out for this spinach and egg dish...and you might just have the same epiphany we did when we first tried ıspanaklı yumurta: that spinach is not only healthy and versatile but also damn good! And well, a fried egg sat atop a piece of hot toast is always going to work, isn't it?

Click the link to try out our Turkish recipe for Ispanaklı Yumurta.

These are just five of our favourite ways that eggs are used in Turkish cuisine. There are so many more recipes that make use of them. What's your favourite meal that best celebrates the egg for you?

Introducing Our Fethiye & Turkey Events Calendar

2013-03-26T15:06:00.000+02:00

How many times have you been to Fethiye and returned home, only to find out you were in town for a significant event but missed it because you knew nothing about it? We live here, as do many other expats, and even we manage to miss so much.

Let us give you an example: On Saturday, we went to Fethiye Şehir Stadium to take part in the Fethiye Spor 80th anniversary celebrations. It was a big online campaign by the guys at Fethiyespor1933 and we got behind it, publicising the game to just about any online outlet we could think of. We wrote a post about the upcoming Fethiyespor match and of course, we just had to tell everyone about our first experience of football in Turkey once the event had taken place. And what happened after that post? We got people saying to us, "Oh, I wish we knew about that. We would have gone. Looks like you had a great time. What a shame."

Introducing our Fethiye & Turkey Events Calendar

If you look down the sidebar, you should be able to see a widget that looks like this photo. This widget is your entrance to our Fethiye & Turkey Calendar. Just click on it and it takes you straight to the page.

A lot of the time, we don't know about events taking place in Fethiye - or we do know and then completely forget about them, only remembering when it's too late. For this reason, we decided to get organised by keeping a private online calendar...and then we decided other people might want to know about similar things that we are interested in. Time to share our calendar, then...

What you'll find on our calendar:

Sunrise & sunset times: If you want to go for an evening meal at the Sundial or King's Garden, for example, it's good to know what time the sunset is so you can time your meal perfectly - and get those all important photos to ~~bore~~ impress your friends with later. Also, if you're going trekking or for a day out further afield, it's always good to know how many hours of daylight you have to play with. Bear in mind that these times are approximate and will vary slightly depending on whereabouts in the Fethiye area you actually are.

Local market days: Supporting local Fethiye markets is something we have always been passionate about, and we've marked them on our calendar so you can do your food shopping there or combine a day out with a wander around the local pazar.

Fethiyespor fixtures: Well, so many people say to us that they would like to go along to watch them but they never know when they're playing. Well, if you live in the Fethiye area or you come here on holiday early and late season, you can go along to the stadium and catch a game whenever Fethiyespor play at home. A cheap afternoon out and always good to know you're doing your bit for Fethiye.

Any upcoming Fethiye events we spot and want to make a note of: For example, we've got the reopening of Mozaik Bahçe and Sundial this week and next, and the Üzümlü Mushroom Festival is on there, too - well, we can't miss that! Keep an eye out for more additions throughout the year.

Significant Turkey events we come across: At the moment, Istanbul's famous Tulip Festival is on the calendar (throughout the month of April) and the Edirne oil wrestling championships are on there, too. Again, if we see any other significant events that might be of interest, we'll add those as we come across them.

All national and religious days, holidays and festivals: Obviously, this includes Ramazan, too.

Viewing Our Fethiye & Turkey Calendar
Week View:

We've got the calendar set so that when you click into the page, it automatically opens in Week View. This is useful for us and we thought it would be good for people who are in Fethiye on holiday for a short time - you can see what's going on at a glance. You can flick between weeks using the two arrows at the top left and the column highlighted in pink is obviously the current day.

Month View:

Click into Month (top right), and you'll see things look a bit busier. This time, the yellow square marks the current day and ongoing events are marked with a long, unbroken strip. On this photo, you can see this across the bottom for the Istanbul Tulip Festival. Again, use the arrows on the top left to flip between months.

Agenda:

Agenda strips out all grids and symbols and just gives you a simple, straightforward list of of what's happening in the coming days, complete with times. For example, you can see that Mozaik Bahçe is opening at 12 o'clock (ish) on Thursday. Anything that runs throughout the day, with no fixed, definite times (the markets in this case) are at the top of each day.

Getting More Information From The Calendar

So you've seen something that interests you. Let's say you like the idea of going to Çiftlik Thursday Market while you're in Fethiye but you have no idea where it is. Very simple. In any of the views, just click on 'Çiftlik Thursday Market' on the calendar, a description box will pop up with a sentence or two about the market and you'll also be given the option to click on the map. We've been as accurate as we possibly can in pinpointing locations on maps, but sometimes Google is slightly out! Once you are in the Google map, you can zoom in and out as usual to get your bearings and rough distances.

This is a work in progress and we'll be adding events as and when we know about them. We hope you find it as useful as we do. Either click on the calendar widget in the sidebar or click this link now to browse our Fethiye & Turkey calendar.

Taking It All In At Our First Fethiyespor Match - It's All About Crowd Control

2013-03-25T08:54:00.000+02:00

The Setting:
Fethiyespor Football Stadium, 23rd March 2013: It's the 80th anniversary of Fethiyespor Football Club and the match is being aired live on Lig TV; the first time the club have been shown live on the channel. A carnival atmosphere is expected as an online campaign has been rallying supporters and tickets for two of the three stands are given away for free. A big push has been made to attract more yabancılar (that's us foreign folks) to the game, so these two yabancı decide to go, along with another friend.

What happened:
We get there early because we've heard it's going to be a big crowd. We choose the free seats over the 10 TL main stand seats. We're novices, we've never done this before, and are pleasantly surprised to find we can sit, for free, on the half way line, close to the front. There are a few fans already there, grouped, organised, jumping, singing, chanting - so we choose the block of seats just to their right.

Apaçiler

This might be our first experience of Turkish football, but we're both well-versed in the stadium crowd experience. As a youngster, Barry used to go watching Wigan Athletic when they languished in the old 4th Division, and from the age of 11 up to going to university, I followed Wigan Rugby League home and away. We're knowledgeable (we assume) and happy that the block of seats just to the right of the chanting youths is close enough for atmosphere and far enough away not to get caught up in it all. "Leave them to it," we think.

Lacivert, Beyaz

A huge Fethiyespor flag billows in the stiff breeze. The weather gods have been kind, it's a sunny day and the stands are filling up quickly; the scene is set and it's the perfect setting for Fethiyespor 80th anniversary celebrations.

Good coordination from Fethiyespor

The teams come out to warm up - we can't help but think Fethiyespor's warm up resembles a series of coordinated dance moves with high leg kicks and claps. We're all (novice) eyes and ears today and loving it! As the players near the group of chanting fans, the singing gets louder, the group become more animated and we notice the players acknowledge the fans. Impressive. Is this the norm at Fethiyespor / in Turkish football? We don't know, but it's noticed by us Brits, nonetheless.

A few minutes later, a steady drum beat rings through the stadium speakers and our chanting neighbours, scarves held aloft, begin a North American Indian-style 'dance.' The penny drops. We've sat ourselves next to the Apaçiler (Fethiyespor fans are named after the North American Indian Apaches). We've seen this name many times over the years and now, here we are, sat right next to them...at a Fethiyespor match...and we soon realise we're not going to get away with it lightly!

Oh look, a football match

Enter the 'conductor.' It seems that at this match (again, we don't know if this is the norm - there are a lot of special circumstances today), we're all here to follow his lead, and it's not a choice. There is a football match underway (see photo above) but that seems secondary. We soon find out that this bunch are here to be vociferous and they're going to make sure the rest of the crowd follow suit! We are the flock.

Audience participation time

Here's our 'conductor'. We thought he was standing on the fence at first but it seems whoever stands here has his own little platform. He works tirelessly throughout the first half, conducting proceedings around the whole ground:
when to sing and what to sing
when to chant and what to chant and when to be quiet
when to sit and when to stand
when to stand and wave your hands and fingers in the air. (Maybe this is some Apache thing? Its significance escapes us but we just obey. We are the flock, remember.)

Fethiyespor score the first goal, much to the obvious delight of the crowd. Random cheering's okay for that one, it seems. A while later, Tarsus equalise and our conductor sets to work, finger to lips. Everyone falls silent. Let's not acknowledge that goal. The animated actions of our 'conductor' make it difficult to watch the match, anyway. He's on stage and he's got his audience.

A congratulatory paramotor flies over the ground

We have a slightly disgruntled (but good fun) 'older' Fethiyespor fan behind us. 'Hadi yaaa, Şimşek Gol Gol Gol, yaa.' It appears our 'conductor' isn't orchestrating our older supporter's favourite chant often enough. Half time comes and, as the leader of the flock wanders past for a break our older fan calls out, "Genç (Youth)! Şimşek yaa." A pleading 'give-me-a-break' look consumes the conductor's face and banter ensues. It's all in good jest but we're already betting we'll be getting that chant at the start of the second half.

And here's the thing: as football goes, most of the second half wasn't much to write home about. Fethiyespor didn't look too hot. A British crowd would have been getting a bit miffed by now, calling out to the team - we all know the standard phrases. But this doesn't happen here. It may be that we're all too busy singing and chanting to notice. Who knows? One thing we do know is that we're over 45 minutes into this game now and we're getting good at this Turkish chanting lark so we're not too bothered for the moment.

Pretend you're a tree

Şimşek Gol Gol Gol (Lightening goal) is indeed chanted during the second half. Our older supporter gets his way and chuckles. The chant is needed, as is the lightening goal. Fethiyespor don't want a 1-1 draw on their 80th anniversary. Regardless of events on the pitch, chanting continues unabated - and how all the coordination comes about isn't quite clear but all of a sudden, we're shouting:
Lacivert (Dark blue). Our conductor holds left hand towards our stand to quiet us while turning to the opposite stand to raise a:
Beyaz (White)

Yes, Fethiyespor play in blue and white. Throughout the second half we sit for a few moments and then we're gestured to stand while opposite stands exchange chants. Our 'conductor' faces us, the opposite stand, the stand behind the goalposts, he (not surprisingly) loses his balance on occasion and very occasionally steals a glimpse at the match. After each set of exchanges, we all applaud each other. Well done us! And it does sound good. It does look good. It's all good fun. Errrm but aren't we supposed to be watching the football match?

3-1 and all is well

Not to worry. More singing to be done. For reasons known only (maybe) to the Fethiyespor fans, after spending the first half and most of the second half being directed to sit down, stand up, sit down, stand up, the last 20 minutes or so are all spent standing up. All of us are standing. A deputy conductor is sent to our bank of seats (there's obviously concern that our energy is waning) and there's a strained look on his face and an 'Uff yaaaa' as he clambers onto the fence to gee us all up. It appears this conducting job is high-pressured work and the deputy goes back to his original post, not too happy with our efforts.

But then, just as it looks as though 1-1 is going to be the final score, Fethiyespor somehow score (they never looked like scoring from what we managed to see of the second half). No more cheer leading necessary as, fittingly, the team take centre stage. A few minutes later, a minute or so before the game finishes, they score again. A perfect ending for an 80th anniversary.

Photo time at the end of the match

And the fans' efforts don't go unrewarded. As soon as the final whistle goes, the usual handshakes are made and the team come straight over to applaud the fans and get together for photos. We like that bit!

Because it was a special anniversary, entrance to the game was free. Entrance fees to Fethiyespor home games are usually 5 and 10 TL.
Also, because of the anniversary and the fact the match was on TV, we know this was not a regular game so our experience was not typical. However, it's done the trick and we will be going to watch Fethiyespor again some time soon.

Turkish Food Focus: A Recipe Using Young Bakla - Sucuk & Broad Beans

2013-03-22T14:00:00.000+02:00

A couple of weeks back, we visited Çiftlik Perşembe Pazarı (Ciftlik Thursday Market) and noticed the first young bakla (broad beans) of the season. In our Guide to Çiftlik market post, we mentioned we had sucuk and bakla for dinner that night and it prompted a comment from Turkish food blogger Zerrin (of Give Recipe) that she had also bought bakla from her local pazar that day, too. She explained what she was making with her bakla and then she said she had never thought to use bakla and sucuk together.

Bakla (broad beans) on Çiftlik Market

A quick search around online and it appears the good folks of Turkey aren't much into mixing their sucuk and bakla at all. Interesting! As soon as we saw the bakla on Çiftlik market, we both said sucuk straight away. And we know why.

A (Nearly) Turkish Recipe For Sucuklu Bakla
Sucuk is Turkey's answer to Spanish chorizo or Italian pepperoni, except, where the latter two are made from pork, sucuk is made up from beef. The tastes and textures are very similar; cured, garlicky, sometimes spicy and definitely oily! And, as we learned from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall TV programmes in years gone by, chorizo partners with fresh broad beans perfectly. If that's the case, why not sucuk?

This recipe combines that idea with Turkish zeytinyağlı (olive oil) dishes such as zeytinyağlı yeşil fasulye and barbunya pilaki.

Podded and sliced bakla

Because the bakla is really young at the moment, it's completely fine to cook the beans in their pods.

Pick through your bakla and pod the bigger bean pods.
With the young pods, give them a wash, cut off and discard the ends and then cut them into (roughly) inch-long pieces.

An easy one-pan dish

Heat a good glug of olive oil in a frying pan (not too much as your sucuk will be oily, too).

Now peel and cut one onion in half. Slice it into half moons and add to the frying pan. Turn down the heat and allow the onion to sweat gently.

Take around 100g of sucuk, remove the outer skin and quarter the sucuk lengthways so you have four long pieces. Cut each of the four pieces into bite-sized chunks and add to the pan. Stir around until the sucuk starts to colour and release its oils (this only takes a couple of minutes).

Now add two large, chopped tomatoes, a crushed clove of garlic, and a pinch of salt and pepper.

Allow your tomatoes to cook down for a few minutes and then add half a mug of hot water. Stir and add your bakla.

Bakla and sucuk

How much water you add to the pan depends on how much juice you want in this meal. The photo above shows how much water we added.

Add a quick splash of vinegar, a half teaspoonful of sugar and a sprinkling of chilli flakes (optional).

Now stir the mixture, cover your pan and reduce the heat so that your sucuklu bakla simmers gently.

After 15 minutes, remove from the heat and serve.

Sucuklu Bakla

Serve your sucuklu bakla with warm, crusty bread so you can soak up the juices. As we said, we failed to find a Turkish dish that mixed these two main ingredients so the name sucuklu bakla (sucuk with broadbeans) is our own. Imaginative, isn't it?

Afiyet Olsun

You're Invited To A Party - Time To Show Your Fethiye Spor True Colours & Join The Celebration

2013-03-20T13:41:00.000+02:00

You don't need to be in Turkey for very long before you realise that your average Turk on the street is a passionate football fan - and, wherever they live in Turkey, chances are they're going to support one of the 'big three' Istanbul teams; Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe or Beşiktaş. Well, many fans also support their local club and this year is a special year for Fethiye Spor!

Fethiye Spor (Fethiye's football team, in case you didn't know) wants a piece of the action in the football big time and they're really going for it. A new stadium is in the pipeline, they've got themselves a fantastic new team bus, local businesses display Fethiye Spor flags, Fethiye Belediyesi (the local council) are completely behind them and Fethiye Spor flags are often to be seen flying, crisscrossing the high street.

Fethiye Spor's current stadium

And a group of Fethiye Spor supporters have given the club a brilliant social media presence. We're not sure how all this started but, as far as we can remember, the photo above is responsible. One day, we got a message from one of these supporters to our Facebook page: Can we use your photo to promote our next match? And that was it, really. The photo was used, we've kept in touch, we've decided to go along to a match and now...

Fethiye Spor needs you!

The image below is the current Facebook promotion for Fethiye Spor's next match (like we said, these guys really go to town with their social media) against Tarsus on Saturday afternoon.

You can see what we mean with the match ads on Facebook!

This year is Fethiye Spor's 80th anniversary and a bit of lobbying of the 'big cheeses' by fans via Twitter, Facebook and emails has got this Saturday's match on Lig TV, a channel usually reserved for the 'big boys'.

Fethiye Spor really want to see a big crowd on Saturday

We've got British friends who go along to watch the team on a regular basis, but the club would love lots more of Fethiye's international community to go along, so...Saturday's Lig TV & 80th anniversary party is the perfect time show our support!

Fethiye Spor store, our flag, other goodies in the shop

This week is a huge push to raise awareness of Fethiye Spor and to encourage more foreigners (expats or visitors - who cares?) to go along to the game on Saturday. We were asked to get behind the promotion and we're more than happy to be involved.

So, if you're in Fethiye on Saturday and want to go along to the match, here's how to show your support:

You don't need to be a football fan! We're not - but you never know, we might become converts.
Hassle as many people as you can to come along to the match with you. We've been doing this all week and have potentially recruited a few peeps.
Go to the Fethiye Spor store and get a flag or some 'colours'. Of course this is optional. We bought a flag. To find out where the store is, it's centred here on our Fethiye map.
Turn up at the stadium on Saturday afternoon, ready to show Turkey that we're all behind Fethiye. NB: We've been told different information about ticket prices (max 10 lira) but the latest news (this morning) is that tickets for some parts of the ground are free. There's a fee for the main stand. (View the location of Fethiyespor Stadium on our map.)

And finally, if you're still not convinced, here's an invite from some Fethiye Spor supporters:

Do you fancy to join our party? This Saturday, on the 23th of March, Fethiyespor is throwing a party! We are celebrating our 80th anniversary with a football game on our home ground and it will be nationally broadcasted, LIVE!

If you like football, if you enjoy parties and celebrations as much as we do; come and join us on this historical day. It will be the first live tv coverage from our home ground and millions will be watching us on tv.

Doesn’t matter where you are from; Ireland, Germany, the UK, France, Netherlands, Russia, we know that you like living in Fethiye, we know that you are one of us, we know that you are part of our community. Show that rest of the country, we are one; we live in Fethiye together, we love Fethiye together, we support our team together, we are proud of it together!

Bring your own country’s flag, wear your own jersey; or if you don’t have one it’s not too late to go get Fethiyespor’s one from Fethiyespor Shop, but most importantly bring yourself down here and join us.

Ticket prices are as small as 1 Lira! (Or free)

Date: 23/03/2013

Time: 13.30

Place: Fethiye City Stadium

PS: Don't forget waving at the cameras, please! :)

Thanks to the guys at Fethiyespor 1933 for permission to use their match ad.

Travelling Turkey 2013 - Our Plans...For Now

2013-03-18T11:36:00.000+02:00

Despite a little cold spell we're going through in Fethiye at the moment, the worst of winter has passed, spring is in the air and thoughts are turning to 2013 Turkey travel plans. Last week was a bit of a travel theme on the blog and across our social media channels - and over on our Facebook page, we asked people when they were travelling to / in Turkey. It seems everyone else is also getting restless because we had around 100 replies.

We're getting restless, too, and for the last few weeks, we've been making rough plans of where we want to go this year. Well, now we know where we're going and we know how we're getting there...we just don't have concrete dates yet and nothing is booked - and we like it that way.

(If you are reading this post in your email or in a feedreader, you might need to click through to the blog post to see the map.)

As you can see in the map above, we're going on a bit of a (or a lot of a) cross-Turkey jaunt. This is more by accident than by plan, but because of how the situation has arisen, we're going to be fulfilling three ambitions that we've harboured for a long time, so naturally, we're excited about this one.

Where Are We Going And Why?
Eskişehir:
Eskişehir was the original destination on our 2013 agenda. We've been curious about the city for a while as photos keep appearing on our Google+ stream. Each time we share these photos to our page, proud locals of Eskişehir comment underneath and tell us how great their city is. Also, 2013 is the year that Eskişehir is the Turkiç World Capital of Culture. Famed for being a city of industry and a city of students, Eskişehir is now targetting tourism. Time we went to have a look for ourselves, we think.

As usual, we like to take things slowly. No planes. We'll be going up to Eskişehir by bus from Fethiye otogar and, from previous routes we've done, we've guessed the route the bus might take.

Eskişehir to Ankara:
Ankara is where the first of three Turkey ambitions will be met. We'll travel by high-speed train from Eskişehir to Turkey's capital. This is actually just as a stopover but while we're there, we'll make sure to visit Anıtkabir (the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk) and the Museum of Anatolian Civilisations.

Unlike Izmir, where we stayed for six days, we're not counting this as THE trip to Ankara - it'll be too short and sweet to get any sort of flavour of the city. No, this time, Ankara is our link city and the start point of the fulfilment of another ambition. We've always wanted to travel by train from Istanbul to Van. At the moment, due to line upgrades around the city, it isn't possible to travel all the way from Istanbul. Rail travel to the east begins in Eskişehir and the train we need, the Van Gölü Express, needs to be picked up in Ankara.

Ankara to Van:
Ambition number 2 is to cross central Anatolia to Eastern Turkey on this overnight train; a journey that will take 26 hours (the map shows the rough route the train takes). İnşallah, we'll be doing this soon! And when we do that, we'll get off the train in Tatvan, right on the shores of Lake Van. Ambition number 3 of seeing Lake Van will then be fulfilled.

As we said, the Eskişehir plans have been in place for some time and the original idea was to spend time in the city itself and have a wander around the surroundings over a period of a few days. The cross-country jaunt has come about because we have a friend who has just qualified as a teacher. She has been sent to a post close(ish) to Van and invited us to go and stay with her for a few days. We could come back to Fethiye from Eskişehir and then fly from Antalya to Van a few days later...but where's the fun in that?

Turkish Food Focus - Kokoreç At Çiftlik Market

2013-03-15T17:36:00.000+02:00

A couple of weeks ago we decided it was time to get out the comfortable footwear and blow away the the winter cobwebs by walking to Çiftlik from Çalış Beach. And, although aimless wandering is good, we also decided to kill two birds with one stone by making our inaugural visit to Çiftlik Thursday market (Perşembe Pazarı) to get some food shopping.

After reading our Guide To Çiftlik Market, you'll know that we quite enjoyed the experience. So much so that we decided to walk there again yesterday. Only yesterday, rather than grab a kebab in Çalış, we decided to try out the mobile food stand we saw parked up on the edge of the market. We're dedicating this week's Turkish Food Focus to Ümit Usta's Çiftlik Market food stand.

Eating at Çiftlik Market

And here it is. A long way from the scenes you see at the Fethiye Market food area where scores of food stands vie first for your eye contact before launching into their, "Hello, yes please, pancakes, meat, potato, spinach, kebabs, buyrun," in the hope of gaining your custom. None of that at Çiftlik Pazarı. Ümit Usta is your only choice - and there's not a gözleme in sight. Nor, for that matter, is there a 'Buyrun, hello yes please," as you walk by; just a polite 'Hoşgeldiniz' (welcome) as you take a seat.

And we collapsed into our seats. This time, we'd walked all the way from home so our legs had done a good few miles. And we were hungry. Head said go for a döner kebab or köfte ekmek (sandwich), stomach and heart said go for kokoreç. We had no idea of the quality of food Ümit Usta was serving. Was ordering a spicy, finely chopped lamb's intestine sandwich a sensible move at lunchtime when it was also our first meal of the day? Well, we were about to find out because neither of us could resist and we both ordered a kokoreç half bread.

Kokoreç ekmek

The signs were good - two staff cramped in the stand, producing half-bread after half-bread, wrapping them up and bagging them. It looks as though a lot of people order take-away sandwiches from here at lunchtime and it's always good to know you're not the only customer. We opened the tub of pickled chillies in preparation and waited for our kokoreç to take its turn on the mini production line so it could be delivered to its two hungry customers.

Ümit Usta knows how to serve up a good kokoreç! Fresh, crusty bread was pressed down on the griddle, soaking up meat juices in the process. The texture of the bread is an important component in the making of any good half-bread and this was just how we like it: warm and crispy on the outside, soft and light on the inside - ripe for juice absorption! And the kokoreç itself; moist and tender (not oft-used adjectives for this particular sandwich filling). It had been cut and cooked perfectly. The pickled chillies were spicy without blowing our head off. It was the perfect lunch after a good leg stretch.

And as with our Izmir döner kebab quandry, we're now debating whether this is the best kokoreç we've ever eaten. We always enjoy going to Şampiyon Kokoreç - but these are two different experiences. Should we compare? Well, let's cop out and say the kokoreç half-bread served from the Ümit Usta van is the best we've ever eaten from a mobile stand. We'll be back for more!

2 kokoreç half-breads and 2 cartons of ayran cost 9.50 TL