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Fethiye

Fethiye is a lively Turkish town. It is the perfect mix of authentic Turkish culture and tourism, making it a real taste of Turkey without feeling too much of a culture shock. Fethiye is a lively market town, and has a lot more locals than the Calis counterpart. It is in our opinion a very safe town.

The town has an area called Paspatur (old town) which is a bazaar area catering for the needs of all tourists with real atmosphere. The main street and all side streets are full of large and small traders in everything you can possibly imagine. Right in the centre of town is a combined fish, fruit and veg market.

Wandering the covered streets you will find many restaurants and shops, selling copy clothes, watches, rugs, jewellery, souvenirs and much more.

What to buy

Copy clothes, if it does not offend your morality.

Copy watches, these vary in price, two for £10 at the market but these are quartz and are fine as a bit of fun and even tell the time. The more expensive copies (£70+) can be self winding automatics, be fitted with mineral glass and all the dials will work. In our opinion the battery or quartz watches are the safer bet. The cheaper copies of very complex mechanical watches can be unreliable.

The better copies (full function) can be indistinguishable from the real thing.

Lots of handicrafts – bedspreads, wooden boxes, backgammon sets.
Leather bags and coats are very reasonable.
Lanterns
Souvenirs

Postcards
If you want to post postcards, there is a yellow ‘PTT’ post office in town, which most people will give you directions to. Just ask the man behind the counter for airmail stamps to the UK, and hand the postcards over to him once you have put them on. It is normally just over 1YTL per stamp.

Market

Tuesday is the big market in Fethiye. Maybe 500 to 700 traders all selling their wares. Big bargains but please haggle sensibly and compare prices before you buy. There is a good refreshment tent selling drinks, kebabs and Turkish pancakes. You may find it helpful to wander around enquiring casually about prices before deciding what you want to buy.
Stall holders tend to be very complimentary towards women, but please do not be offended, it is all in the spirit of things. Turkish men are very respectful, so a polite ‘No thank you’ quickly halts any harassment to buy, as does a look at the floor avoid any unwanted male attention.

Another market option is the marina town Gocek on Sundays. A nice 90 minute boat ride there and back. The market is much smaller though and the boat ride and a look round the town and boats are the main attraction. The trip can be booked on many boats along the waterfront in Fethiye

Calis (pronounced Chalish)

Calis is much more of a tourist town than Fethiye, here you will find bars showing premiership football games and cooking roast dinner on a Sunday (Cafe Inn), Chinese Buffets and lively nightclubs. There is also an Hamam (Turkish Bath) as well as the long beach.
The Surf Cafe area at the end of the beach is good and the dolmus will take you there for a small extra fee, here you can learn to windsurf or just lie on the free sunbeds (you are expected to buy your food and drink from the café in return)
To get to Calis simply wait for the dolmus opposite Tansas supermarket.

Turkish Bath ( Hamam )

A traditional Turkish bath and massage is a great way to relax. We have used the one on the left (next to large hotel) just before the cross roads in Calis.
We have also tried the one in the old town in Fethiye, both were good. Margo our neighbour recommends Atapark which is up near the marina in Fethiye. They will pick you up from the villa. Tel 0090 (0) 2526 124081

Hubbly Bubbly / Shisha

Many restaurants offer hookah pipes. Our favourite place is the Bedouin like tent in Calis. Here you can listen to a live band, enjoy a couple of Efes (local beer) whilst sitting on comfortable cushions on the floor. To find it go to the sea front in Calis and walk left back along the sea front. The tent is a couple of hundred yards or so along the sea front.

ACTIVITIES

Boat Trips

This is the way to relax and take in the delights of the Turkish coastline and islands. Boats go from Fethiye daily stopping at various islands and bays.
Lunch is cooked and served on board and there are plenty of stops to swim, snorkel and generally cool down.
These are bookable from the many kiosks in front of the boats in Fethiye harbour, usually for a fixed price.

Diving

The Dolphin Diving Centre in Fethiye harbour, and one or two boats offer day scuba diving and snorkelling trips including training. These will need to be booked in advance, lunch is usually provided.

Beaches

As well as Calis beach, mentioned before, there are several beautiful beaches in the area. One of the most famous is Oludeniz beach, accessible by taxi, car hire, or Dolmus from the centre of Fethiye for 4.5YTL per person. The journey takes about forty minutes and is a lovely drive through the mountains.

The beach itself is famous for paragliding, which is outlined below. Known as the ‘Blue Lagoon’, it has crystal clear waters, plenty of cafes and small shops, and watersports.. Sunbeds and umbrellas are chargeable.

The Oludeniz beach web site has a list which is good. http://oludenizbeach.com/beaches.html
The sites Fethiye.net, fethiyelife.com and living-turkey.com are also full of information. There are links from our website www.sohappythere.co.uk site.

Other beaches include Kabak beach, one of the most secluded and remote in the area, reached by car or boat from Oludeniz, Gemiler beach, a historical beach a day trip from Oludeniz, and Patara beach, a recent winner of the Sunday Times’ ‘Best Beach in the World’ award. One of the most amazing things to do according to a recent visitor is to hire a horse and horseride along the majestic sanddunes of this beach, which is accessible by taxi or car, a 54km drive from Fethiye.

Watersports

Probably the best place to experience watersports, despite the Surf Cafe in Calis, is Oludeniz. Reliable operators offer Ringos, Banana Boats, and paracending .

Fishing

Operators in Oludeniz, Fethiye and Calis offer fishing trips where dinner is what you catch! Day trips are often reasonably priced with experienced fishermen. Training can be provided for those who have never fished before.

Jeep Safari
Car rental places and operators in Oludeniz offer Jeep Safaris, but please proceed with caution and check for all the appropriate safety equipment – seat belts etc, as one of our guests had a serious accident. However, with a good operator, they have rave reviews. We are yet to try one. We book our adventure trips through shy sports as they have an excellent reputation for safety

Dalyan River and mud bathing

This trip can been booked at many places, we simply booked at a shop in Calis.
It’s a full day and includes lunch. Much of the time is spent lazily sitting on a river boat meandering around the dalyan river, looking across at the tombs, having a mud bath and eventually spending a couple of hours on the beach.

On the way there we had a mandatory stop at a gold and jewellers factory.
They are very good at telling you your partner really really wants such and such beautiful ring etc. The factory pays the tour companies commission of up to 30% so although you may feel you are getting a Turkish bargain compared to UK prices if you were interested in buying jewellery you’d be better off at someone like the Infinity jewellers shop in Fethiye.

We were also encouraged to buy some cooked blue crab from the boat which entices turtles up by feeding them. This slightly pushy attitude was a mild annoyance but we simply ignored it and had a lovely day on the river

Paragliding

Oludeniz is known as one of the best places in the world to enjoy a paragliding flight. The views are simply stunning as you float over the blue lagoon and Oludeniz town.
The tandem paragliders are piloted by experienced pilots who fly 4 times a day. While not accepting any liability, we were impressed with the attitude to safety taken by the company ‘Sky Sports’ so flew with them and had a great time. They were a little more expensive than some others but we felt they were professional and so were happy. You can take your own camera up and take some snaps such as these.

Sky Sports will make a video of your flight for an additional charge. Their number is 0090 252 617 0511, web address is www.skysports-turkey.com

Their office is in Oludeniz, walk along the sea front past the cafes, past airborne paragliding and the supermarket and turn left. Sky sports office is on the left just before the remnants of an ancient wall. If you are having difficulties ask for Azda supermarket. The office is just past the escalators which lead down into the shop.

Quadbiking

Also available to book at Sky sports is quadbiking with ‘Quadmania’ who have worked with Skysports closely for years. Quadmania can be reached directly on 0252 617 05 55

This was an activity we really enjoyed, beautiful scenery through the woods, down to Gemiler beach for lunch with it’s lovely views. Gemiler can be expensive to eat so it’s worth checking prices before ordering.

White Water Rafting

The Dalaman is the best river in Southern Turkey for rafting with genuine exhilarating grade four rapids.
Dalaman Upper River, which courses through a scenic gorge, is laced with Class I-III rapids that offer easy to moderate summer white water -- but still plenty of excitement. On a hot summer day, join the rafting team to cool down in the waters of fast mountain river near Dalaman. The rafting routes are specially designed for the different levels of rafting experience or none at all. You can be rafting by yourself or together with your friends in the larger boats. Usually there is a break for lunch since the trip program is for all afternoon.

The trips are bookable from many locations along the seafront in Calis, we actually booked it through the car hire company we use in Fethiye though this may have been a favour. Contact Ersan who runs the Levant car and motor cycle company in Fethiye. Number is 0090 252 614 80 96. E-mail ersan.levent@hotmail.com

Please bear in mind that if you are younger than 17 or older than 55 you will not be covered by the insurance provided by the rafting company, and this is not for young children or weak swimmers. Please check with your own travel insurance if you are outside of this age bracket. The trip costs approx £40 pp.
 
Saklikent Gorge

Saklikent (Hidden City) Gorge is the second-largest (20 km-long) gorge in Europe, the longest and deepest gorge in Turkey, about a 40 minutes' drive from Fethiye. It is a spectacular place, with sculpted walls soaring high above. Four kilometres of the gorge is walkable after April when most of the snow from the Taurus Mountains has melted and passed through the gorge on its way to the Xanthos River. Summer is the best time to visit as the canyon is deliciously cool and shady with cold water.

The gorge can be reached by Dolmus from Fethiye or by car.

By car, from Fethiye, exit the Fethiye-Antalya Highway after Kemer, where the signpost indicates the road to Saklikent. Drive down this road for 21km and you arrive at Saklikent. However you may want to stop off at Tlos (see below) on the way.

Outside of and tucked within the gorge locals have set up small restaurants with seating areas on wooden platforms suspended just above the rushing waters. These are a great place to lie back upon Turkish rugs and cushions with a beer under shady trees. Among other things on the menu, they offer delicious fresh trout. Outside of the gorge you will find small relaxed bars and river tubing. River tubing rides last from 45 minutes to about two hours, depending on which ride you join. This is basically a decent down the river on a rubber ring with just a paddle! These are great fun, with usually good guides, but it is best to go in the heat of the day as the water is very cold at first! They will offer to take you to a mud bath where you smother yourself with mud which is good for your skin

The gorge is open from the April 1 to September 30. Be sure to wear shoes that you don't mind getting wet or sports sandals as the rubber shoes available for rent at the river bar but are not very comfortable. You may also want to bring a change of clothes with you in case you get wet.

Tlos
 
On the road from Kemer a recent and very welcome discovery for us was the ancient town of Tlos on the way to Saklikent Gorge. The Lycian ruins are spectacular, with explorable tombs set deep in the mountains and a full roman bath and amphitheatre. Further into the town, there are restaurants built around a waterfalls and streams.
The best known is Yaka Park

Set into the bar surface is a wide groove with trout swimming around which you can tickle!

For those feeling brave, there is a cold plunge pool. The manager advertises that if you can stay in for 5 minutes, you get a free drink, and if you can stay in for 15, you get your meal paid for! For those not charmed by the trout, you can have one for lunch.
It’s a good day out to go to Tlos in the morning, on the way to Saklikent for the afternoon.

Kayakoy: The Ghost Town

Once a thriving Greek village, this town of over one thousand houses, two churches, fourteen chapels, and two schools, was completely abandoned in 1923 when the 25,000 Greek inhabitants living there, along with more than a million other Greeks living throughout Turkey were repatriated to Greece through a massive government mandated population exchange between the two countries following the Greek war of independence.

Since then, the village of Kayakoy, as it is called in Turkish, or Karmylassos, as it was called in Greek, which had been continually inhabited since at least the 13th century, has stood empty and crumbling, with only the breeze from the mountains and mist from the sea blowing through it's empty houses and streets.

This is a fascinating and slightly humbling trip, ideal for those who like history.

Kayakoy is less than 30 minutes from Fethiye by car and actually quote close to Olu Deniz.