48 Hours in Fethiye, Türkiye.

We found ourselves in Fethiye for a couple of days as the bus route back to Antalya seemed to stop here. As the bus journey was going to be 5/6 hours to Antalya and the fact we had no set schedule (which is taking a little getting used to!) we decided why not. It broke up the journey and it looked lovely. From speaking with others it appears to be well known for boat cruises and is a popular destination for English tourists. Always keen to check out another destination here we were!

What we did realise moving on from Kalkan was that for the first time we were going to have to actually carry the enourmous packpacks we had brought with us! The amount we are carrying is more than they make soldiers carry on training. We are hoping that we can lighten this load over the next year or at least get strong enough that we arent a sweaty mess every time we lift it!

We travelled to Fethiye from Kalkan with Pammukale bus for the grand total of £3 each. The journey was comfortable with an aircon coach and reclining seats. After a non eventful 1.5 hours we arrived at Fethiye bus station. A very kind taxi driver tried to take my bag off me and nearly fell over (unsurprisingly but he was clearly surprised a woman could carry that). A £2 taxi ride later and we were at our accommodation for check in!

We booked a last minute accommodation choice at the Kilim Hotel and Apartments for a princely £18 a night for a double room. Besides a small mix up with room cleaning at the beginning we had no issues with staying here; there was a lovely pool and the hotel was of a really good standard. The funniest part was the ‘garden view’ which was actually a jungle growing over our balcony. It all added to the ambience!

After a welcome swim upon arrival we headed on out for some dinner and a drink. I was directed by the receptionist to head straight from the hotel and turn left and we would hit bars and restaurants and he was right. We are both fans of live music and we stopped at a bar called Ella with a live female singer. She was singing a variety of songs in English and it was a really chilled out vibe. We ordered food as well and stayed for a few hours listing to both the English set and the Turkish set. Randomly in the singing break we had a whole Kenny Roger’s album which seemed a bit of an odd choice in Turkey but one I enjoyed none the less!

When we were leaving I was thanked by the singer for our support with her English songs as she hadn’t been singing in English for long. She did really well and we had a good sing along! The whole evening cost a meagre £22 including several drinks, a couple of cocktails and dinner – bargain!

The next day was our only full day so we decided to head out and see what Fethiye had to offer. The whole of Fethiye has blue bike lanes from one end to the other so we thought if we could follow that we couldn’t go wrong. Our hotel was in the middle of the main town and Calis Beach so we decided to head right and head towards the beach. On our walk we came across a lovely park called Sehit Fethi Bey Park which was clearly well kept and had been a big investment by the local authority in it. There were sculptures, observation towers, loungers, bonsai trees and a massive children’s playground. It was beautiful, clean and very well maintained. This of course gave us the opportunity for lots of childish shenanigans!

We carried on towards Calis Beach, another popular spot. We didn’t have a swim here although we were a bit hot and sweaty by the time we got here! We stopped and had some lunch and a meander around the shops and laughed at the copy names of some of them; clearly copyright isn’t an issue here 🙂

We now had the issue of having to get back; we wanted to check out the main town at Fethiye but it would be a very long walk back! Luckily we came across a water taxi which would take us back to the main town – for just 12.5 lira or 1.25 we had a lovely little boat ride which took about 20-25 minutes.

We arrived into the main harbour and it was clear that this was definitely the place to come if you wanted a boat trip of any description with countless boats lined up waiting to entice the dwindling tourist population. From conversations we overheard they were charging quite large amounts for tours 500 lira or so, this I think is due to the fact they are struggling to cover costs.

Instead we decided to opt for a freshly squeezed pomegranate juice; something which we had never tried before and not sure I would again given its sharpness but it was a welcome break and a sit down.

Wandering on from our welcome break we stumbled across the Old Town. This was quaint and I am sure general tourists could get a bargain or two here to take home; as we aren’t planning to go home any time soon and the fact those backpacks are heavy enough we didn’t buy anything. It was really nice just to have a little stroll through though and take in the atmosphere.

It was time to head back and we passed through the New Fethiye Square. It does look new, it was well kept and very clean and is a meeting place for local events. The square was completed in 2012 and has been well maintained since then.

It was now approaching sunset and we were treated to a few more lovely views before making it back to our hotel. A little tired from our days activity we had a bit of a chilled evening again at Ella bar before heading back.

Fethiye was a lovely place to visit and we really enjoyed our brief stop here. I think we did well to see what we did in the limited time we were here and we could see why it is such a popular tourist destination. It was a little chilly here in the evenings or mid-October and we reverted back to jeans and a hoodie but it was lovely during the day. It was however time to leave and to move on to our next destination – Antalya.

Carol & Nigel xx

October 2020