Fethiye Festive Season - Photo Story

A Turkish family enjoying a Sunday barbecue in the mountains around Nif

I love this photo and as we've just woken up to the second day of Advent and the UK and much of northern Europe is covered in snow, I've taken the opportunity to use it. I'm hoping it will help us to feel more wintery and festive in a still very mild Fethiye.



I took the photo when we were part of the Fethiye mass exodus to Nif one day, two years ago. Pleasant, sunny days are not the only barbecue days in this part of Turkey. Any day is a barbecue day; especially if that day is a Sunday. The weather is completely irrelevant. The day we went to Nif (one of my best days out ever!), people built snowmen, sledged down mountainsides, threw snowballs, got very cold, very wet and then ate köfte and drank tea, grilled and heated by their roadside barbecue. 



We have to keep reminding ourselves that it's December. We should be getting organised for the festive season. Christmas cards need to be posted to friends and family. We ought to be deciding what we're doing for Christmas Day. What are we cooking? Who do we need to buy presents for? Hopefully, this snowy photo will work its magic and get the ball rolling...

Festive in Fethiye - Çalış Christmas Fair

We've been struggling to get into the festive spirit this year for some reason. Maybe it's the very mild Fethiye weather - not sure - but ten out of ten to us for trying. We've posted a snowy mountain scene from when we went to Nif a couple of years back and we spotted a Christmas tree in Meis on Friday. (Even that didn't look right as we walked around in T-shirts.) Today was supposed to cement into our psyche, that December festive Christmas feeling... 



...Today was the Çalış Christmas Fair. Unfortunately, it was also the first day of torrential downpours we've had in a good long time. Typical. However, today is Sunday; the day many Turkish people choose to spend with their families and do fun things, whatever the weather. I have to confess to this being the first time we've ventured to the Christmas Fair and we were very surprised at how many people made the effort to go there with the rain being as heavy as it was. 

A very wet Çalış Christmas Fair

Being Brits, we're quite familiar with the 'a bit of rain never did anybody any harm' philosophy. We have no choice! But it was also interesting to see how many Turkish families were there - running stalls, strolling around, queueing to see Father Christmas (or Santa Claus or Noel Baba - well, he was born in Turkey!) with their children. The rain really didn't keep many people away. A few of the stalls had to up and leave because of the weather so there were empty tables when we arrived - but fortunately for us, the rest remained stoical and refused to be defeated. 



I made the video of the arrival of the Fethiye Father Christmas/Santa Claus/Noel Baba (what do you call him? We're 'Father Christmas' people) above so - just in case there are any more of you out there struggling to get into the festive spirit - give it a watch. We're getting there - slowly. 

Fethiye New Year Treats - It Could Be You!

We're definitely in the festive spirit now. The weather's gone cold and wet, as it ought to be at this time of year, so we've been stuck indoors. There was nothing for it but to make an effort and put the Christmas tree up to the sounds of some classic Christmas tracks. The tree is up, the Christmas cards are on the wall and the fire is in full use! 



As soon as there was a gap in the rain last Friday, we made a mad dash to Kipa supermarket. Cabin fever soon sets in if we don't take our chances and venture out during the short, non-rainy spells. Once the rain has decided it's coming to Fethiye, it generally drenches the area for a few days (huge drops - umbrellas just don't cut it) and we stand with our noses pressed against the window, wondering when we can once again enjoy the great outdoors. That's pretty much been the story of today, too.

Anyway, there was a little added bonus from our trip to Kipa. Each New Year (Yıl Başı), Turkey has a big national lottery draw. The prize is some astronomical amount of lira that works out roughly at around £15 million. We're not lottery people but hey, it's Christmas, so why not? 



The girl who served us asked us would we like a lottery ticket. Well, 'you've got to be in it to win it' as they say, so that was part of our Christmas present to each other. 8 lira (4 lira each). Wouldn't that be a good present if we won? And if we do win...hmm, not thought about that bit yet. Our yıl başı would certainly be an interesting one. What would you do if you won all that money?

Christmas in Fethiye – Why We Choose To Be Here

Although we’ve had our home in Fethiye for seven years now, this will be only our fourth Christmas in Turkey. The Christmas period is not officially celebrated in Turkey but, particularly along the coastal areas, more and more Turkish people are embracing the festivities and buying Christmas trees and decorations for their homes. However, as this is Turkey, the vast majority of trees and decorations are erected not for the 25th December celebrations but to welcome in the New Year (Yıl Başı).

So why would two people who love Christmas want to spend the festive season in a country that doesn’t officially celebrate it? There are pros and cons to all choices but we feel the pros outweigh the cons.

The Pros of Christmas in Fethiye

No seemingly endless build up to Christmas

We remember flying back to England for the winter a few years ago. It was mid October, we were still in our summer clothes (and the summer spirit) and we touched down at Manchester Airport. I could have cried when we entered the main terminal and were greeted with glittery Christmas decorations and a huge Christmas tree.

In Fethiye, there are no constant advertisements for the next (usually unavailable unless your name has been on the waiting list since the Christmas before) must-have toy, game or gadget.

In Fethiye, there are no Christmas departments in the supermarkets – yes, there are Christmas trees and decorations for sale now, but they haven’t been there since the end of September, and there certainly aren’t thousands of boxes of Christmas cards, mince pies, biscuits, chocolates and nuts being thrown at you as 3 for 2 offers. We fell for all of this when we were in Britain, ate about a tenth of it and threw the rest away.

It’s cheaper!

No tickets to buy for the work Christmas meal…followed by the work Christmas do …which means you need to buy new Christmas clothes for the do…and then you decide you can’t wear the same outfit twice in front of the same people…and, as it’s Christmas and you’re feeling festive, you buy the glittery clothes that you’re never going to wear again.

No taxi queues or extra fares or phoning up a week in advance to make sure your taxi home is definitely booked.

Christmas food – yes, the turkey. BUT, it was also always nuts, dried fruit, sprouts and tangerines in our house as I was growing up. They all still mean ‘Christmas’ to me. What I never knew as a child was that that is because most of those foods are seasonal. The Fethiye markets are brimming with citrus fruits (and festive citric aromas) and nuts of many varieties at the moment...and sprouts. At 36, we're just learning to like them. 

It's up to us

WE choose when our Christmas starts. WE can turn the Christmas music on and WE can turn it off when we’re sick of it. (Muppets Christmas is playing at the moment so that can stay on.)

Christmas Day will be spent exactly as we want it to be – we’ll do something to make it special, but, to be honest, we’ve not even really thought about this Christmas Day yet. Why? Because it’s only the 16th of December. IT’S NOT CHRISTMAS YET. We don’t have to order the turkey and stock up as if the shops are going to be closed for a month. Christmas Day is not a holiday in Turkey. We can go to the shops if we run out of milk. We can even buy our meat from the butcher on Christmas morning if we want!

It's a bit different

We’ve completely embraced Turkish food (not difficult being that it’s so good) but on previous Christmas Days, when Turkish friends visit us, traditional Christmas mince pies it is! They eat them politely – very politely. Maybe they won’t be calling on us this year.

The Cons of Christmas in Fethiye

Friends and family in Britain

When we chose to come to Turkey, that meant leaving friends and family behind in England so we do think about them over Christmas…but we will see a lot of them throughout the summer months.

We’ve only got three Christmas cards and they’ll probably be the only 3 we’ll get. It’s not really a con (we’ve only sent 2 so the extra one is a bonus!) but we had to have something to pad out this section.

I think that just about explains it.

How will you be spending Christmas this year? Are you a traditionalist or do you like to do something a bit different?

Seasonal Food in Turkey - Bergamot(?) & Christmas Greetings

Another seasonal Turkish food discovery - bergamot

Anyone seen these before? We went to Cafe Pazar yesterday to arrange a hire car for Monday and to wish our friends a Merry Christmas. As we were sitting and chatting, one of our friends walked in with another man and they were carrying these. Apparently, they are called bergamot.



I've done a quick investigation on Google Images and typically, these two lumpy fruits do not resemble any of the photos on there. Maybe these are special Turkish bergamot! They're from our friend's mum's tree in her front garden, so they definitely grow here in Fethiye, and she had just made the jam/jelly that you can see in the middle of the two fruits. It was still warm and really aromatic. A bit like a mild, perfumed marmalade. Pleasant on the taste buds.



Bergamot is also the fruit that is used to make Earl Grey tea and the oil from the fruit is used in the fragrance industry. It's the rind and the skin that is used as the fruit inside is really sour. Yet more useful / useless pieces of information we have learnt since starting Turkey's For Life! Thought it was a nice one to leave you with over Christmas.

To all of you who read Turkey's For Life;

thanks for reading and, if you celebrate it, have a fabulous, merry Christmas! Happy Holidays!

Christmas Day In Fethiye - A Tale of Two Cultures

Our Christmas Day in Fethiye usually involves us inviting Turkish friends to our house for the day and force feeding mince pies and other Christmas 'delights' upon them. This year, we decided to keep it quiet and just do the rounds, bearing gifts. We were to go to our friend's house and give them their Christmas present, up to another friend's in Fethiye and then across to Çalış to visit Barry's parents and eat Christmas dinner with them.



The visits to Turkish friends was supposed to be a quick, 'Hello, Merry Christmas and here's your gift. Must dash.' However, what we should be more than fully aware of by now, is that that is just not possible with Turkish friends. Hospitality is everything - the guest is everything! Luckily, we'd given ourselves a bit of leeway with regards to time.



And so a Christmas Day stroll, in the warm sunshine, along Fethiye harbour and to 'house visit' number one. 'We can't stay. We're just dropping these off and then we're going to...'

'Nonsense. You can come in for ten minutes.'

Before we knew it, we were taking our shoes off, slippers were placed on the doorstep for us and we were sat in their house exchanging gifts. Then came the food...

 A VERY traditional Turkish recipe - Aşure / Noah's Pudding

This is aşure. The story goes that aşure is what Noah made as a last meal on the ark once the floods had subsided. It's also known as Noah's Pudding or Noah's dessert. As there wasn't an abundance of food left in the ark's food stores, Noah used the various ingredients that were left over (grains, pulses, dried fruit) and produced this bountiful and very filling concoction. Today, ingredients vary slightly between different regions of Turkey and countries of the Middle East.



Aşure is one of the oldest recipes of this part of the world and at the moment, unbeknown to us (until yesterday) it is aşure time of year. Turkish people make aşure and serve it to family, friends and neighbours. It's served as a symbol of peace and love - and we arrived just as aşure was being distributed. Spoons were handed to us and a rather large bowl of aşure - not something you want to be eating when you're just on your way to eat Christmas dinner - but hey, it's Christmas! What better time for us to be eating aşure?   



I swirled my spoon round and round in the bowl to try to identify the ingredients in there. Our friend is no cook and just told us there were 'lots of things' in it. I spotted barley, white beans, chickpeas, crushed walnuts, pomegranate seeds, cinnamon (lots of cinnamon). A quick scout around Google pages this morning has revealed that there was possibly rice and rosewater in there as well. A dessert containing chickpeas and beans is not something I would have considered - but it works. We shared a bowl of warm aşure and I have to say, I'm not sure I could have gotten through one to myself. Very rich, very festive (that must be the cinnamon) and then a burst of freshness as the crunchy pomegranate seeds pop between your teeth. Oodles of calories!



We arrived at house number one expecting to offload some gifts and make our bag a bit lighter for our walk to house number two. We left house number one with more gifts than we arrived with and very full tummies! Very fitting that we should arrive at our friends' house on our Christmas Day in Fethiye just as they were sharing out aşure; a symbol of love, peace and merriment.