I know you know it’s big but let’s look
at figures....Turkey covers 783,000 square kilometres, compared to 243,000 for
the whole of the UK. It is 1,485 km (922
miles) from Kirklareli in the north west to Hakkari in the south east (the same
as the distance between London and Barcelona).
Fethiye is 620km (385 miles) from Ankara and 780km (485 miles) from
Istanbul.
The highest mountain, Mount Agri (Ararat),
is over 5,000 m above sea level; Ben
Nevis, by the way is 1,345 m high. Fethiye’s Baba Mountain – from which the
paragliders take off – is 1,969m.
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| view of the Black Sea Region |
Turkey has 7,200km of coastline fronting
4 seas – the Black Sea in the north, the Marmara in the north west, the Aegean
on the west and the Med in the south.
Along the coast are 436 blue flag beaches (including Oludeniz lagoon
beach). For comparison, Greece has 395
and Mexico just 20 (The Blue Flag is the certificate of the Foundation for
Environmental Education showing that a beach meets its stringent standards).
As you
would expect in an area this size, there are several different climatic zones
and extremes of temperature range from -40 to 50+ °C (-40 to 122°F). Fethiye and the surrounding area enjoy over
3000 sunshine hours a year, while parts of the north east have snow for four
months of the year.
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| picking hazelnuts |
This
variation is partly responsible for an amazing diversity of plant-life – 9,300
species (compared to 11,500 in the whole of Europe). Turkey is the world’s largest producer of
hazelnuts (check the packet you buy at the supermarket – it will say ‘produce
of Turkey’), cherries, figs, apricots and pomegranates and amongst the top ten
producers of olives, sugar beet, tea, wheat and cotton. It has been self-sufficient in food production
since the 1980s.
There are
almost 500 species of bird in Turkey, including 40 raptors. Its location on the migratory route between
Europe and Africa makes it possible to see many other species at certain times
of year.
So, if
you are a bird watcher or a botanist, Turkey is obviously a great place! But here are some of the many activities you can enjoy here....
Walking,
trekking, mountaineering (trekking routes include the Lycian Way which starts
in Fethiye)
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| the Lycian way |
Skiing
and snowboarding – there are about ten ski resorts
Diving,
sailing, watersports (Fethiye is a great place for all of these and Calis has hosted the Turkish kite surfing championships in the past)
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| kite surfers in Calis |
White-water rafting, canoeing, sea kayaking
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| rafting on the Dalaman River |
Cycling,
horse riding, paragliding, quad biking ....
.....and if you don't fancy any of these, just lie on one of the Blue Flag beaches and admire the view.
