For the past couple of weeks I’ve been staying at a friend’s house in Fener, which is on the other side of Antalya from where I live. I decided I should probably go and see the fener that Fener was named for, and here it is. It’s kind of a January-looking photo considering I took it just a few days ago, and if you were hoping for something a little warmer, here’s another shot I got of it a year ago from a distance:

I don’t know, all lighthouses kind of look the same to me. It is very well maintained, though.

Sometimes even when you’re sitting on the balcony in the August sun, you can just feel autumn around the corner. For me it’s the most exciting time of the year, looking forward to not having summer anymore (as summer is a wretched season with no redeeming qualities whatsoever).

Dragonflies. Definitely an August/September thing.

It’s almost the time of year where the sunsets get galactically beautiful again. It’s wonderful to watch the seasonal transformation into autumn.

Morning at the Kaş marina.

Not a bad place to hang your laundry.

This may seem like a crazy thing to say in the middle of August, but I’m feeling autumn pushing its way in… slowly but surely. I couldn’t be more happy about it.

If you’ve not heard of Cittaslow, it’s a spin-off of the Slow Food movement. Certified Slow Cities are those who can show evidence that they are committed to the values of slow living, both in both in theory and practical application.

When I first heard that Kaş was applying to be Turkey’s second Cittaslow, I didn’t really think they would do what it took to make it happen. Cittaslow has a very strict set of conditions that towns have to meet before they can be certified. One of the conditions is that there cannot be any motor vehicle traffic in the town centre. Well, I went to Kaş last weekend, and lo and behold, they’ve already blocked off traffic on the marina road, and several other streets have become completely pedestrianised. So it looks like they’re serious about doing this. I can’t wait to see what these changes will bring, because one of the things I’ve always loved about Kaş is its quaint and tranquil atmosphere, and I think the Cittaslow movement is exactly what the doctor ordered for the Gem of the Riviera.

I was setting up for another shot when these two ladies came around the corner. It was an unbearably humid day, and they had to trek home up a steep and long hill.

Voices newspaper is reporting problems in Altınkum stemming from a recent ban on excessive noise after midnight. The new law has kept nightclubs and bars from playing loud music after 23.59, which, according to the owners of these businesses, has caused a huge loss of tourist traffic.

To my mind, the issue here is not noise, but a complete absence of the concept of zoning. In most places in Europe and North America (perhaps elsewhere, as well), there are certain areas that are zoned for commercial, areas that are zoned for entertainment, areas that are zoned for residential, and so forth. In Turkey, this apparently doesn’t exist, as in most towns you get a random assortment of houses mixed in with businesses, and so forth. This means that you could be a young couple with a baby, moving into a lovely, quiet apartment building, and then three weeks after you move in, the hairdressers downstairs closes, and a they open a bar in its place. Then, without having done anything, you’re now living above a noisy bar, and it’s hard enough to keep the baby asleep without trance music thumping through your floor at four in the morning. So you complain to the council, and once enough complaints come in, they have to do something.

I don’t think this is the solution, though. Forcing tourists not to celebrate their holidays in holiday towns is a bit ridiculous. I think they’re going to have to start designating specific areas where clubs and bars can operate, and designate residential areas a certain distance away. But will they see that? Well, stay tuned.

Apparently there’s a new law in Turkey that companies have to employ five Turkish workers for every foreign employee they bring in. There are also new wage caps for foreign employees.

While the wage caps are news to me, I’m not completely sure the Turk-to-foreigner ratio law is so new. When I lived in Kemer, I knew several restaurant owners who said they wished they could hire a German or English waiter, but it wasn’t possible because you had to have X number of employees in order to hire a foreigner, and they didn’t have that many. And that was 2004, so I’m confused as to how this is a “new” law, but perhaps I was misunderstanding something before. Since I don’t have a job myself, I don’t really keep up with these issues, but I’d be interested to know how foreign tourist agencies are going to fare, and what the reaction to the wage cap will be.