Here we are at the start of another season.  If you are a Kalkan regular what changes will you see when you come back this year?  Here is what we know at the start of April.  No doubt there will be more changes over the coming weeks and we will try to bring those to you in a further update.

The Mayor of Kalkan
It would be remiss of us not to begin this article by mentioning the Mayoral elections.  On Sunday 29th March the Turkish residents of Kalkan voted for a new Mayor.  The official result is taking a little longer to come through than expected, but the unofficial winner is Saim Karakurt of the CHP party.  Courts in Kaş and Antalya have not upheld challenges to the result and we now await a final ruling from Ankara.

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Restaurants
As ever, some eating places come and others go.  Here is a brief summary of the changes we have noticed, in no particular order.

• Gironda and Coast Restaurants are to become one restaurant known as Gironda at Coast and this will trade from the Gironda site.  The old Coast property is now the Kalamaki restaurant.
• Arena Restaurant is no more, and new owners have taken over with a new retaurant called Baharat Restaurant.
• Istanbul Restaurant has re-located and can now been found on the roof terrace of the Zinbad Hotel.  The old Istanbul is currently empty.
• A new tea house called Çay Han will be opening opposite Baharat Restaurant.  This is owned by the same family that runs the Olive Garden and Merkez.
• Lykia Restaurant will be replaced by a new business trading as The Nar Bar & Restaurant.
• Zeki's Restaurant has re-located and can now be found under Terrazzo Restaurant opposite Cafe Del Mar.  The old Zeki building is currently empty.
• Breeze Restaurant has been replaced by a new business trading as Bar BQ.
• Rami's restaurant has moved and is now where the old Havana restaurant used to be.  The spot where Rami's used to be, on Hasan Altan Cad. is now (guess what) another restaurant called Mussakka.
• Extinct restaurant, famed for its fish dishes, is to expand its range by also offering pides and kebabs from a new stone oven.
• The Lounge Bistro is a new bar and restaurant between the Need company (on Cumhuriyet Cad. - aka Kalamar Road) and Samira Garden hotel

Banks

• Kalkan has another bank - the Ziraat Bank has opened 100 metres above Akbank on Şehitler Cadessi.  
• Deniz Bank has relocated and can now be found above the Yalı supermarket.

Shops

• The Yalı supermarket has expanded to around twice the size and now offers a wider range of goods.
• There is a new shop called Can Can Market on Kalamar Road, opposite Beyhan villas, at the top of the hill just up from the Enes car park.
• The old Adda furniture store has closed and is to reopen as a new supermarket.
• Another new supermarket, Sevil supermarket, can now be found below Garanti Bank on Şehitler Cad.

Other businesses
The Enes car hire business no longer has offices by the petrol station or across the road from the Pirat Hotel.  Their only office is now located along Kalamar Road, where they park their vehicles.  The old Enes office opposite the Pirat Hotel is now Elit Kuaför, a rather swish (but small) unisex salon.

Wella hairdressers has moved about 100 metres to a room above Baykush.

Roads & Infrstructure
The major junction near the petrol station was pretty much completed last year, however there have been a few finishing touches over recent months, signs, white lines, traffic lights and the planting of some trees.

We have seen quite a few roads improved with the laying of blocks, and the road down to the harbour has been totally concreted, which should avoid the storm damage seen in previous years.  Other roads that suffered storm damage were promptly repaired, although some of the road surfaces in town could still be described as 'undulating', so take care.

There has been more underground electric cable laid, new streetlights erected, and most of Kalkan now has blue street signs.

Construction
In comparison to earlier years construction activity has been relatively light this winter, although in almost every quarter of Kalkan you can see evidence of new build.  There are some seriously large villas being built on the mountain side directly above the town.  

The shoreline development in Kalamar Bay has progressed but only a few of the planned properties are built.  On the hilltop overlooking Kalamar Bay, La Vanta continues to be developed.  Kızıltaş has seen some development too, particularly close to Bezirgan Road.  Very little change has taken place in the centre of town.