Gocek is more than a marina town, it is a genuine community where farming, fishing, and a relaxed coastal lifestyle come together. This guide covers what it is like to live in Gocek, where to find the best local produce, and how to experience the town like an insider.
Gocek locals have both worker and farmer backgrounds due to mine and paper factories in the area which closed long ago. The people are open-minded and friendly. Women are actively involved in the local economy, and the town hosts many women's rights advocates.
Foreigners as well as people from major cities such as Istanbul who have retirement homes here or have simply gotten away from big cities are mostly well educated professionals looking for calm.
All kinds of vegetables are grown in the area thanks to the very fertile soil and nice climate. Citrus trees cover the land all over including Gocek center, from tangerines to lemons.
Gokceovacik village is a plain above the hills about 10 kilometres from the town centre where farming is still a major source of revenue. Inlice, only a couple of kilometres from Gocek and near the beach, is a beautiful farming village.
Every Sunday there is a marketplace near the fire station where some farmers bring their own produce and traders sell produce they buy from other sources outside the area.
Two local farmers sell fresh fruits and vegetables they pick from their own or neighbours' gardens every day in the city centre. Ask for the motorcycle farmer!
Citrus fruits on the sidewalks and in the municipality garden are waiting for you to pick.
You can buy fresh fish from the local fishermen in Inlice and in Gocek. The popular fish of the area are Karagoz, Mercan, Akya, Turna and Sokar. Cipura and Levrek sold on the market are overwhelmingly from fish farms, so ask for one of the local varieties to taste the real thing.
Locals bring their outboards and dinghies for Sunday fishing trips along the coast.
Don't forget to check the taste of gozleme in the Gocek marketplace (bazaar) on Sundays. Gozleme is a Turkish rolled dough filled with cheese, potato or sometimes sweets. The one I suggest is potatoes, cheese and silaotu, a local green herb with a beautiful scent. You can find it near the tea garden inside the bazaar.
You can hike from Gocek to Inlice bay in two and a half hours. The walk through the pine forest offers wonderful views over Gocek bay and the surrounding islands.
One of the main events for locals is picking mushrooms in the woods in late autumn. The mushroom is called cintar (pronounced chintar). There are two other types of mushrooms in the area.
Wild boar hunting is also done in the area.
Beehives are scattered around the hills. You can buy Gocek pine honey in the Sunday bazaar.
All telephone numbers in Gocek start with 645.
The best weather forecast for Gocek is the average of Izmir and Antalya, locals say. Fethiye is very close to Gocek but the temperatures are just a bit lower in Gocek.