The third Çalış Carnival Christmas fair held yesterday in the resort of Çalış near Fethiye attracted thousands of visitors who enjoyed the warm sunshine, festive atmosphere and a bit of Christmas shopping right by the mirror like Mediterranean Sea.

The wet weather of the last few days cleared on Sunday morning to fine and warm sunny weather and the snow on the distant mountains made for the ideal backdrop for this year’s Christmas Fair.

Thousands of people packed onto the beach side promenade to browse the stalls selling everything from tinsel to that rarest of vegetables in the area, Parsnips.

Visitors came from as far a field as Bodrum, Marmaris and Kalkan to sample this unique local event.

Popular Christmas songs played through the PA system and Çalış’ very own singing group ‘The Sunset Singers’ ensured the air was full of that festive feeling.

This was the first public performance by the Sunset Singers and they excelled themselves with a wide medley of songs. The large audience watching them even joined in from time to time.

The highlight of the day for the kids and some adults too was the appearance of Father Christmas complete with his helpers Alf the Elf and Tommy Turtle.

They rode on their sleigh, well a pick up truck, on a tour of the area around the Sunday market and Gunlukbasi and handed sweets out to the children.

They then continued along the promenade until they arrived at Santa’s fantastic Grotto built entirely out of balloons courtesy of Hilkat of the Pera Organisation in Fethiye.

A large line of eager kids waited patiently to enter the grotto and whisper their Christmas present wishes to Santa.

The first customer dressed in his festive jump suit seemed a bit perplexed by Santa initially but all that changed when he was presented with a small gift.

The bars and restaurants along the sea front did a fantastic trade as so did the stalls.

For more pictures of the Christmas Fair and details of future events including the Carnival take a look at the newly designed Calis Carnival website here.