Şirince, near Selçuk & Ephesus, Turkey

Şirince, near Selçuk & Ephesus

Şirince is a beautiful hill town only 8 km (5 miles) east of Selçuk, near Ephesus, in the Aegean hinterland south of Izmir (map). It's famous for its olive oil, fruit wines, other natural products, and its charming, restful boutique hotels.

A dozen small restaurants cater to day-trippers, hotel guests, and locals alike.

Though tourism has arrived, Şirince is still a village.

Here are the sounds of Şirince: birds chirp, donkeys bray, goats baa, mourning doves coo, dogs bark, roosters crow, children play. A tractor passes.

The call to prayer from the village's single minaret is a scratchy recording.

During the day in the warm, busy tourism months, it's easy to miss that Şirince is a village. Buses roar up the hill (but aren't allowed to enter the village), groups wander clicking cameras and jingling money.

But in the morning and evening, when the day-trippers are not around, or at any time out of high season, you'll know at once that Şirince is still a village.

A number of village houses have been beautifully restored and opened as inns, with comfortable double rooms, as well as suites for families, and even rental houses for longer stays.

This makes it a fine place to stay, and a congenial base for your explorations throughout the Ephesus region. More...

If you don't stay overnight, go to Şirince for a stroll, photography, a bit of cooler air, a lunch or dinner in one of the many small restaurants, sampling the local fruit wines.

Besides wines, you'll find many local and organic products: vinegar, honey, soaps, and traditional sweeteners called pekmez made from a variety of fruits. Nar ekşisi is a tasty vinegar substitute made from pomegranate juice.

Some say the Orthodox Christian Greeks who lived here during the Ottoman Empire were famed for the excellence of their wine. The Muslim Turks who moved here from Thessaloniki in 1924 re-started wine-making using local fruits, including apple, apricot, banana, blackberry, blueberry, creamberry, mulberry (black, and white), mandarin orange, melon, orange, peach, quince, sour (Morello) cherry and strawberry. You can taste the results and judge for yourself when you visit. They sell red, white and rosé, dry and sweet.

A few local producers have switched from the local vines, which in fact produce table grapes, to Turkey's better wine grapes such as Narince.

The story goes that Şirince was formerly inhabited by Ottoman Greeks and named Kırkınca ("Forty-ish"), which the locals pronounced Çirkince, which means "sort of ugly" (which it certainly is not).

During the exchange of populations following World War I, Turks from Thessaloniki, Greece were moved here (1924). They changed the name to Şirince (shee-REEN-jeh, "sort of sweet, charming").

Here's a historical note on Mr Zeki Çelikçi, a Şirince master craftsman who carved wooden spoons by hand. More...

Şirince Hotels

Şirince Restaurants

Şirince Transport

Selçuk Town

Ephesus Area Hotels

Ephesus Ruins

Ephesus Museum, Selçuk

Pamucak Beach

Ephesus Region

Aegean Region

Above, the old Ottoman houses of Şirince, near Selçuk and Ephesus on Turkey's Aegean coast.

Below, a shady table at the Artemis Restaurant with a fine view of Şirince.