ŞIRINCE
Şirince (meaning sweet/cute) is a small hidden village, nestled into the hills of the Central Aeagean Region, about 6 km from the town Selçuk. Şirince was once a Greek village, until the Greco-Turkish War in 1923. The Greek villagers and farmers used to grow vineyards in the valleys sourrounding the village, something the Turkish population picked up on again a couple of decennia later. The village was once called Çirkince (meaning ugly) but luckily for the village the governor of Izmir province wasn't happy with that name and changed it into Şirince back in 1926. Which is a much better name for a pretty village like this one.
Interesting fact about Şirince: you might have heard of this village in the media when it suddenly became famous last year in the hype of December 2012: the end of the world as we know it. For those who believed in the Mayan doomsday, it was said (by whoever decides these things) that Şirince was one of very few villages in the world where people would be safed from any catastrophe because of its special energy and location. Thanks to this rather unusual attention world wide, the little village of 600 inhabitants had been visited by many tourists and even some celebrities around that time. Either seeking refugee or just driven by curiosity, who knows. But what should really bring you here is the wine and beautiful nature.
The local architecture of the village is now under legal protection in order to preserve its beautiful historical look. It's a lot of fun to walk through the little, rather hilly streets of the village, filled with little shops selling souvenirs, handicrafts, local products and most of all wine. The village produces it's own fruit wines with flavors like peach, melon, cherry, strawberry or blackberry.
Wine tasting is offered everywhere. So I really recommend you to spend the evening there, going from one wine tasting bar to the next, until you've tasted all the flavors, chit chatted with the locals, had a good meal and your head starts spinning.. then it's time to look up a comfortable bed in one of the super cute, renovated pensions which usually have no more than 3 rooms to offer. Have a great homemade breakfast out in the open air the next morning before you leave the little village with a smile and lots of good memories. We couldn't though.. because we had to make it to Izmir the same evening. But we defenitely plan to go back one day to do extactly that. It's gonna be fun. We already found this one that we really liked.
"It's always crowded here on weekends", they told us.
Wine tasting.
Pretty flowers in girl's hair
Strolling around
Şirince souvenirs
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