Şirince: Village of Wine

                               Hi There,
                Today I visited Şirince and I have lots of advice for you. Şirince is 8 kilometers far away from Selçuk. If you are in İzmir you can jump on a train for 5.75 Turkish Liras to came to Selçuk and from Selçuk, you can go Şirince with minibus for 3 TL. I will tell you more about Selçuk tomorrow. I can start with İzmir and than Selçuk and than Şirince, of course. But I wanna start what I love most.









                     First of all don't get off from the vehicle at last stop. You can get off at Yorgo Restaurant. That way you can not have to climb hills to see chuches. Near the Yorgo's you can see horses If you ask for it they can give you a horse ride for 20 TL/30 minutes. But I guess it is not necessary. Because you are there for the wine, god damn it! Anyway you will see Dimitros Restaurant at the other side of the road which has a good breakfast, If you are not hungry, keep going!



Before you go and see any of churches you will see one antiqueche and art gallery for felt. It runs by Umut Arabul who described by The New York Times as a one of last warrior of the felt art at Anatolia in Turkey. I suggest that at least you can see what is inside. I took a photo what is inside but it has a little blur so I don't wanna put it here.






                       A little bit further you can see the sign of church St. Demetrius. It will open for the first time tomorrow after a long long period of restoration. This road also allows you to see houses closer and take a good shots.
                       St. John Baptiste Church was open for long time but now it was closed for restoration. You can sit at the garden of church and still make a wish from the wish pool, though. If you are tired already it has a good view. You can sit and drink black mulberry juice.





And now you can go to center of village. Bazaar is there. If you wanna go shopping you can but like many of touristic places, Şirince has same stuff. Wine tasting makes Şirince special but for make people come they sell everything. Meeeh! They have a wine festival at every second sunday of october. I asked locals and I figured they don't make any since 2009. It makes me sad. I guess, it loses its soul when they cancelled very important thing for village. Maybe that's why Şirince became more and more touristic. People can not sell wine and can not promote it and they sell another things for earning money. If you want waterpipe you can go Çınaraltı Cafe. It located center of town. But you wanna drink Turkish coffee you can go Fındık Cafe. I drink elder-berry juice at Fındık Cafe and it has a light and great taste. You should try it too. I suggest that you to try Kaplankaya wines. Especially cherry or if you like a little bit more sweet you should try mulberry. Every places tells you that you can taste from them, I always choose Kaplankaya. It is a little bit expensive from other, though.
                         One of the best places at Şirince has a good view, Hodri Meydan Kulesi. It was built by Nişanyan to protest demolition of what he built in Şirince which is a protected area. But they didn't demolish anything, Kule still stands after you buy your wine you can go and drink there.
                         If you are hungry Artemis Restaurant or Ocakbaşı Restaurant has good view and also Artemis Restaurant has a history. It was the first elementary school in Şirince. Even if you don't wanna eat there you can still look what is inside.
                         Staying in Şirince is not a cheap option but if you wanna stay room prices between 100 and 250 TL per person. After 9pm you can not find even market to buy something. But if you want peace, relaxation, that is the place. That's for sure.