Sirince
Sirince
This pretty old Orthodox village, 12 km away from Ephesus and 30 km from Kusadasi, was once Cirkince ("ugly"). Indeed its habitants gave this name on purpose as they did not want to be bothered by foreigners nor to share the beauty of their village.Still after years, visitors understood that the village was not ugly at all and called it Sirince ("pretty"). As the village is located on the top of a mountain, anyone will enjoy the impressive wine yards' and peach trees' views on his way. Today the village is a perfect synthesis of Turk-Greek culture as of the 1920's: after the Independence War, people exchange between Greek and Turks has occurred and all those typical Greek houses, though they kept their original outside characteristics, have received the local layout inside. And even in the courtyard of one of them, one will discover a nicely restorated Orthodox church.
All the narrow streets of the village belong to the women, selling handcrafts of all kinds. Sit in one of the small terrace restaurants and enjoy some local gozleme ( turkish pancake). Another attraction of Sirince is its home grown fruit and grape wines. Enjoy some taste testing in the small cafés or in the beautifully restored former municipal school.