About
🍇 Şirince Village – Selçuk, İzmir
A hidden Aegean gem where time slows down and history whispers through stone-paved streets…
Just 8 kilometers from Selçuk, tucked into the green hills surrounded by olive groves and vineyards, lies a charming little village frozen in time. With its whitewashed stone houses, wooden bay windows, cobblestone paths, and the scent of fresh bread in the morning air — welcome to Şirince, a village as beautiful as its name implies.
📜 From Kırkınca to Şirince: A Story of Names and Roots
The village was once called Kırkınca, said to be named after forty people who once sought refuge in the mountains. Over the centuries, the name evolved — Kirkice, Kirkince, even Çirkince (meaning "ugly") — until, in the early Republic period, İzmir’s governor Kazım Dirik gave it a new identity: Şirince, meaning "pleasant" or "charming."
🏛️ From a Greek Town to a Turkish Village
In the 19th century, Şirince was a thriving Greek town with 1,800 households, famous for its fig production and wine exports. After the 1923 population exchange between Turkey and Greece, the Greek residents left for Nea Efesos in Katerini, and the village was resettled by Muslim Turks from Moustheni and Domatia in Kavala.
While the shift in agricultural traditions briefly disrupted the economy, over time, the locals revived viticulture and olive cultivation. Today, the village also produces peaches, figs, walnuts, and apples.
🌄 Şirince Today: A Village Reborn Through Tourism
In the 1950s, the population was around 2,000–3,000, but it declined to under 700. Since the 1990s,
