Forty-five minutes inland, a stone village of vineyards, fruit wines and long lunches under vine shade.
Şirince sits in a fold of hills above Selçuk, a village of stone houses and steep lanes that was left almost untouched for most of the last century. It is best visited on a weekday, and best of all before noon.
The village is known for its fruit wines, which range from the excellent to the frankly experimental. Taste widely, buy narrowly. The more serious cellars are a short drive further up, where the vineyards look back down the valley towards the coast.
Taste widely, buy narrowly, and let the afternoon slow down.
Lunch is the point of the day. Ask for a table under the vines, order more mezze than seems reasonable, and let the afternoon slow down. Our concierge can reserve a table at a producer's own table — a lunch that does not appear on any list.
Come back down the hill in the late afternoon, in time for the sea. The contrast between the two — the dry inland warmth and the first breath of the bay — is one of the quiet pleasures of staying on this coast.
