Sightseeing Routes Around İzmir
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İzmir is the most beautiful city in the Aegean. İzmir residents, who like to live a comfortable and stress-free life, cannot stop praising their city. Of course, there is some truth in this. When you get in your car and drive only half an hour or an hour, you can see exquisite places with different characters.
Sığacık
Located about 55 km from İzmir, Sığacık is today a neighborhood of Seferihisar. The region draws attention with its structure spreading from the walls of a castle built in the 16th century to the surrounding area.
Sığacık Castle and its magnificent city walls, built in 1522 on the order of Suleiman the Magnificent, are among the most important ruins of the neighborhood. The cozy two-story houses with wooden shutters, the sweet wind blowing and the beautiful beaches nearby are worth seeing.
Akkum Beach, where windsurfing is popular, and Ekmeksiz Beach, which is a corner of paradise and a favorite place for campers, are among the shining stars of today. On Sundays, the organic bazaar in the center offers many delicious products as well as handicrafts.
Şirince
Şirince Village, which is shown as one of the two places in the world that will survive in the event of an apocalypse, has become famous in recent years. The village, which is 87 km from İzmir and 7 km from Selçuk, has turned into the most popular and livable village of the Aegean with interesting projects in recent years.
The village has already made a name for itself for years with its friendly people, unique architecture and homemade wines, but you may not have been to the village yet. Try to visit on a weekend before the streets, which are getting more crowded every day, are packed. If you don’t have a car, you can buy your ticket from Turna.com bus ticket page and stay in Şirince’s exquisite boutique hotels.
Şirince has an atmosphere that melts your heart with its protected architecture, valleys full of magnificent greenery, fragrant peach orchards and olive groves so beautiful that you can get lost in them. Its architecture is the main reason for its charm.
Two-story houses with bay windows and cobbled streets tell us how the communities of the past had good taste. Two dilapidated Greek churches are among the places to see in the region, which received many immigrants during the exchange period. Some of the Greek houses in the village serve as hostels today.
Walking along the cobblestone streets, photographing the houses and watching the village from Ilyas hill, where the whole of Şirince is under your feet, are among the most beautiful activities to do here.
Ancient City of Ephesus
Ephesus is located on the İzmir-Aydın highway, 84 km from İzmir. Many of the historical buildings in the ancient city of Ephesus in Selçuk are still standing in all their glory. While the Ephesus Archaeology Museum in the city is one of the most visited museums, Isa Bey Mosque, one of the most important examples of Seljuk art, is among the historical points to be seen in the region.
The ancient city is known as one of the places where famous people who made a name for themselves in the world of science and art in the past grew up. Among them are the dream interpreter Atemidorus, the philosopher Heraclitus, the painter Parrhasius and the grammarian Zenodotus. The city, whose history dates back to the 6th millennium BC, has been home to many different civilizations such as Anatolian tribes and Hittites, as can be observed with the ruins obtained.
The city attracts visitors not only for its cultural tourism but also for its important position in the Christian era. The House of the Virgin Mary, which is considered sacred, is located near Ephesus.
Birgi
Birgi, a neighborhood of Ödemiş, 143 km from İzmir, has not lost its importance since ancient times. Birgi has a cultural treasure with its history hidden in a lush green texture on the cool slopes of Bozdağlar, the magnificent mountains of the Aegean, the subject of countless legends.
The houses with stone walls, alaturka tiles and wooden windows, which can be seen through centuries-old plane trees and pine trees, fascinate those who see them as if they came from the hands of a painter. The town resembles an open-air museum with its narrow streets bearing the traces of civilizations that have lived on it throughout history and the ruins of different periods.
Gölcük
Gölcük, 128 km from İzmir and 20 km from Birgi, is one of the oldest settlements in history. The town, which was an important settlement center during the Aydinoglu Principality and the Ottoman period, is 30 km from Sart, the center of the Lydian Kingdom, and 20 km from Salihli Hot Springs.
Gölcük, located on the foothills of Bozdağ, is used as a “plateau” by people living in regions such as İzmir, Ödemiş and Tire due to its cool weather in summer. The town, which is one of the rare regions where snow falls in winter, also stands out with its winter tourism.
The town, which is one of the places preferred by those who want to be in touch with nature with the magnificent colors of nature in summer, is one of the favorite places for those who want to walk around the freezing lake under the white snow cover in winter. Bozdağ, located in the immediate vicinity of the region, is a good alternative for ski lovers.
Ödemiş
Located 123 km from İzmir, Ödemiş has an important place in terms of nature, culture and faith tourism. The district surprises visitors with its centuries-old trees, medicinal herbs, natural lake located among magnificent pine forests and exquisite landscapes.
The local agricultural products, local handicrafts, sericulture and weaving in the quaint villages are highly developed, and the district also attracts attention with traditional games such as camel wrestling, beautiful singing canary competitions and rooster dances.
Standing out not only for its traditional tourism but also for its culture and faith tourism, the district also offers visitors the pleasure of skiing in the Aegean in winter. Ödemiş, which can be visited regardless of the season, is also ideal for many sports such as caving, parachuting, fishing, skiing and hiking.
