Handmade in Turkey; A story of local businesses!

One of the things noticeable about this country is the number of traditional handmade products that can be found in just about every bazaar and it ranges from scarves to pottery and even traditional homemade wine, olive oil or Jam. However, if you really want to get a feel for these local products being made at home and sold at home, the best way would be to head out to the village of Şirince.

On route to the village, we stopped by a carpet weaving factory. After a quick tour of the factory where they showed us how the girls who work there spin their own silk, use natural dyes and put in every single knot that goes into weaving a carpet, we were taken to a room to be shown the finished products. I might have been transported to one of those epic Persian tales as carpets in vibrant hues and colors flew past me.

Şirince is a small mountain village south of Izmir with a population of 500 (Yes, just 500 people!). While it might be on top of a hill, it’s still quite hot and is characterized with cobbled streets, small houses with flower gardens, local businesses selling what they produce and a single minaret mosque. 

The most distinctive product here is fruit wine as every third shop seems to be selling wines made at home using cherry, mulberry, peach, raspberry and every other fruit grown in their back yard. After many pitstops for some unusual wine tasting, we stopped for lunch.

I might have discovered my new favorite food over here. Gözleme or as they tell the tourists Stuffed Turkish pancakes, which are pancakes or what I could call roomali roti stuffed with anything from potatoes  cheese, mince, spinach, mushroom, just to name a few. I felt like I was sitting in someone’s backyard under the olive trees eating an assortment of appetizers, bread with olive oil, yogurt dip, Gözleme and grilled fish. O wait, I was actually in someone’s backyard!

Turkish Ice cream is the most unusual ice cream I’ve ever tasted; it’s completely handmade and has a chewy yet crunchy texture. If you don’t want to eat it in a cone, they can sandwich it for you in between wafers.

 As I continued wandering around the village I saw many stores making their own olive oil and olive products. In one store sat a man cross legged carving wooden spoons. There were handmade scarves of silk and wool all created with natural dye. The ladies of the village must be excellent seamstresses as they work their own lace and use it to make tops, dresses and skirts.

After we left this quaint village, we stopped by a pottery factory. I have in the past few weeks realized that ceramic tiles, bowls, plates and figurines are a big market here in Turkey, so it was an absolute treat to see how it was made. We got to see Mustafa do his magic on the potter’s wheel and create a bowl with a cover and then a vase; we then met the painter who intricately applied each stroke using natural dyes to a plate. Then we gasped in awe as we walked around and looked at all their creations.

To keep with the local feel, we even opted to drive back over the country roads rather than the highway and spotted the Greek island of Samos in a distance over the sea just as the sun was setting that evening.