Sığacık

Sığacık is unusual in that people live inside the castle: the sixteenth-century Ottoman fortress walls enclose a grid of narrow lanes and low houses, and rather than being cleared as a monument the enclosure remained a working village, so the walls have houses built against and into them. Outside is a marina and a small fishing harbour with fish restaurants. Seferihisar was the first Turkish town admitted to the Cittaslow network in 2009, and the Sunday market at Sığacık is the visible result - producers from the surrounding villages selling vegetables, herbs, olive oil, cheese, tarhana and seed varieties, with a genuine emphasis on local smallholders rather than resellers. Around the village are quiet swimming coves at Akkum, the ancient site of Teos in the olive groves a few kilometres away, and campsites along the shore. It is busy on Sundays and at weekends in summer, and quiet the rest of the time.

What you actually see

• The inhabited castle - houses built inside and against the walls.
• The Sunday market - village producers in the harbour square.
• The marina and harbour - fishing boats and fish restaurants.
• The Akkum coves - swimming beaches a short way round.

When to go

April to June and September to October. Sunday for the market, which is the main event; weekdays are quiet and half the cafés are shut in winter.

Honest expectations

The village is small - a couple of hours covers it outside market day. Lanes inside the walls are very narrow and cars do not fit. Summer weekends fill the harbour and parking.

Nearby

Teos is a few kilometres inland; Urla and its vineyards are north on the peninsula.