Tire Market

Tire holds one of the largest weekly markets in the Aegean every Tuesday, filling street after street of the town centre with produce from the surrounding villages, cheese, olives, herbs, dried fruit, textiles and household goods. What distinguishes it from any other Turkish market is the craft quarter that persists alongside: Tire was a significant Ottoman commercial town, and a handful of workshops still practise trades that have died out nearly everywhere else - keçecilik, the making of felt from raw wool by beating and rolling, along with saddlery, blacksmithing, copper work, rope-making and the weaving of goat-hair sacks. Several of the felt-makers are recognised as living heritage practitioners and will show the process. The town also has Ottoman mosques, hans and a covered bazaar, and a museum in a restored medrese. Ödemiş and the mountain village of Birgi are a short drive on.

What you actually see

• The Tuesday market - village produce filling the town centre.
• The felt workshops - wool beaten and rolled by hand.
• The old trades - saddlers, coppersmiths and rope-makers.
• The Ottoman fabric - mosques, hans and the covered bazaar.

When to go

Tuesday, and only Tuesday, for the market - the town is quiet the rest of the week, though the craft workshops keep ordinary hours. Mornings are the fullest.

Honest expectations

The market is genuinely crowded and chaotic. Craft workshops are working premises, not demonstrations - ask before photographing. Parking on market day is impossible; the train is easier.

Nearby

Birgi is up in the hills past Ödemiş; Ephesus and Selçuk are west toward the coast.