Tire Tuesday Market and the Küçük Menderes Plain

The Tuesday market in Tire is one of the largest and oldest in the Aegean. Camel leather goods, felt, copperware and local cheeses are sold along the same streets. It is less a shopping trip than a living exhibition of crafts, which is why it deserves to be the centre of the day.

Getting there: a commuter train and buses run from İzmir to Tire in about an hour and a half. You must come on a Tuesday, and the market is at its liveliest early in the morning.

The day: spend the morning at the market. Turn off the main street into the side lanes to find the leather workers, felt makers and coppersmiths; the main avenue is more touristic. Towards midday move into the town centre. Tire has a long and little known list of Ottoman mosques and hans, of which the Yeşil İmaret Zaviyesi and the Yeni Mosque are the most striking, while the museum gathers finds from the plain. In the afternoon you can drive down into the Küçük Menderes plain, where the road runs restfully between fig and olive groves.

Eating: Tire meatballs and şambali, a semolina dessert, come first. Restaurants in the market serve meat flatbread and keşkek, and the local curd and skin ripened cheese are worth trying.

Tips: the market begins to break up in the afternoon, so aim to arrive by nine. Carry cash, as many stalls do not take cards.