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This is the historic mountainside town that served
as the first seat of the Ottoman Empire, where a bathhouse and palace
built by Emperor Justinian in the sixth century still stand.
Coming into town on the bus, however, the first sights we saw were the
illumined signs of Burger King, McDonalds and a Ford dealership.
Bursa has grown into a modern, industrial city, but the town center
retains its charm with old Ottoman houses, riverfront cafes, parks
and streams. It is situated in a picturesque valley at the
base of Mount Olympus, or Uludag in Turkish. Bursa is well-known for
the curative powers of its mineral springs, accessed in hotel and public
bathhouses, or hamams.
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We visited the tombs of Osman (left) and Orhan Gazi
(right), the
founders of the Ottoman Empire. They were built in the 14th
century atop the ruins of a Byzantine church, and some of the old church
floor is incorporated into the tomb. Osman laid seige to this Byzantine
city of Prusa in 1315, but it was his son, Orhan, who finally took Prusa
in 1325 and renamed it Bursa. While the Ottoman Empire was expanding and
squeezing out the Byzantine Empire, the Byzantines formed an alliance by
marrying their princess Nilufer to Orhan, son of Osman.
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| Bursa is also well known for its beautiful mosques,
like the Ulu Cami (Great Mosque). There are 20 domes on the roof,
gargantuan marble columns covered in fine Arabic calligraphy, and plush
Oriental wall-to-wall carpeting. Between prayer times, the tourists far
outnumber the worshippers. In the picture on the left above, you
can see the old guys kneeled down praying, and in the far right of the
picture is the lavishly decorated niche that shows the direction to
Mecca. |
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| The gigantic calligraphic inscriptions on the mosque's
pillars and walls represent the 90 names of Allah in Arabic languages.
The intricately carved wooden structure behind Erin-Kate is called a
minber and is built of interlocking pieces fitted together without glue
or nails. The geometric designs represent the skies. |
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| Then on to the Yesil Cami (Green Mosque), built in 1424
on a small hill in the city, surrounded by huge gnarled trees and a
sleepy little park. The marbled entrance is vividly
colored and detailed. Check out the red and blue marble above the door
which looks like carpets, and this detail of the marble carvings around
the entrance. |
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| This is the first mosque built in a truly Turkish
architectural style and has much softer lines than the more geometric
Ulu Cami. Interestingly, the gorgeous rooms (2 pictures on right)
flanking the main space (left) are where the sultans bureaucrats
conducted business. The colors are so fantastic and tiles so
striking I couldn't stop taking pictures. The organic, baroque
decoration at the top of the room along with the stained glass seem more
like a cross between Byzantium and Antonio Gaudi rather than Ottoman Islam.
In addition to these extravagant offices, there is a room above the
entrance which served as the sultans private quarters, but we couldn't
gain access. |
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Next door is the ornate Yesil Turbe (Green Tomb),
built to house the founder of the Green Mosque, Mehmet I, and his
children. The tile work is amazing, although it's more turquoise
than green. Mehmet's tomb is covered in Arabic calligraphy, as is
the tombstone in front of the building, next to Erin Kate. The
Turkish language used an Arabic alphabet until the 1920's, when Ataturk
changed it to its current Roman form. |
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Attached to Bursa's huge covered bazaar is the
Silk Cocoon Caravanserai. The Seljuk Turks who ruled Anatolia in
the 15th century built caravanserais all along the silk
trade route, about a days camel-ride apart. These were like traders'
bases- you entered through a huge gated stone archway into a
spacious courtyard where you parked your camel, got a drink of water
from the fountain, and unloaded your goods into the first floor
storehouses. Traders retreated to the second floor to conduct
business and secure lodging. They still trade in silkworm cocoons
here, but in the middle of winter, the place was
deserted.
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| Near the Green Mosque, we ran into this guy who had a
shop full of interesting little trinkets, like rugs, knives, and
teapots, and he made Erin Kate try on this hat. Of course, I had
to get a photo of them together. Gold shops like this one above
can be found everywhere -small rooms packed with the most brilliantly
shining gold jewelry. In Eskisehir, there's a whole street devoted
to them, and there's so much gold and flash you need sunglasses to walk
by. |
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| This is Erin Kate in front of our hotel, a
nicely restored Ottoman house. Not far from our hotel was the old
Jewish quarter dating back to the 15th century, and the main happening
street looked straight out of a Swiss or German village. It was a
cobblestone street lined with fish restaurants of a European style
architecture hung with Danish beer signs. Apparently, a man opened one
of the restaurants here years ago and it was so successful that his
successors opened four more with the same name, and they are all right
next door to each other. We chose one at random, and found a warm,
festive atmosphere inside, replete with Turkish musicians playing folk
ballads. At one point the electricity cut out, and we had to finish
our meal by candlelight. The seafood was delicious! |
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