Bursa

ABOUT BURSA

I travelled across Turkey by bus, it was convenient and comfortable. Distances between places that I visited were not big and in many cases the bus was the only option.

Bursa is not far from Istanbul and it took approximately 2 hours to arrive. In reality, if you leave Istanbul early in the morning and if you take the last bus back, you can do a day-trip to Bursa. But I don’t suggest it because there is so much to see in Bursa, one day is not enough. Surely, you can rush through and see a lot, but you would also want to stop for a lunch or for a coffee, to enjoy the moment and everything around you.

Well, the main reason why I chose to go to Bursa was because there is so much to see there. It was the first major capital of the Ottoman Empire, after Ottomans conquered in 1326. It remained the capital city until 1363 when Ottomans conquered Adrianople, the modern day Edirne, and moved the capital there.

But Bursa retained its spiritual and commercial importance and that’s reflected by various monumental structures constructed there after 1363.

The Ottoman history is all over the city. In fact, the Ottoman heritage is so rich that the historical part of Bursa is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Istanbul, being the Ottoman capital for many centuries, is certainly the key place to explore the Ottoman history, although the earliest Ottoman historic site in Istanbul dates from a period after the conquest in 1453. The history in Bursa goes approximately 120 years further in the past.

MY HOTEL IN BURSA

I stayed in a small 3-star Kardeş hotel, in Kent Meydani. I normally use booking.com to book my hotels. The reason why I prefer booking.com, rather than Airbnb, is because booking.com usually gives you an option to cancel your booking several days before your check-in date.

In my opinion, it is an extremely useful function. It’s always possible that something may happen that prevents us from travelling or perhaps we may find a better place, cheaper and in a better location. I like to have that element of freedom.

In any case, the Kardeş hotel was an excellent choice. It’s comfortable, clean and it offers a good breakfast. If I ever go back to Bursa, I will most likely choose this same hotel.

KENT MEYDANI

Obviously, as I wasn’t in Bursa before, I didn’t know whether the hotel’s location was good or not. It turned out to be the perfect choice. I arrived to Bursa’s main bus station and I took a taxi to the hotel. I could’ve taken public transport, but I wasn’t in the mood to investigate which mini-bus to take from the station to the centre. Anyhow, the road from the bus station to the city centre goes to Kent Meydani and from there you go in different directions. I arrived to the hotel in less than 10 minutes.

In Turkish, meydani means square. Kent Meydani is a large square, surrounded by shops, coffee shops and restaurants. There is also a big shopping centre, with a big supermarket where you can buy alcoholic drinks. I mention this because most restaurants in Turkey do not offer them. Also alcohol is not very common in Turkey and you have to look for places that sell alcoholic drinks, especially in more traditional places like Bursa.

In Konya, it was almost impossible to find a single place to buy one beer. But, in Izmir, Kuşadası and Antalya, “tekel” shops were everywhere.

So, if you want to have a drink, the only option is to buy a beer and have it in your hotel room.

FEVZI ÇAKMAK STREET

Kent Meydani is, more or less, at the edge of central Bursa. It takes approximately 10-15 minutes of gentle walk to arrive to the historic area. So from the hotel I walked along rather elegant Fevzi Çakmak Street every day.

The same as in all other Turkish cities, important and centrally located streets are full of shops and restaurants. Even if you don’t intend to buy anything, it’s still very interesting to see the variety of goods on offer.

As I mentioned in my previous posts, shopping in Turkey is phenomenal. At the same time, Turkey is relatively cheap, especially if you compare it with expensive western European countries.

DEMOKRASI MEYDANI

At the end of Fevzi Çakmak street, you will arrive to the Osman Gazi monument. Osman Gazi is probably the most important figure in Ottoman history. He was the first sultan of the Ottoman Empire and in Turkish the name of the empire is – Osmanlı İmparatorluğu. Osmanlı comes from Osman’s name.

In other words, he started one of the most powerful and successful empires at the end of the 13th century, that lasted for over 600 years.

That day when I arrived to Bursa, there was a political rally and streets and buildings were decorated with red Turkish flags.

You can see Demokrasi Meydani in the photo below and you can also a sea of red flags that adorn the square.

I was surprised when I saw the Saraybosna Kardeşlik fountain in the middle of Demokrasi square. The fountain is exactly the same as the fountain in Sarajevo and there is also the identical copy in Belgrade.

In fact, the name of the fountain in English is – Sarajevo Brotherhood fountain, so there should be no surprise. It is an example of the classical Ottoman fountain.

Also in the square, there is the Şehreküstü mosque. I didn’t visit this mosque as every time when I went there it was the prayer time, so I couldn’t enter. The historic centre of Bursa starts from Demokrasi square.

BAZAAR QUARTER

From Demokrasi square, you arrive to the Bazaar quarter and the historic centre. In my opinion, this part of Bursa is magical. Basically, the whole historic area is preserved and, most likely, it is the same as it was at the time of its construction.

Additionally, historic structures line literally one after the other and when you think that you’ve seen it all, you come across yet another magnificent building.

Unfortunately, no words or pictures can transmit the magic of this place and astonishment that you feel when you see all of it together.

In the Bazaar Quarter, shops and restaurants are everywhere. Obviously, the glass cover is new, while the buildings that you can see in the photos are old.

It’s a rather big area, so you can spend a lot of time strolling around and looking for bargains. The choice and quantity of goods on offer is mesmerising.

GRAND MOSQUE

The monumental Grand mosque, or Ulu Camii in Turkish, is certainly Bursa’s most famous historic site. Constructed in 1399 by Sultan Bayezid I, it dominates the historic area.

At the same time, it is still a functioning temple, despite the fact that it has been 620 years since it first welcomed the worshippers.

When you read about Bursa in tourist guides, they all talk about this mosque. Indeed, the mosque is a magnificent example of an early Ottoman architecture that incorporates many elements of the Seljuk style.

Additionally, when you compare this imperial mosque with imperial mosques constructed in Istanbul much later, they certainly look very different. In fact, the Grand Mosque looks like the Seljuk Empire mosques that I saw in Konya.

Architecturally and artistically, the Grand mosque is very impressive. I took some beautiful photos and will present them in a separate posts. Masterful calligraphic inscriptions inside the mosque are superb.

A fountain in the photo below is attached to the mosque. It’s an excellent example of the Ottoman tradition to adorn every corner of the city with beautiful details.

ORHANBEY MEYDANI

A fountain in the photo below is in a small park close to the Grand mosque. That is also the way to Orhanbey square, where you can find some important historic structures.

The fountain is dedicated to Derviş Mehmed Zillî or, as he was better known, Evliya Çelebi. He was the 17th century Ottoman explorer who travelled across the Ottoman Empire and the nearby countries for 40 years. He recorded his travels in his book Seyahatnâme. Something similar to what I do in My Forever Travel.

Çelebi was an honorific title in Ottoman times and it means gentleman.

The Bursa Town Hall was built by the governor Ahmet Vefik Pasha in 1879, in the imperial architecture style of the time. The city government still uses it for some meetings.

Not far from the town hall, there is the Atatürk monument.

Also in the vicinity, you will see the Heykel clock tower.

However, there is one more famous clock tower in Bursa. The Tophane clock tower is in Tophane park and it’s also one of Bursa’s landmarks.

FRUIT AND VEGETABLE MARKETS

Of many places that I visited in Turkey, the most impressive fruit and vegetable markets were in Bursa. The variety and abundance of products on offer was mind blowing. Even in Istanbul the market was not that big, at least not the market that I saw.

It’s probably needless to say that I wanted to buy and eat everything. But, that wasn’t possible. There is only so much that we can eat in one day.

Additionally, it was all very affordable, you can see prices in the photo below from July 2019. It would be interesting to go back there in the future, to see if prices are still the same. But I believe that they will be higher, because Turkey currently has a lot of economic problems, including a weak currency and high inflation.

It’s an unfortunate situation for the Turkish people, but at the same time, Turkey was really excellent value for money when I was there and I believe that it will remain affordable for a long time.

FOOD IN BURSA

The same as in other Turkish cities, Bursa is full of restaurants and other places where you can eat. Good food is available everywhere. I mentioned in my previous posts that I exclusively eat in places where local people eat and that I avoid touristic restaurants.

You can see three restaurants below where I had dinner in my three evenings in Bursa. All of them were very good and cheap. Eating in Turkey is not a problem, food is delicious and if you go where the locals go, it’s guaranteed that you will eat well.

So, finding a place where to eat wasn’t really a problem in Bursa. First of all, in 3 days that I spent there, I was the only foreign tourist around. Actually, the third day I saw several foreign looking people, but not more than that. It was, at the same time, good and bad.

I certainly tremendously enjoyed having Bursa “for myself”. Of course, local people were everywhere, but very few of them were doing the sight seeing and taking photos, like I did.

It’s bad because I think that Bursa deserves much more attention. Considering its wealth of historic sites, I expected masses of foreign tourists everywhere.

I know, just because I didn’t see foreign tourists when I was there, it doesn’t mean that they don’t visit Bursa, far from that. But, three days that I spent there in what should be the peak tourist season say a lot about Bursa’s popularity (or neglect).

I hope that this and the following posts that I will write about Bursa will inspire you to go there. It really is a miraculous place and it’s easy to get to. History is everywhere, represented by magnificent constructions that are endlessly lined one after the other.

The birthplace of the Ottoman Empire, Bursa’s unique magic is a reflection of its superb 600-700 years old history. It’s truly amazing.