In the market for a scarf?

Bursa was the first capital of the Ottoman Empire after the city was captured in 1326.  The first 5 sultans of the Ottoman Empire lived here until Mehmet the Conquerer conquered Istanbul and moved the capital there.  Each of the sultans built his own complex and it was in Bursa that Ottoman architecture blossomed.  More than 125 mosques were built here and the skyline is a sea of minarets. 

Present day Bursa is prosperous because of the automobile and textile industry and is known for the beautiful silk scarves that are manufactured there.  We knew it was a prosperous city when we arrived at the bus stop and saw an IKEA.

It took three buses to get to Bursa.  We took the Esenköy to Yalova bus and with the help of a nice person at the bus station crossed the road and happened to get on the Yalova to Bursa bus.  This was considered a full sized bus and was a nice coach variety.  Dad and I were really impressed when they came around with a warm roll for everyone and the choice of tea or coffee.  It was better service than many of the airplanes we have been on and it was only an hour long bus ride.  We passed through one of the main olive export cities and then arrived at a huge bus stop in Bursa.  We had been warned by Tamer that the bus terminal was outside of the main city and wandered around asking how to get to the tourist area.  There was a basic map in Fodor’s we could point to and managed to find the correct bus yes again.  On the way out of the terminal we passed the familiar IKEA and I couldn’t help but smile.

The bus driver knew where we wanted to go and made a point of telling us where to get off which was super night of him.  There were a few business details we had to attend to while in a big city and we took care of those right away.  There were two Turkcells where we could update our internet dongle and Dad inquired about fixing his rimless glasses that have a small problem with where the stems are attached.  The Turkcell was a breeze and the glasses got strange looks from a couple of stores before we decided it was a lost cause.

This is the Orhan mosque.  It was built by Orhan Sultan (2^nd ruler of the Ottoman Empire) and is right outside of the main bazaar.  The shoes are an example of what men wear around town and as you can see are easily taken off.  They have it down to a science, that Dad and I have yet to perfect, of taking them off and stepping onto the “No Shoes” area without skipping a beat or getting dirty socks.

We went for a walk through the bazaar and it was very similar to the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, but focused on selling cotton towels which are made in Bursa.  On the outside of the bazaar was a group of people with what looked like protest signs.  Dad and I stayed clear until we saw it was students carrying signs and handing out pamphlets for a non-smoking campaign.  It seems almost everyone in Turkey smokes so to see this was a real eye opener.  The man in the foreground has a cigarette in his hand and as students passed they would point to it and chant something.

The Koza Han or Cocoon Caravanserai, is a section of the bazaar that is the silk trading center.  There is a beautiful courtyard with a 150-year-old linden tree and vendors lining the outside selling beautiful silk scarves.  I couldn’t resist and bought a scarf that I would be able to wear at home too.  Apparently the Queen of England had been to many of the shops and had purchased  (or was given) one or two also.  Hung on the stone walls were old photos of the silk trade and how the scarves were made.  It was a really interesting place.

This is Ulu Cami or the Grand Mosque.  It was built in 1396 by Sultan Beyazit who had vowed to built 20 mosques if he was victorious in a battle.  He was but decided that 1 mosque with 20 domes was a good compromise.  The mosque was huge and had quotations from the Koran decorating its walls.  What we thought was unusual was the fountain located in the center of the mosque.  The fountain on the interior is for ritual washing before prayer and looks really cool.

We decided to go the Bursa City Museum instead of the archeology museum and it was awesome.  It was only 3TL for both of us to get in and I was really impressed with all of the displays and exhibits.  There was a section dedicated to the 5 sultans that called Bursa home and I’m not sure which one Dad is posing with but it was cool to see all of the turbans and photos of what each sultan brought to the table.  There was write ups but they were all in Turkish.

There was a hidden Mickey in the Bursa City Museum.

This was the coolest display!  It was all old cameras and newspaper equipment so naturally I wanted my photo taken with it.  There were two old enlargers on display and Dad and I actually recognized one that was very similar to one we had recently gotten rid of.

There was a special clothing exhibit which was really cool.  It reminded me of the first lady dress display at the Smithsonian.  The detailed stitching and bead work on the clothes was super impressive.

We climbed to the top of the city to see the Yesil Turbe and Yesil Cami.  This is the Yesil Turbe which means Green Mausoleum.  Shown is Mehmet I Celebi’s tomb built in 1424.  The “green” tomb is actually covered by blue tiles because the green were destroyed in an earthquake in the 1800s.  This is one of the most elaborate mausoleums we have seen and I thought it was really pretty.

This was the Yesil Cami or Green Mosque.  Sadly we didn’t see any green tiles or anything else that was mosque like except for the carpet shown here.  They were restoring everything so we did see Turkish scaffolding.  The carpet shown is a prime example of a prayer carpet.  As you can see there is a pattern that points towards Mecca.

In the Green Mosque I had the chance to wear my new scarf!  I’m still not sure how to wear it, but I did.

Catching the bus back to the main terminal was a little bit harder than we thought it would be.  Apparently not every bus goes back to the main terminal so we had to not only find the correct bus to get on, but we also had to find the stop where to get on it.  After asking a few people and then having a woman and her daughter actually escort us to the correct stop Dad and I boarded the bus to learn that you were supposed to buy the tickets at the terminal ahead of time.  The driver was nice enough to let us ride anyway and we made it to the terminal with just enough time to buy a ticket back to Yalova.  Everything fell into place and it was a great day.