Ten days in Turkey - Part 2

Bursa – the birthplace of Turkish culture

We took the 7:30 am bus from the Istanbul Otogar (Bus Station) for Bursa. Situated across the Sea of Marmara from Istanbul and located on the slopes of Uludag (Great Mountain), Bursa is where the Ottomans first established their rule that eventually spread from Vienna to Morocco and included the Arabian Peninsula all the way to Persia. This is the birthplace of Turkish culture.

The bus ride to Bursa took us through the Turkish countryside for an hour before boarding a ferry to cross the Marmara Sea. An hour on the ferry was followed by another hour on the bus the other side of the sea. Once at the Bursa Otogar, we were received by Askin (pronounced Ash-kin), our host for the day. Askin, in his mid-thirties, is a mechanical engineer. He works for an automobile parts manufacturing company, Bursa being the hub of Turkey’s automobile industry.

Bursa, originally called Prusa after Prusias, was established as the capital city of the Bythinia Kingdom that flourished in 300 to 200 B.C. In 1243, after the Mongols defeated the Seljuks, the Turks in this area organized under a warlord named Ertugrul whose son Osman Ghazi later established the Ottoman (Osmanali) Empire and made Bursa its capital city in 1326. The Ottomans further established their supremacy during the time of Orhan Ghazi (1326-61) by capturing everything from modern day Ankara up to Edirne (Adrinople), effectively surrounding the Byzantine capital of Constantinople (Istanbul).

Askin took us for a drive up the Uludag to a delightful Çai Beheçisi (tea garden) whose claim to fame is a 600-year old çinar (maple) tree. Standing at 35 metre high and with a girth of 9.2 metres, one tree is enough to cover the entire garden. Later we meandered through the city centre visiting the Ulu Camii (Great Mosque) and the Orhan Gazi Camii. The Bursa mosques are early examples of a distinctive Turkish style of architecture that is slightly different from the Persian style that was followed by the Seljuks. The facade is harmonious and beautiful carving on marble surrounds the central doorway.

Between these two mosques are the Orhan Gazi Camii Park and the Koza Han (silk market). Around mid-day, the park was full of men having a smoke (see picture). The silk industry of Bursa is as old as the city, having been established in the early period of Christianity and patronized later by Emporer Justinian I (AD 527-65). The Koza Han is an old-style market lined with modern shops that sell all kinds of silk (see picture). We were pleased to see this market filled with dresses and home décor items from India. The Koza Han includes a tree-filled courtyard with a nice tea garden where locals just hang out with a cup of çay and a simit, a crispy ring-shaped bread. A small mosque stands in the centre of this courtyard. The plaque on its doorway indicates that it was built by Sultan Beyazit II in 1491 and restored in 1948.

Askin’s wife, Perihan is a modern Turkish woman. She is also a mechanical engineer and worked for Toyota for some years before quitting to raise a family. She recounted with pride and joy the time spent in Japan as a trainee with her company. We had lunch in a delightful café on a small hill that overlooked the city. Every guidebook tells you to try Iskender kebap in Bursa, so we had that. This is döner kebab or thinly sliced pieces of lamb meat laid out on bread together with a savory tomato sauce and browned butter. We also tried the Ingenöl köftesi, a meatball preparation served with salads and rice. I found the Iskender kebap to be over-rated.

A steep uphill walk west of the Ulu Camii are the tombs of Osman and Orhan Gazi, founders of the Ottoman Empire. The original structures were destroyed in the earthquake of 1855 and rebuilt by Sultan Abdul Aziz in 1868 in the Ottoman style within a small park. Behind the tombs is a six-storey clock tower that also served as a fire alarm and close by is a tea garden with views overlooking the city. Walking down the other side of the cliff, through the oldest part of Bursa, we came across archeological finds that overlook the modern and very busy Cemal Nadir Caddesi. The rest of the afternoon was spent shopping for curios in the old Bazaar or sipping tea in the Koza Han garden.

In the evening Askin drove us to Mudanya and Kumkaya, small seaside resorts northwest of Bursa. Many rich people from Bursa own vacation homes in this area. In the village of Kumkaya we see a dilapidated Byzantine church. After dinner in Mudanya, we drove back to the Bursa Otogar for our onward journey to Konya in Central Anatolia, about 650 km from Istanbul.

Not many tourists go to Bursa. We were certainly glad to have visited the home base of the Great Ottomans.