Tag: Bursa

The Bursa otogar is enormous, like a stadium. Men are loudly touting imminent destinations for their particular bus company, of which there is an untold number, going to places we have not heard of. Thankfully it is a smoke free zone. A solitary and very tiny ginger kitten is treated kindly as it tiptoes along. Rain falls steadily outside. It’s been three very pleasant days but now is an excellent day to be leaving.

After a week in Istanbul, the choice was to head north east to a village on the Black Sea or south to Bursa nearly 2 hours on the ferry from Yenikapi across the Sea of Marmara. Bursa won mainly on the grounds of logistics, plus we could visit an alternate picturesque village.

Camulikizik, an old Ottoman village, had many glowing reports on the web and is on the UNESCO World Heritage list, usually a winner recommendation.

Have to say it didn’t really do it for me. The welcoming party of masses of stalls and competing sales pitches probably put me off from the beginning. But what is it with all those little tractors littering the streets? That was intriguing.

We did find our way out of the melee though and met a charming young women in a pleasant garden restaurant for the first Turkish coffee hit of the day. If you are after a knick knack with your picturesque, this could be the place, but for us it was a dolmus back to Bursa.

It has become rapidly clear after leaving Istanbul that a few words of Turkish is an imperative. Got the one for “no sugar” in my Turkish coffee down pat (sade) but how many languages in the world have a 5 or is it 6 syllable word for thankyou? Bahasa has 5 but so easy to pronounce. After 10 days I’m still trying to get my tongue around saying something as important as Thankyou in Turkish. A kind waiter gave us a handy guide for inflexible Anglo tongues – tea sugar dream – quite a substantial bit more to it than that but a helpful start!!

The ancient and historical is ever present in Turkey and for me the pleasure in Bursa was wandering and exploring the beautiful 15th century market buildings. Loved the vintage photographs of market activity back to 1890 and early 20th century. Furniture to finest silks is available in the maze and as always the challenge of finding the spot with the most ambience for a coffee.

In fact the Turks are avid tea drinkers rather than coffee. There seems never to be a moment in the day when waiters are not wandering around with a tray of the distinctive glasses of tea delivering to all and sundry.

We are staying high up in the ramparts, the city wall, which means an uphill walk at the end of every day, temperature in the mid to high 20’s, finishing with some serious stairs just to check how the fitness is progressing. It is a lovely old ex bookshop complete with creaking wooden floors, books scattered in many spots and an inviting enclosed garden courtyard where we enjoyed delicious breakfasts with exquisite service and attention to detail.

I produced my coeliac gluten free digital card on the first night for dinner. The head waiter took a photo and made it his business to see that all was organised for breakfast next morning, no more explanation required. Seriously impressive.

The big ticket items in Bursa though are the Ulu Cami, the Grand Mosque, and the Green Mosque. Calligraphy and tiles, design and layout, as always a high point. With scores of tile photos already in the camera, the green tiles are iresistable.

So here we are at the bus station, bodies a little weary after 14 very full days on the go, looking forward to a rest on the road to Selcuk and Ephesus.