Bursa, Bursa, Bursa!

Wow, I am a blogging MACHINE.

This weekend, baby readers, Greg and I successfully made it from the otogar (read as: bus terminal) in Balıkesir to Bursa all by ourselves. We're extremely accomplished individuals.


From the otogar in Bursa, we got onto the correct city bus (!!!) and sort of made our way to the correct neighborhood. Because we're a pair of individuals who have our priorities straight, we grabbed some lunch before doing anything else.

Pideli kofte. Delish.

Then we walked around, trying to find our way to the Green Mosque and Green Tomb. First, we walked/ got stuck in Koza Han, the historic silk market of Bursa. We visited Koza Han on Sunday too, so I'll get to it later.

Preview of Koza Han.

Interior square of Koza Han.

 Then we walked around the market area, where I bought a half kilo of dried apricots, as seen in the picture below.

They were delicious, of course.

Greg bought some goodies from this candy place.

We'll assume "delicious."

And then finally, after numerous conversations in broken English and Turkish, we found our way to the Green Tomb! The Green Tomb serves as the mausoleum of Mehmed I, the fifth Ottoman sultan (meaning, it's old as hell... like, 1421 old).

While I was shamelessly taking pictures of everything like the tourist I am, a lovely Turkish man by the name of Yunus came up to Greg and I and started talking to us (obviously, in English. We're not that good yet.) After the usual questioning of where we were from and what we were doing in Turkey, Yunus told us that he was currently in charge of completely the upcoming restoration on the Green Tomb. He begin to tell us how the tomb is unique, based both on its shape and the fact that it has a mihrab, the niche in a mosque wall that indicates the direction in which Mecca lies, and therefore, the direction that Muslims should face while praying. Typically, Yunus told us, you don't find mihrabs in Muslim tombs.

Entryway to the tomb. Probably going to put the same ones on my house someday.

This ceiling too, I think.

Sultan Mehmed I!

I haven't decided where in my house this'll go.

The stained glass, although a later addition, is
still awesome.

 So after he educates us on the Green Tomb, Yunus begins to tell us how it's unfortunate that the Green Mosque is also undergoing restoration by him and his company for another several months and is closed to the public. Upon seeing my crestfallen little yabancı face, he asks Greg and I if we'd like to see it. As in, a private mini-tour of the Green Mosque. "Oh yes, new BFF Yunus!" I practically cry out loud!

The Green Mosque! Swoonsies! 

The Green Mosque and Green Tomb are pretty much right next to each other, being parts of the greater Green Complex. When we arrive at the entry to the Green Mosque, Yunus tells us to pay great attention to the detailed carving of the marble door. He tells us that it took one guy three years to carve the whole thing.

Yunus also mentioned that the Green Mosque is a unique example of a mosque because of the fact that inside has a split-level floor to separate the common population from the upper echelons of society. The sultan also had his own room and area for prayer, and below, these side rooms were also used for judicial purposes.

Pictured: JUSTICE.

 Ironically, Yunus also pointed out this circular marble column that was set into the wall which was used to alert people in the mosque when an earthquake was beginning. The marble column would shake, thereby alerting those inside that they should probably get the heck out. Much of the Green Mosque had to be rebuilt after an earthquake hit the area in 1855. This interesting piece of history also answered Greg's question regarding why they call the mosque green when it clearly wasn't.

 After our private tour, Greg and I hung out with Yunus and had some tea (becoming BFFS forever, as well) while he educated us on Turkish carpets and kilims. He also has his own ceramic studio in Bursa, which sold really nice stuff for fairly reasonable prices (I bought a ladybug keychain for 6TL!)

Then, Greg and I visited (for the first time) Ulu Camii, or in English, the Great Mosque. And it was pretty great! First, we walked through Koza Park, which is attached to the silk market of the same name.

 The Great Mosque was really beautiful. And what was really cool was that it wasn't as touristy as the Blue Mosque, and people were actually there to pray.

The inside was really pretty as well. It had so many intricate paintings and motifs on the wall that I didn't even know where to begin in terms of creepy picture taking.

After our sightseeing, Greg and I went to the fancy mall Bursa had to offer, and of course, Greg just HAD to be a superstar.

Kissing babies, all day every day.

Then, we walked back through Koza Park to meet up with Russell and friends so we could grab some delicious Bursa iskender kebap for dinner.

And yes, as usual... delicious.

 After dinner, Greg, Russell, Annika, Margot, and I went out for mezes and drinks. We had so much fun. The food was great, the drinks were great, and the company was just the best!

 

And I like rakı now, so life is really great.




The next morning, we were up and at 'em, starting with a ballin' Turkish kahvaltı before visiting the hamam.

The hamam was an intense experience. I've never felt so sweaty yet so clean in my entire life.

After the hamam, we went up to the Saat Kule (clock tower in Turkish!) to get a lovely view of the city of Bursa.

Pictured: clock tower.

Pictured: Bursa.

 We also visited the tombs of Orhan Gazi and his father, Osman I... or, for those of you familiar with the history of the Ottomans, the FOUNDER of the Ottoman Empire.

He was basically like the O.G. Sultan.

Like the Green Mosque, Orhan Gazi's first tomb was severely damaged during the earthquake of 1855; the new tomb was built right on top of the foundations of the old tomb.

So, Osman. He's pretty important; they named the entire empire after him. He established this new state, soon to be the Ottoman Empire, in 1299. He also allegedly had a dream, where he dreamed of the rise of this new empire to greatness over the next four centuries... he definitely wasn't wrong, especially when the Ottomans more or less began to boot the Byzantines out of the region from the time he established Bursa as his primary city.

Sultan Osman I!

In addition to all of the fun history I saw in Bursa, here are a few freebie images that this weekend produced:

In response to the Kurdish attacks in the southeast, there were
mad protests. I think we ran into like seven of them.

This man was making lollipops, which looked delicious.

 We also finally got to Koza Han, where there were scarves galore!

Silk paintings. On silk. So cool!

 Overall, Bursa was great! I'll be back, there are still a few things I didn't get to see! Womp!

Bye, Bursa. See you soon!