For years I’ve wanted to go to Edirne to see Mimar Sinan’s crowning achievement, the pinnacle of Ottoman architecture — Selimiye Camii. Ferda and I were already in İstanbul, and it looks so close on the map. However, with inconvenient bus stations in both in İstanbul and Edirne, it took us most of the day to travel between these two cities. (It didn’t help that we got a late start, hadn’t bought a ticket ahead of time, and the first two departures were full.)
Additionally, oops! Yes, that’s Selimiye Mosque, one of Turkey’s few UNESCO sites, closed for a four-year restoration project. I’m sure I could have figured that out ahead of time with a little research.
There’s a small section inside that is still open to visitors, but you can’t see the courtyard or the huge domed prayer hall, both supposedly impressive. Approximately 1000 years after Hagia Sophia, the Ottomans finally made a higher dome!
Here’s what visitors can see during the restoration:
Come back in about two years, I guess.
Luckily there’s a bit more to see in Edirne. Most impressive is the II. Beyazid Külliyesi where you can learn a lot about Ottoman medical techniques and history.
I’m not so into medical history, but there’s also an interesting (to me) exhibit in the kitchen (imaret, a word meaning the place and distribution of food) about Ottoman soup kitchens (I guess we’d say in English). The Ottomans, according to this, had an extensive food distribution system for the poor.
Ferda and I enjoyed walking around this complex.
Back in the city center I think Eski Cami with its huge square pillars was built before the Ottomans took İstanbul.
Across the street is Üç Şerefeli Camii, similar in style.
Culinary-wise Edirne is famous within Turkey for its liver. Meals are accompanied by roasted red peppers, green peppers, and a hot sauce — all tasty and unusual in Turkey.
Back to the Ottoman architecture theme here’s the courtyard of a bedesten:
A fire destroyed many of Edirne’s synagogues which were replaced with one large one, recently restored.
Most of the artifacts in Edirne’s small archaeology museum come from Enez (aka Ainos), a place that’s been on my list for its Byzantine Church.
Uzunköprü is only about an hour south of Edirne by bus, but even for such a short trip the services run via inconvenient out-of-town bus stations. Hello, Turkey, shouldn’t we be encouraging people to take the bus?
At 1239m Uzunköprü claims to have the world’s longest historic stone bridge. Doesn’t Mérida make the same claim? Hmmm, no, now I see that Mérida’s bridge is from ancient times. Uzunköprü is 15th century Ottoman.
Here’s a photo of a drone photo since it’s hard to take photos of 1.2km long linear features.
Certainly there’s more to see in European Turkey, but the buses took us west, into Greek Macedonia.
Interesting, too, as always..