Exploring Bursa

Getting started

After about 7h sleep, I got out of bed around 0600.  I had woken up around 0400 but had fallen back asleep.  Despite a 44h day from a rural Fujian tulou to Guangzhou, Kuwait, Istanbul and finally Bursa, I couldn’t sleep any more due to the time difference.

I had some tea and biscuits before heading out around 0830.  Bursa’s old city was dead and it turned out that things here open late; not sure it’s seasonal but daylight hours are short now.

Bursa sightseeing

I began at Bursa’s Grand Mosque, built in 1399 when Bursa was the capital of the Ottoman empire.  Bursa was the first capital in 1363 and Bursa was later replaced by Istanbul in 1453.  It wasn’t until the establishment of the republic that the capital moved to Ankara in 1923.

The mosque was starker compared to the Ottoman ones in Istanbul built some 200 years later.

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From the mosque, I walked through the various bazaars and hans, which were still very quiet and climbed up to the Citadel.

Up in the Citadel was a clock tower and the tombs of the Ottoman founders, Osman and Orhan (brothers).  It was only in recent years that I learnt that Ottoman comes from Osman (or Othman); apparently the Italians had trouble pronouncing that correctly?

Only parts of the citadel walls remain and the interior consisted of a mix of contemporary and historic buildings.

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Back down in the main part of town, I explored the various Hans.  Knowing that these are old Silk Road inns, I was curious as to how they differed from caravanserais.  ChatGPT explained that hans are in urban settings whereas caravanserais are along the routes; a difference in location.

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More sightseeing

After a rest, I headed out in the afternoon, taking in the 15^th Century Koprusu Bridge which also had a craft bazaar in it.

15th Century Koprusu Bridge.

I then continued to the tomb of the fifth Ottoman sultan of Mehmet Celebi I and some of his children. Knowing that Muslims are buried without coffins into the earth, I was curious about the above-ground sarcophagi.  ChatGPT explained that these were only symbolic and they were indeed buried in the ground.

Nearby was the Green Mosque, so named because of its greenish blue tiles.  They closed for prayer time just as I got there and had to kill some time before I could enter.