Green Bursa

  So what is there to do in Bursa? 

...a lot more than we had time for.  During the sailing trip we had all outlined things we wanted to do in Bursa.  I wanted to find face cloths for Nicole;  Bursa is the center of the fabric industry in Turkey; Kathy wanted to look for a dress for her son's wedding; Sean wanted to reconnect with some of his memories from his year in Turkey.  Veli wanted to re-introduce us to Iskander kebap, a Bursa invention and to show us the Old Village.  We all wanted to see the silk bazaar.  And, all of us wanted to hang out some more.  We wanted to visit the hamam.  

The boat had allowed time for conversations, for getting to know people and getting to know them better.  The young children were less a distraction to their parents when the older children willingly looked after them.  

 Hand painted tiles that are 6 centuries old amaze me.  They may not impress you.  If so, skip down below.

The detail, the wealth of color, no doubt invented by artful play with the emerging science of chemistry.

A person and not a machine did this.  Another person built a scaffold for climbing and yet another person put up the mastic to stick the piece in place.  And another came by to put in the grout.  Then for centuries the grime of candle smoke, cooking fire smoke, coal fire smoke (when Sean was there) had to be washed off.

Don't lie down on the floor of a mosque.

I could not see any other way to capture to glory of the dome with its perfect arcs, the soaring arches and the intricate mosaics.  I lay on the floor.  The "guy" came at me with a flurry of Turkish, which of course I could not understand.  Nicholai came to my rescue to say that they did not want me to lie down on the floor.  I pressed my hand to my chest in a show of what I hoped was seen as apology.

1419.  The Ottoman capital was still in Bursa.
The conquest of Constantinople's "insurmountable" walls by Mehmet II was 34 years in the future on a September day.

The green Mosque was finished in 1419, two years before the end of Mehmet I's reign.

His tomb lies across the square from his mosque.

Yeşil Türbe

 IT'S NOT GREEN, you say?  You are right.  An earthquake in the 1800s badly damaged the green tiles covering the tomb. Blue tiles were made and substituted.  Inside the tomb, according to Fodor, the immense sarcophagus is covered with green Iznik tiles.  Mehmet's children are buried around him.

Mehmet's story is a chilling one of fratricide, blinding of competitors and a nine-year war from which he emerged as the last one standing.  His reign of eight years ended with his death and he was succeeded by Murat II, son of one of his wives.

 The House of Osman was ruled by Murat II in a reign marked by wars with seemingly the entire world:  the Anatolian sultans left behind by Tamerlane, the Byzantine emperor in Constantinople, Serbia, Venice, Hungary, his uncle Mustafa (released from exile by the Byzantine emperor) and the Holy Roman Empire.  He repeatedly showed himself to be the better military stategist, but failed in his efforts to bring down the walls of Constantinople.

"green" tomb

It would fall to his son, Mehmed II to conquer Byzantium, also known as  Muhammed bin Murad,  Mehmed the Conqueror and Fatih Sultan Mehmed

Hospitality

Turks are intrepidly hospitable.  They strive to make their guests comfortable, to look after them and to be sure that everything is taken care of.  You see this in your hosts at hotels. You see this in your Turkish family.  It is part of the culture and it is intrinsic to Islam.  NO less my Turkish brother and sister.  Now I think that Americans like a more even-handed approach of sharing the expenses back and forth.  Veli had gone ahead and arranged our lunch at Iskander Kebap and he had done the same at the Turkish Bath.  I was trying to find a way to share some of these expenses and he was thwarting me.

Turkish Bath (Hamam) in Bursa

I wrote earlier that Bursa was at the end of the Silk Road. In fact the terminus, the caravansary, karavansary, was converted to become the Silk Bazaar we visited in the morning.  Bursa also lies over volcanic hotsprings and that became the source of the water for the hamam we visited.  In 1995 the genders were completely split, women going in one door and men in another.  There may have also been separate times.  The hamam now has some coed activities including a lovely balcony on
which we could sit and enjoy cooling drinks after the baths.  In '95 there was no such thing.  The males were scupulously covered in a wrap around peştemal.  The women, my wife reported, were nude and very comfortably so.  I wondered if this might be a reflection of freedom from the usual covering clothing including scarves affected by many women in Islamic countries.  After a shower, you are supposed to start out by lying on a stone directly over the hottest water. After soaking in progressively cooler waters you go to the göbektaşı, a warm stone where you receive your cleansing and massage.  Our hamam substitutes a folding massage table. After washing and stroking your skin with a rough mitten made with camel hair and feeling like a loofa sponge, you lose several layers of dead skin (and much of your tan).  This is followed by a sudsing with a foam

suds.  this is a co-ed facility.  The massager is
always the same gender as the client

that he makes by soaping a bag like a pillow cover and then squeezing air through the bag.  It feels marvelously good. Then the pummeling begins.  After that, you shower again.  You can go back into the pools, or go back and lie down wrapped in thick towels until the sweat stops running .  Back to the cubicle to change into civvies.  Cleaned and refreshed. And feeling good.

Home to Mudanya where Hatice served a beautiful dinner to all of us.  She especially wanted to show us how mantı was supposed to be cooked.  She had not liked the mantı served by the seaside restaurant in Fetiye.  We  managed to distribute people around for sleeping and enjoyed a warm and restful night.

Cumalikizik 

[link]  This was fun.  We drove south out of Bursa and toward Űludağ.  This old village has been an

effort to preserve traditional life in the Ottoman world.  It also brings tour groups into the area and allows the local people to market lots of goods and mementos from booths on the street and in front of their homes.  There are supposed to be some really old half-timbered houses but I did not see them.There are some nice tourist photos on the link.

Veli wanted us to have breakfast up there.  He had called ahead and arranged everything.  He is a "friend" up there so they were really accommodating to our large group.  There was a small playground to occupy the youngest and conversation to please the olders.  The restroom facilities were definitely not modern.  Well I conspired with Demet.  We first talked to the male person who appeared to be in charge.  I could not understand his words but his body language said "our friend has already set this up and I do not want to offend him." We then talked to the woman who was calculating the bills just inside the bustling kitchen.  Demet explained what we would like to do -- that I wanted to host this wonderful breakfast -- and the woman graciously accepted my charge card.  I was happy to be the treater; Veli was gracious.  (I do not think he was happy, though.)

On our way back we stopped at a large mall where a major shopping followed.  It was not unlike any big box store anywhere except that it had really nice housewares and clothing locally produced.  A good source for face cloths and small holiday gifts that would fit into an increasingly stuffed suitcase.

I determined that buying a woven rug was not going to be on the agenda.  I am sure that we could have swung it but I knew that the process of buying a rug IS a process that would steal time away from family so I declined.  Another time.  We next turned in our rented vehicle at the local Europcar.  Veli of course knew the guy and he saw a physician and former colleague from the hospital.  

Time to prepare for the feribot.