Queen Elisabeth II in Bursa

Last year I visited London and saw the Buckingham Palace but the Queen was unfortunately not at home. Today, the Queen visited my city together with her husband, Prince Phillip. Bursa has been preparing for this for days. One visible sign of this were the many hortensias, the Queen's favourite flower as I learned, that were planted at prominent places.

The Queen wanted to visit Bursa, because it was the first capital of the Ottoman Empire. She is also interested in Silk, and Bursa is famous for it's silk production and silk products. This is why she had lunch and went shopping in the Koza Han, the historic Silk Bazaar of Bursa. Finally, she wanted to see the Yesil Cami and Yesil Türbe, the Green Mosque and Green Tomb of Sultan Çelebi Mehmet, because of their famous Iznik (Nicea) tiles. The mosque was built in  between 1413 - 1420. All of these places deserve a blog post of their own but here are some pictures I've managed to take. I'm sorry for the quality but it started raining in the afternoon and I could not get closer.

The picture above shows the Koza Han court where the Queen had lunch. I took this picture last week actually when there was another important event in Bursa. But it looked pretty much the same today.

In the Yesil Cami, the Queen listened to a recitation of the Ar-Rahman chapter in the Qur'an and to it's translation. You can listen to it here:

Those of you who are interested in more pictures and listening to some more information about the historic sides that Queen Elisabeth visited today, listen to the Voicethread that I've prepared (you can leave a comment after registering):

If you can't see the voicethread box above or want to see it larger, click here.

Goat milk and eggs from happy chickens

What's so special about this picture? It's a special market for villagers, mostly from the small mountain villages around Bursa, where they sell their produce. So, if you are looking for produce that is not mass-produced, this is the place to go. You can also find things that are normally not easy to get in the city, like fresh goats milk, fresh eggs from chickens who have never seen a laying battery, dried fruit which does not look perfect because it hasn't been treated with chemicals but is tasty, and all kinds of other organic products. 

The market is located right in the city centre, in the historic Tahtakale quarter, where it has a long history.

Tomorrow morning, happy-chicken eggs for breakfast :-)

City Walk - Pınarbaşı

Today, my mom and I went for a city walk. We plan to go for such walks more or less regularly to explore the city's old and new face. There is so much to see and discover that it amazes me.

Pınarbaşı is one of the places I've always been curious about because my mom told me that when she was a child they would go there on religious or national holidays. There would be vendors along the street and in the park selling all kinds of toys and tasty food. Children would wear their news clothes and families would walk to their to meet others and have fun.

When my mom tells me about those times, I always get the feeling that they had more fun and everybody was much happier than today. Today, families often use the opportunity to escape on a short trip during such holidays. Or people just pay quick visits to their relatives and go back to their daily routines. Somehow the spirit seems to have gotten lost.

But back to Pınarbaşı. This place, which has always been a place for people to come together during festive occasions, has a significance beyond that. Pınar means spring. This is one the larger  springs that provides Bursa with water. The actual spring is under this dome structure and next to it is the reservoir. Next to it is also a beautiful park with fountains, ponds and water faucets to drink from. I've fallen in love with this place and thought I would immediately buy a house and move here if I could. There are some traditional houses around and there is another extremely significant historic place just at the other end of the park: the Fetih Kapısı. More about that in my next post.

Here are some impressions of the place:

Balibey Han - The first three-storey hotel of the Turks

A han was an Ottoman or Seljuk inn. In Bursa there are many historic hans. None of them, of course, is used as a hotel anymore. Most of them have been lovingly restored and are used as shops, cafés and restuarants with gardens. They are mostly built around a court where in the past travellers and trades people would ride in with their horses or donkeys packed with the goods they wanted to sell in the city. 
Balibey Han was the first three-storey han and it seems to have had a different layout. It was built right across the covered bazar in the city centre. At that time, in the 15th century, Bursa was an important trade centre. The Silk Road and the Spice Road were leading through it. Bali Bey, the builder of the Han, used the income from the inn to build a mosque and a medrese in Yenişehir, a small town near Bursa.

Balibey Han was in a very bad shape for a long time. But the present city government has started taking care of the city's history and historic buildings and the Balibey Han reconstruction is among many other projects that have been successfully carried out.

Balibey Han now houses two cafés and many smalls shops and small galleries. At the moment, there is an exhibition of traditional handicraft and paintings made by women who completed free courses at BUSMEK, a kind of trade school which the city has founded to help women learn a trade and earn an income. Here are some examples of the beautiful work they have accomplished.

Some critical voices say the original Han has been hidden now under the new reconstruction so it cannot be really called Bali Bey Han anymore. Personally, I can only say that the new structure is a combination of old and new and it looks good in my opinion. And I can just imagine myself sitting in its café with wifi Internet connection and writing blog posts while observing the people on the street. I do agree that it does not look very historic anymore, like the old city wall that is being rebuild at the moment. But I'm not sure I would have liked the old structure to stay as it was either. Should ruins be left as they are or should they be rebuild?

Picture sources: old and being renovated 

IKEA is coming to Bursa!

Source

Anatolium is the name of the new shopping mall and entertainment complex that is being built in Bursa at the moment. It's going to be the largest one in Bursa and some of the buildings will be build in typical Bursa style. One of the main businesses in the centre will be IKEA, the fourth one in Turkey. And the location is near to our home next to the coach terminal! IKEA will also be the first shop there to open it's doors to the public in fall 2008.

Some people hate IKEA and others love it. I tend more towards the second group. In Germany, I had furnished my flat partly with IKEA furniture. The main reason I like IKEA is that the systems are flexible and you can still have your own style and be creative. Of course I do not like everything they offer but that's true for other shops as well. I also like to just go to IKEA and "shop" for ideas and buy small accessories. 

I remember that once a friend of mine and I spend five hours there and only after the  announced that they are going to close, we left — we had to :-) It's great on a rainy Saturday afternoon. When you are tired, you can go to the cafeteria and have a snack, lunch or coffee and cake for reasonable prices. If there is one thing that I don't like, it's waiting in those long lines. I don't know why, but although they have a long row of cash desks, you always have to wait (I'm talking about IKEA in Freiburg, Germany. Don't know how it is elsewhere). 

Anyway, I'm looking forward to it. It was part of my life in Germany, and it's good to have something familiar back in my life here.

Here is a link with news about the Anatolium and IKEA.

And here is the link to IKEA Turkey.