Bursa

This weekend I took a ferry down to Bursa, the fourth largest city in Turkey and a former capital of the Ottoman Empire. It's situated at the base of Mount Uludağ, which makes for a very pretty setting:

The city is quite famous for it's food, which was certainly a large part of why I chose to visit. They're particularly famous for Iskender, a totally delicious meat dish with tomato sauce and yogurt and covered with melted butter:

It is devastatingly good. I went to the original shop, which  has been serving up this dish and only this dish for 140 years. It is also famous for its candied chestnuts, which I ate too many of. I would be very fat if I lived in Bursa.

Apart from the copious amounts of food, it's also an awesome place to shop. It has historically been a big center for silk and today has a number of bazaars specializing in this. Koza Han is the most famous, dating back to 1451. It's a beautiful old structure filled with shops selling pashminas (my greatest love) and other silk-related things. It also has a very nice courtyard in the middle where you can relax and grab a cup of tea:

The city is the home to many important old mosques, as well as mausoleums for Ottoman Sultans. The most famous is Yeşil Türbe (Green Tomb), which is quite pretty:

The people of Bursa were incredibly friendly. Not that Istanbul folks aren't friendly toward me, but in Bursa people were very excited about having an American tourist and really went out of their way to make me feel welcome.

In a few hours I begin my epic adventure through Europe. Tonight a take a bus to Bulgaria, followed by a flight to London, followed by a train to Paris. I will hopefully have some interesting pictures and stories to post here next week. Tomorrow is the beginning of the biggest Islamic holiday, so mutlu bayram, everyone!