Alhamdulillah, I prayed fajr at the masjid on Sunday, but still got up too late to make an early start to Edirne. I need to pray fajr at the mosque more often, since it is difficult to make the later prayers in congregation during the week now that the time has changed. I also need to start getting up earlier for these weekend jaunts - especailly the day trips. Khayr in sha Allah.
As I returned home from Konyali, I could smell the fresh delicacies from the bakery - unfortunately, it was not open that early. Speaking of bread, I think that it goes moldy rather more quickly than I am used to out here. In about week or less I have had packages of bread go bad - probably because of the moisture/humidity. I think I will just buy individual pieces of bread from now on, in sha Allah. I managed to salvage a couple of half loaves, so that is what I had Sunday morning, with some cheese.
After my second slumber, I got ready and left my apartment by about 915am. I headed to the office so I could download the Turkey Travel Planner guide for Edirne (that is a great website by the way, for any visitors to Turkey). I left the office at around 10am and went to the Gayrettepe metro station. Unfortunately, no AKBILs for sale on Sundays, I think. Most stores were closed, and the station was empty - I guess Sunday morning is quiet time, kind of like how Sunday is quiet day in Germany.
As I had to get to the other Metro line, I did not use the funicular. At Taksim, I went up (first time I had seen Taksim in weeks it seems) and got on a minibus to Aksaray. From Aksaray, I walked to the start of the other Metro line. It was the first time I used this line, so it took a little while for me to find the entrance. This line is a bit older, so it isn't as fresh as the Taksim-Levent 4 line, but it works well enough, alhamdulillah. I took it to the Esenler Otogar stop, and I reached at 11:15 or so, for a trip time of about 1:15.
Alas, I had to wait this time for a bus to Edirne - for the first time, there was not a bus leaving for my destination within a few minutes of my arrival to the Otogar. The Esenler Otogar is huge (see the borrowed picture below). I walked around the whole complex, trying to find a bus that left at 11:30, to no avail. It took me half an hour to make a complete circuit. There are about 180 stalls, and probably almost 100 bus companies. I'm a bit surprised there has been no consolidation, but I guess no small company owner wants to kill the golden egg laying goose. This Otogar was much bigger than the Harem station. It is probably double the Harem station, kind of how like Marjeh is the dominant station compared to Baramkeh in Damascus.
Despite the hundreds of buses, I couldn't find too many companies going to Edirne, let alone one going at 11:30. I had to settle for a noon time with a company called Volkan, which seems to specialize in Edirne and even dominate that route. There were a couple of other companies also going to Edirne, but I think Volkan had the most times. I guess Edirne is just out of the way for most companies - you can't really stop there on the way to anywhere else in Turkey so companies can't combine two destinations on one bus (like Bursa and Izmir). Maybe the buses going to Greece or the rest of Europe stop there.
My ticket cost YTL 20, and the ride was about two and a half hours - we only had one brief, five minute stretch break. The bus was not completely full, but I did have a seatmate. Alas, the sun was in my face nearly the whole trip, so I couldn't get much sleep. It was not really warm outside, but the beating sunlight became rather uncomfortable. The busride had the typical service - drink, Dan cake, etc., but the attendant had a strange getup - he had a white shirt and bowtie, but instead of a sweater vest, he was wearing a jacket vest the whole time, which looked rather odd to me. Better than the return attendant, I guess, who had crude tattoos clearly visible on his hands.
Alhamdulillah, once again, it was a very nice ride with interesting views. It took about forty five minutes to get through the urban areas surrounding Istanbul. Thrace seemed to be much less hilly/mountainous than the areas of Anatolia I have seen. There are some hills, but not too many. At first, I could see the Sea to the south, but gradually, we went further inland. The land was very green, with lots of farming, closer to Istanbul - they do a lot of organic farming in this area. I saw a lot of nice country homes - it would be a nice area to live, I think.
There were some trees along the route, but I didn't see any forests. The trees were still mostly green, but some were changing colors. I didn't see any conifers in Thrace, although there are some in Istanbul. The middle part of the journey found us in a rather desertish and barren area. It was brown, and at best, uncultivated. Once we got closer to Edirne, the farming and greenness reappeared.
Upon reaching the Edirne station, I went to the back of the station, looking for the minibuses. I learned my lesson from the previous trips - it was completely unnecessary for me to take a taxi, especially since I didn't need to go anywhere in particular. Besides, I figured it would be a good way to see a bit of the city. Still, I needed a starting point, so I consulted the notes I had downloaded - apparently, the city center is called Hurriyet Meydani and there is a tourist office there. I thought I would start there, so I asked at the minibus station which one went there - someone pointed me to the A bus, so I got on.
In my trip to Edirne (Adrianople, the second Ottoman capital, before Istanbul, after Bursa), I didn't see any normal buses - only extended minibuses or stunted large buses. There were steps to get on, and benches on both sides, but at most these things were half as long as the typical bus in Istanbul. The bus I got on was decked out in Fenerbahce colors for some reason (which are essentially maize and blue - I wish I could root for them). The fare was only one YTL.
I really liked Edirne. I was on the bus for maybe twenty minutes, but I think I saw about a third of the city at least. A lot of the buildings were in pastel colors - pink, green, blue. The apartment buildings were also a bit more spaced out, unlike Istanbul, where they are almost on top of each other. Edirne wasn't very crowded either. I think I saw more people and automobiles at the Mecidiyekoy intersection when I returned home than I did in all of Edirne. It just seemed like a peaceful place. Lots of nice parks, and even a river. Indeed, it reminded me a bit of Sham, even though Damascus has twenty times as many people and you could probably fit Edirne into the Old City walls (I did not see any walls around Edirne, by the way).
I saw signs for the Selimiye, and shortly after that, the driver told me that I was near Hurriyet Maydani. Since I now saw the Selimiye (Sinan's masterpiece - see pics in previous post), I figured I didn't need to go to the tourist office anymore. Still, I didn't directly go the Selimiye, since I saw several other large mosques on the way from where I had been dropped off.
I saw this interesting looking tower as well. I approached it, and actually entered it. Alas, the stairs were damaged and I couldn't figure out how to reach the top. It had cannons and everything. It must have had an interesting view.
Anyways, I first went to the Üc Serefeli, or Three Balcony, mosque. It was built by Murad II, Fatih Sultan Muhammad's dad. It was named after an interesting minaret that had three balconies - I guess that was revolutionary at the time or something. Actually, each if its minarets is different, built by a different sultan (see pic in last post) - I thought the twisty one was quite neat. The courtyard area was undergoing construction, so there was a lot of dust everywhere. The pillars inside were quite massive. Interestingly, the women's prayer area was in the front right corner. I prayed zuhr and asr there. Unfortunately, my camera died as I was taking pictures in this mosque.
Next, I went to the Eski, or Old, mosque. It had had several name changes, but as the other mosques came up, it got the name Eski. It was also undergoing construction. I thought it was interesting that Imam Hasan and Imam Husain did not have their names up in this mosque like they do in most other mosques - rather, aside from a number of names for Allah and the Messenger painted on the walls and pillars, the 10 promised paradise had their names on the walls.
I went up to Selimiye next (all three of these mosques were within five minutes of each other; there are a couple of other notable mosques, the Beyazit II and the Muradiye, but I didn't see those or some of the other recommended sights as a consequence of my late start). Alhamdulillah, there was some photographer who had set up shop near the mosque, so I paid him YTL 3 to take a pretty good picture of me with the Selimiye in the background, seeing as my camera was out of juice. The guy made me take off my glasses - I think they must have been tinted. I picked up my picture after about half an hour.
While I waited for the picture to develop, I made a circuit around the mosque complex. It is on a hill and overlooks some of the city. There is a nice park surrounding the mosque as well, although I did see some dogs even here. The mosque itself looked a little bit like the Suleymaniye, but it is somewhat bigger. On the east side of the complex, I saw what looked to be a graveyard, I thought it was wierd however that the graves were pointing in all different directions - I figured, in a Muslim country at least, they should all be buried facing the Qiblah. As I looked closer, I saw a sign that said that it was a mock/exhibition graveyard. Wierd. There were some vendors selling the Ottoman era gooey sweet/treat as well.
The complex also had a museum and a covered shopping area as well. There was some neat stuff in the museum, such as examples of Ottoman calligraphy, metal works, wood works, ceramics, etc. Sinan had some pretty interesting quotes on display as well. I didn't pay an entry fee, although there was a metal detector even here. I almost cried when I saw the Ottoman era flag with various Islamic/Arabic inscriptions on display.
I prayed Maghrib in the mosque in congregation. There was a decent crowd - almost a hundred people probably. The mosque was quite beautiful - I like the dome and its paintings. It seemed like the lighting was better in this mosque than the others I have seen as well. The chandelier in the front was very nice with its colors. I think the Selimiye had much less tilework than the Blue Mosque though. It is a very solid building - apparently, it took a hit from Bulgarian artillery, but was hardly damaged - it hasn't been repaired, and I didn't notice any problems.
After leaving the Selimiye, I headed to look for the Hurriyet Maydani, since it seemed to be nearby. On the way, I noticed a sign advertising some badam sweet. I stopped at the store and picked up some Badam halwa for YTL 14, which Edirne is apparently famous for. I also got a bottle of a corn based, golden colored drink called boza, which I had seen before and looked interesting (I later learned from my colleagues that it is to be drunk cold and with cinnamon sprinkled on top) for YTL 3.
Edirne is also famous for peynir halwa and deva'i misk sweets. I stopped at another store and picked up some deva'i misk (misk medicine) for YTL 5 - it smells really nice, but tastes to sweet I think. It has an interesting story, being named by Murad II who liked it. It has 40 different spices in it as well. I got some two-colored halwa from another store for YTL 1, but it wasn't so good.
I walked up and down the Edirne equivalent of Istiklal Cd (pedestrian road with stores), but it was quite empty. Quite a few stores were open, but a lot were closed - not many people around. I stopped at a fasuliye joint for dinner, since I was quite hungy by then - 6pm or so. I ate fasuliye and rice and drank ayran for YTL 4.5. The staff was friendly and happy to see an Indian Muslim. I made some rudimentary conversation; alhamdulillah, my vocab is slowly growing.
Expectedly, it seemed Edirne was cheaper than Istanbul, between this, the price of sweets, and the price of the microbus. My whole trip, from door to door, only set me back YTL 80.55, alhamdulillah, or 50 dollars.
After eating, I went to the main road and waited for a minibus that had the Otogar label. Once again, YTL 1 only. Like a typical dolmus, it waited at the stops. It became very crowded - standing room only. I was happy to see for the first time in Turkey someone stand and give their seat to an old lady.
We reached the bus station a couple minutes before 7pm. I hurried in, found yet another bus company, Ulusoy, with a bus leaving at 7. I gave my YTL 20, jumped on, and got to the Esenler Otogar at around 930. I had been dreading the Metro ride back, but alhamdulillah, I had forgotten about the bus company shuttles. I quickly got on a shuttle heading north. It dropped us off at another Ulusoy base, where I got on a second shuttle that took me to Mecidiyekoy. I was in the office to type out notes of my trip by about 10pm, alhamdulillah - we didn't encounter much traffic.
Edirne was a pleasant experience, and if I get extended in Turkey, I will try and go back and see the parts I missed. I'm not sure if I will be able to find the Edirne specialties to send/take home in Istanbul though - I wish Istanbul had stores that carried products from the various regions of the country, so I wouldn't have to go all the way there to buy them (e.g., canes from Zonguldak, towels from Izmir, sweets from Edirne, etc.). Khayr, in sha Allah.
