Turkey Guide
Around the Sea of Marmara
Despite their proximity to İstanbul, the shores and hinterland of the Sea of Marmara are neglected by most foreign travellers. This is not altogether surprising – here the country is at its most Balkan and, at first glance, least exotic – but there are good reasons to come: above all the exquisite early Ottoman centres of Edirne and Bursa. If your appetite is whetted for more of the same, the historic town of İznik makes a good postscrips to the former imperial capitals.
For many citizens of the Commonwealth nations and Ireland, a pilgrimage to the extensive and moving World War I battlefields and cemeteries on the Gelibolu (Gallipoli) peninsula may involve personal as well as national history.
Highlights
1 Selimiye Camii The masterpiece of architect Mimar Sinan, considered to be the finest mosque in Turkey.
2 Battlefield sites and cemeteries The Gelibolu peninsula pays testament to the Allied defeat during World War I, remembered each year on Anzac Day.
3 Termal Get steamy in winter at Termal's near-scalding hot springs – ancient baths where people have come to take the cure since Byzantine times.
4 İznik Sleepy town nestled in an olive-mantled valley, famous for its sixteenth-century tiles.
5 Bursa's Silk-Cocoon Hall Centrepiece of Bursa's covered bazaar, occupied by silk-breeders at the auction held every June.
6 Cumalikizik A finely preserved Ottoman village, its cobbled streets full of charmingly dilapidated houses.