• Turkey Guide

  • Introduction to Turkey
  • 17 things not to miss
  • Red tape and visas
  • Opening hours and public holidays
  • Getting around

• Explore Turkey

  • İstanbul
  • Around the Sea of Marmara
  • The North Aegean
  • The central and southern Aegean
  • The Turquoise Coast
  • The Mediterranean coast and the Hatay
  • South Central Anatolia
  • North Central Anatolia
  • The Black Sea coast
  • Northeastern Anatolia
  • The Euphrates and Tigris basin
  • Lake Van and the southeast

• Cities

  • Ankara
    
  • Antalya
    
  • Edirne
    
  • Erzurum
    
  • İstanbul
    

Turkey Guide

Around the Sea of Marmara

Edirne

• Accommodation
• Eating

More than just the quintessential border town, Edirne – 230km northwest of İstanbul – is one of the best-preserved Ottoman cities and makes an impressive and easily digestible introduction to Turkey. It's a lively and attractive spot of around 120,000 people, occupying a rise overlooking the meeting of the Tunca, Arda and Meriç rivers, a short distance from the Greek and Bulgarian frontiers. The life of the place is derived from day-tripping foreign shoppers, from a growing number of discerning tourists and from the presence of students (the University of Thrace is here). Downtown, teeming bazaars and elegant domestic architecture almost distract you from the clutch of striking Ottoman monuments that lifts Edirne out of the ranks of the ordinary. The best of these Ottoman offerings, crowning the town hillock and sufficient reason in itself for a detour here, is the Selimiye Camii, the crowning achievement of the imperial architect Mimar Sinan.

Edirne's main annual event is the Kırkpınar festival in July, hosting the famous oil-wrestling. The festival lasts two or three days and is preceded by a couple of days of folkloric exhibitions laid on by the Edirne municipality. For more information, and for tickets to the wrestling events, it's best to contact either tourist office well in advance.