Turkey Guide
Around the Sea of Marmara
Eski Camii
Address: Across from the Belediye
The logical starting point is Eski Camii, the oldest mosque in town. This boxy structure, topped by nine vaults arranged three-square, is a more elaborate version of Bursa's Lulu Camii. Emir Süleyman, son of the luckless Beyazit I, began it in 1403, but it was his younger brother Mehmet I – the only one of three brothers left alive after a bloody succession struggle – who dedicated it eleven years later. The mosque is famous for its giant works of calligraphy, the most prolific being the large Arabic inscriptions on either side of the front door, one in the name of Allah, the other of Mohammed.