Turkey Guide
Around the Sea of Marmara
İznik
It's hard to believe that İznik, today a somnolent farming community at the east end of the lake of the same name, was once the seat of empires and scene of desperate battles. But looking around the fertile olive-mantled valley, you can understand the attraction for imperial powers needing a fortified base near the sea-lanes of the Marmara. Today, İznik is firmly a backwater, slumbering away among its orchards and waking only recently to the demands of tourism. Tractors, rather than tour buses, are still the most common sight on İznik's streets. The town's famous sixteenth-century ceramics, the best ever produced in Turkey, are now all but absent from İznik's museums and mosques – even the tiles sheathing the minaret of Yeşil Camii, the town's most famous landmark, are poor substitutes made in Kütahya. Most people visit İznik as a long day out of İstanbul or Bursa, staying a night at most – just about enough time to sample the town's monuments.