Turkey Guide
The central and southern Aegean
Birgi
A sleepy community of half-timbered houses lining both slopes of a narrow valley at the foot of Boz Dağ, BIRGI, 9km east of Ödemış, is an excellent example of what small-town Turkey looked like before the wars and cement mania of the twentieth century.
The main thing to see is the Aydınoğlu Mehmet Bey Camii, also called the Ulu Cami, an engaging fourteenth-century mosque on the site of an earlier church. It's across the ravine from the Çakırağa Konaği (see below), a little way upstream. Quite a lot of ancient Pyrgion, including a sculpted lion, is incorporated into the exterior walls; inside, it's an understated masterpiece, with the tiled mihrab and a single arch betraying a Selçuk influence. Most impressive, though, are the carved hardwood mimber and shutters, some of them replacements for those carted off to the Selimiye Camii in Edirne. The sloping wooden roof is supported by a forest of Roman columns, the whole effect more like Spanish Andalucia than Turkey. The minaret features zigzag belts of glazed green tiles, like the Yeşil Cami in İznik, while the dome of the adjacent türbe (tomb) of the Aydınoğlu clan is fashioned in concentric rings of alternating brick and the same faïence. A couple of other mid- to late-period Ottoman mosques perch next to or above the stream, along with some ruined baths and a medrese, but while these add to the atmosphere of the place none can compare to the Ulu Cami.
Birgi's houses – ensembles of wood and either brick, stone, lath-and-plaster or half-timbered mud – run the gamut from the simple to the sumptuous. Many are dilapidated, but the restored eighteenth-century Çakırağa Konağı (Tues– Sun 9am– noon & 1–6pm; 2YTL) operates as a museum and has some explanatory panels in English. Built by one Zerif Aliağa in 1761, the mansion is one of the best surviving specimens of those built in the wake of the decentralizing reforms of the eighteenth century, which allowed local potentates (the derebeys) to rule and live in grand style. Many have burned down or simply rotted away owing to the widespread use of wood in coffered and painted ceilings, lattices and built-in cupboards (mısandras). Most konaks were two-storeyed, but the slope here dictates a three-storey plan: the ground floor in stone, the upper floors in lath-and-plaster. The extensive and vivid murals depict stylized skylines of favourite coastal cities; the presence or absence of particular structures allows dating of the paintings to the nineteenth century.
Birgi has little accommodation: by far the best is the delightful 
Birgicek Hanı ( 
0232/762 6437, 
762 6405; Price: €32-49), which offers charming antique-strewn rooms and delicious home-cooked meals.