Bursa - Gün 2

We woke up early and took showers. Laura commenced complaining about how she didn't sleep well. I slept like a log. I haven't been sleeping very well recently, but these past two nights I've just been knocked out. It's nice.


Am I the only person frightened by the sight of a nuclear power plant?
After checking out, we had to catch a dolmuş back into town. Bursa dolmuşes aren't like the Ankara ones- they're cars instead of minibuses. 'Work just as well. It shows how the dolmuş started out as a "shared taxi."


We got off at Heykel and transferred to Emirsultan. The Emir Sultan Mosque (above) was actually a very simple mosque- simple for "Ottoman style" anyways. Bursa was the original capital of the Ottoman Empire, so it is where this style first developed.


From there, we walked to Yeşil Camii and Yeşil Türbe (Green Mosque & Tomb). The Yeşil Türbe actually had blue-green tiles covering the coffins.

We pressed on westward and back to the bazar for some shopping. Sadly, the bazar was closed. So, I couldn't finish off my souvenir shopping. I was severely disappointed. Had we been able to take an overnight bus on Friday (or even left Thursday night like normal people), we would have had plenty of time to go shopping on Saturday. Oh well, I guess that means I need to fit in a day trip to İstanbul sometime.

Another young Turkish man helped us by leading us to another scarf shop. I no longer need scarves. *Argh*

So, over lunch (another iskender kebab) Laura decided that she felt a cold coming on. To be safe, she wanted to leave early so she doesn't get sicker- something about finals next week. I don't know. I planned on staying until our bus left at 5pm, and I wasn't going to leave 3 hours early.

I dropped Laura off at the bus stop and proceeded to hike through Bursa by myself.


I (once again) got off at the wrong stop, but it was a good mistake this time. I was able to catch a full rainbow over the city.


I walked the downhill kilometer to the Muradiye complex, wandering through small streets lined with early-Ottoman houses.


Above you see the tombs of the Muradiye Complex. When a new sultan came into power, he had all his brothers killed (to avoid civil wars). So, my tomb visits included seeing several little baby/childhood coffins.

After seeing the Sultan II Murat Mosque, I grabbed a taxi back up the hill to the Orhan Gazi and Osman Gazi Tombs. These are the tombs of the founding sultans of the Ottoman Empire.


Central Bursa, including the glass pyramid of Zafer Plaza. Bursa is really close to a large mountain, Uludağ, which is famous for its skiing.

By this time I was tired and hungry. So, I grabbed some random Turkish dairy/pudding dessert and headed back to the otogar where I bought more Turkish sweets (kestane şekeri, pişmaniye, and walnut-filled marshmallows). I once again slept on the bus ride home.