Difference between revisions of "Bursa"

Revision as of 15:43, 30 October 2010

Green Tomb at a winter night

Bursa is a city in the Asian part of Marmara Region, Turkey.

Understand

Bursa lies in the northwestern part of Turkey near the sea of Marmara. The city was the first capital of the Ottoman Empire. It's the fourth largest city in Turkey after Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir. It is famous for its peach, chestnut and silk, although lately, heavy industry located in the outskirts of the city has surpassed these traditional industries. As it was the first capital of the Ottoman Empire, it has a lot of historical places to see. Furthermore, Uludağ -one of the highest mountains in the Turkey - lies very close to Bursa and is the main winter sports center of Turkey.

Get in

By plane

An airport serving domestic and a couple of international flights can be found in Bursa (Yenişehir Airport, IATA: YEI, ICAO: LTBR). However, in order to get to Bursa from most countries by plane, you will have to take a transit flight via one of Turkey's international airports. Istanbul's Atatürk and Sabiha Gökçen are the nearest major international airports.

There are several international and domestic flights to Bursa.

International

• Munich Franz Josef Strauss Airport — Operated by Lufthansa [1]
• Skopje "Alexander the Great" Airport — Operated by Borajet [2]

Domestic

Operated by Anadolu Jet [3] and Borajet [4]

• Ankara Esenboğa Airport

Operated by Borajet [5]

• Adana Şakirpaşa Airport
• Diyarbakır Airport
• Erzurum Airport
• Samsun Çarşamba Airport
• Sivas Airport
• Trabzon Airport

By train

There is no railway in and around Bursa.

However, when coming from Ankara, you can take the high-speed train (YHT) to Eskişehir, which is located about the mid-way, and then transfer to the bus heading for Bursa there, which is provided by Turkish State Railways and departs right in front of the station. This combined trip takes around 4 hours (as opposed to 5 and a half hours by bus only), and there are seven fast train departures daily from Ankara.

By car

Highways that are fairly wide and in good condition connect the city to north (D575/E881, from İzmit, Yalova, and Istanbul, the shortest route from last of which involves taking a ferry to Yalova), west (D200/E90 from Balıkesir with a connection to D565 from Izmir in the southwest), and east (D200/E90 from Eskişehir and Ankara, with a connection to D650 from Antalya in the south).

By bus

Buses from Istanbul take about 3 hours and cost about 10 euros.

There are bus services from all major cities to Bursa such as Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and Antalya. Prices vary from 10 to 50 Euros based on the distance.

By boat

This is the fastest option from Istanbul:

Take the Yenikapı-Bursa ferry from Istanbul Yenikapı terminal (in the European part of Istanbul near Sultanahmet) to Güzelyalı (80 minutes - 20 Lira).

Güzelyalı is about 20km from Bursa so buses meet the ferry to take passengers to Organize Sanayi metro station (30mins - 3 Lira) in the outer suburbs of the city.

Take the metro to downtown Bursa - get off at Şehre Küstü station for the old section of the city close to the market area (30mins - 2 Lira). The whole journey from Istanbul to the centre of Bursa will take about 2.5 to 3 hours.

It's also possible to transit through Yalova fast ferry jetty, about an hour bus ride (which costs 9 TL pp) north of Bursa.

All of the ferries are operated by İDO [6]. Tickets can be booked online.

Virtual Tour

You can take a virtual tour to view the points of interest on City Panoramas Bursa [7].

Get around

The city has a metro line connecting downtown with suburbs in the northwest. There is also an extensive bus and dolmuş network. The dolmuşes in Bursa are more likely to be a normal looking white car with a sign on the roof rather than the yellow minibuses that are common in Istanbul.

The Bursa Metro is called Bursaray - for information in Turkish: Bursaray and a map

See

Mosques

• Ulucami, (in downtown), [8]. The "great mosque" of Bursa. Built in early Ottoman period, in 1399, it resembles more of earlier Seljuq buildings of inland Anatolia than the typical Ottoman mosques such as Blue Mosque of Istanbul built later.

• Orhan Camii ve Külliyesi (Orhan Mosque)
• Yeşil Camii(Green Mosquee)
• Muradiye Camii
• Hüdavendigar Camii
• Yıldırım Camii
• Koca Sinan Paşa
• İshak Paşa Külliyeleri
• Celal Bayar Müzesi

Tombs

• Yeşil Türbe(Green Tomb) is the tomb of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed I (1412-1420) and is the iconic monument of the city.

Do

Learn

Work

Buy

• Silk - one of the major industries of Bursa in the past, this is still one of the major draws of Bursa.

• Koza Han (Silk Bazaar), (in downtown, very near Ulucami), [9]. M-Sa 8AM-8PM. Silk bazaar dating back to 1491. Think of a very historical mall devoted only to silk.

Eat

Try the İskender kebap, a dish originated from Bursa. İskender consists of roasted, sliced lamb spread atop diced bread pieces, topped with tomato sauce, served with yoghurt. A similar dish, meatballs instead of sliced lamb only, would be Pideli Köfte which is definitely cheaper and perhaps more delicious. Go to Kayhan Carsisi, very close to Heykel, for best options.

• İskender, Ünlü Cadde (near Heykel). Restaurant is named after the dish since the owners are descendants of the person who "invented" the dish.

• Pidecioğlu, Bozkurt Caddesi (just off Altiparmak Caddesi, near the Bursaspor stadium). Another good İskender kebab restaurant.

Budget

Mid-range

Splurge

Drink

Sleep

Budget

• Cesmeli Hotel, Gümüşçeken Cad. 6, ☎ +90 224 224 15 11 - 12. Old and not very clean. Not good value for money. € 25/person with breakfast included.

Mid-range

• Safran Otel, Ortapazar Cadessi, Arka Sok, 4 (just inside Sultanat Kapi (old city wall gates)), ☎ 224-7216. Very nice small hotel in a recently renovated old house close to the centre of town. Staff are very friendly and helpful. Rooms on the ground floor tend to be a little noisy. Note that Googlemaps has this hotel listed twice with one incorrect location. The correct location is just inside the city gate closest to the covered markets. safranhotel@mynet.com 140TL double with breakfast.

The best budget hotel you can stay is "Hotel Gonluferah", around EUR 70 per night, but having rooms with great views of the city as the hotel is located on the way to the Uludag mountain.

Contact

The telephone code of the city is (+90) 224.

Stay safe

Bursa is a safe city. But of course you should always be cautious if you're wandering alone in late night.

Cope

Get out

Other sites and places near the city include

• Uludag National Park (Uludağ Milli Parkı)—just south of city, a wintersports resort and hiking destination
• Çekirge
• Oylat (Turkish Baths)
• Gemlik Kaplıcaları(Turkish Baths)
• Kumla(Beach)
• Kurşunlu Plajları(Beach)
• Prusa Kenti Surları(City Wall)
• Miletopolis (Karacabey)
• Mirlea (Mudanya)
• Kirmastı (Mustafa Kemal Paşa)
• Atranos (Orhaneli)
• Neopolis (Yenişehir)
• Ayasofya (Hagia Sofia), Koimesis, Hagios Kiliseleri (Churches)
• Nikaia Nekropolü,
• Yıldırım Bedesteni (Yildirim Bazaar)
• Bursa Arkeoloji Müzesi (Bursa Archelogy Museum)
• Bursa Atatürk Müzesi (Bursa Atatürk Museum)
• Bursa Türk İslam Eserleri Müzesi (Bursa Turk Islamic Works Museum)
• Mudanya Mütareke Müzesi (Mudanya Armistice Museum)

• Armutlu—sea-side town with some hot springs to north
• Iznik (Nicaea/Nikaia)—historical town to east featuring old city walls, lakefront promenade, and the church in which first and seventh ecumenical councils of early Christianity were convened

Routes through Bursa

Çanakkale ← Bandirma ←

W  E

→ Eskişehir → Ankara