Edirne Part 2

I went to Edirne in October with a 10th grade geography field trip.  We were off campus for 14 hours and at least 8 of those were spent in the bus.  I was glad I went, it was a beautiful day, we stopped at a power station and got to go in one of the cooling towers and I got a chance to hang out with some of my students, but the time in Edirne was very short and much of it was after the sun set.  So when I had the chance to go again, this time overnight with adults and in English, I decided to go for it.
Edirne is in the far north west of Turkey at the Greek and Bulgarian boarder.  At one point (for ~30 years or so) it was the capitol of the Ottoman Empire before the fall of Costantinople.  It is now a modest city, but it maintains some of its glorious memory and there are ~50 mosques in and around the city.

I have been on several trips with ARIT (see posts about walls) but this was my first over night.  I had asked to be paired up with another single female traveler to avoid the dreaded 'single supplement.'  When I got on the bus I found out that a roomate had been found, Betty, a retired English teacher and free lance writer, who has only be in Istanbul about as long as I have.  I had met her on the long walls trip and she seemed very friendly. 

We got on a big bus at 8:30 and headed west.  It was a beatiful day in Istanbul but it got foggy quickly out side of town and soon we were in terrible traffic.  Traffic from the main highway was diverted and we later we found out that it was one of the largest pile ups in Turkey's history, some 83 cars collided in the fog although only a few people were killed. 

We had quite a history lecture during the first 1.5-2 hours of our journey from our very knowledgable tour guide Tuna (which is the Turkish name for the Danube river).  It was interesting for a while, but I thought it had too much detail and was too long for me.  These trips tend to have a very erudite clientelle, with Ottoman scholars, historians and persons knowlegeable about what they are seeing.  I imagine it would be tough to lead such a group well and you would need to be very knowledgable yourself to not feel intimidated (there is a reason I teach teenagers).

Unfortunately since it has now been more than a month since I took this tour, many of the details are lost to me, so I will let the pictures I took take front seat.

Our First Mosqe of the trip, you can see how foggy it is on Saturday afternoon.

Inside the first mosque, the stained glass window are somewhat unusual.

Cedit Ali Pasa Camii 1572

 The Cedid Ali Pasa Camii is the second biggest mosque after Selimiye in Edirne and is called the great mosque.  It was designed by Architect Sinan in 1560.  It is amazingly light inside due to so many windows which is very unusual for a mosque.  Sinan was a master architect and is responsible for some of the most magnificent structures of Ottoman history including the Sulemaniye Mosque in Istanbul.

The reader climbs these steps, but stays 5 steps from the top (you can see the microphone) since to get any higher would be presumpteously close to God. 

Built in prayer rugs on the carpet.

At least on foggy days you can look directly at the sun.

We just looked in this hamam, which is good since I am afraid of them.

Down the foggy street in Edirne

Uc Serefeli Camii

 The Uc Serefeli Camii (Three balcony mosque) is built in the town center.  Each of the balconies is accesible from a different stair case so the prayer chanters do not see eachother on their way up. 

The star of David told Jews that they were welcome at this mosque.

Uc Serefeli camii from afar.

The center skylight in the Eski Camii

The Eski Camii is known for its giant calligraphy

The bottom pattern is also a type of calligraphy, in a more modern style.

Very intricate carving on the prayer stairs.

Sinan with the Selimiye Mosque in the background, his masterpiece.

The central dome inside the Selimiye Mosque.

Selimiye Camii at sunset.

Sinan really had a thing for windows.

 The Selimiye Mosque is considered Sinan's masterpiece, greater even than the larger Suleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul, which he refers to as a practice for this one.  The dome is supported by an octagon of pillars which gives it a more open plan than other mosques.  It is possible to see the mithrab from anywhere in the mosque. 

Sunset in Edirne

 The next morning was even more foggy and very cold.

Muradiye Camii 1436

Graveyard of the Muradiye Mosque - the hats on the stones tel you the occupation of the person buried there.

Some original tile work remains in the single dome

Memorial of the Balkan wars martyrs

The begining of the resoration of the Edirne Ottoman Palace

Sultan Bayezin II

 We went back to the health center hospital and I paid a little more attention to some of the details this time. 

Early animal testing.  They made the snake bite the chicken and then gave it a concocted antedote to see if they could cure it. 

More occupation markers in another grave yard. 

spoons

Gazimihal Bey Camii 1422

An old synagogue in the Jewish section of town.

Rustem Pasha or Ekmekcizade Ahmet Pasha Caravanserai I am not sure which.

 A caravanserai is like a motel before there were motors.  Typically there would be rooms for humans on the second floor, and places for the animals on the ground floor.  This was is supposed to be a fuctioning hotel, but it looked pretty abandoned to me, except for the cats of course. 

A tower as part of the old city wall of Edirne

City Wall

 Other notes on Edirne... I guess the town is well known for three things besides the history and architecture: 1) Liver, 2) Almond cookies, 3) fruit shaped soap. 

Fried liver served with fried hot pepers, tomatos, raw onion and pickled pepper.  It was the best liver I have had, but I didn't need to repeat the meal on my second trip to Edirne. 

It is all generic soap, and I am not sure how good it actually is, but it looks neat, especially from afar.

 Final notes on my traveling companions.  One really nice thing about the ARIT trips are the people who are on the trip with you.  They are all friendly and interesting.  I have even met up with some of them again for dinner in town.  There haven't been any ARIT trips in more than a month, but I hope to go on some more in the spring.