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It has to be said that my first impression of Turkey outside Istanbul wasn’t great. Finding our way to the centre of Bursa from the ferry terminal was confusing and along the way we were laughed at a few times. Having groups of people obviously talking about you, gesturing toward you and openly laughing is never a way to be made feel welcome. I started to think that maybe there was a reason so much of Turkey’s tourism seemed to be centred in Istanbul.

Thankfully it just seems to have been a random thing. It does have to be said that the two of us laden down front and back with our packs is a pretty amusing sight but most people manage to giggle quietly or include us in their laughter. Bursa and the rest of Turkey rose in my estimation once we found a place to stay and had a good night’s sleep. Exploring Bursa was great, we visited a couple of interesting mosques, ate Iskender kebab at its birthplace and explored the sprawling markets. The city was founded around 200BC and in the 6th century the nearby thermal area of Çekirge was developed by Justinian 1, the Byzantine emperor. For a while it bounced between rulers until it was conquered by the Ottoman Turks in 1326. It was their capital until 1402 and the first two sultans are buried there. We visited the Green Mosque, built between 1419 and 1424, which has beautiful marble carvings on the outside wall. The nearby Green Tomb, where the Green Mosque’s founder is buried, is a beautiful small building surrounded by cypress trees. The tiles inside are original and the stunning 3D designs are something we haven’t seen before.

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Tags: Anzac, Ayvalik, Bursa, Canakkale, Gallipoli Peninsula, Green Mosque, Troy, WW1