Edirne is a city in Eastern Thrace, in northwest Turkey. This city can be your first or last destination in Turkey, depening on the direction of your itinenary, as it’s located on an intersection where borders of three countries meet: Turkey, Greece, and Bulgaria. Visiting this city is also feasible as a long day trip from Istanbul.
Edirne’s former name is Adrianople, i.e. “City of Hadrianus”, named after the Roman emperor who founded the city on the site of Thracian village of Uskudama. Between 1700 and 1750, Edirne was the fourth biggest city in Europe, with a population of about 350,000 people (it’s hardly 150,000 today). It also served Ottoman Empire as its capital city before Constantinople was captured. All these make up for city’s historical outlook, from huge Ottoman imperial complexes to neo-classical architecture of downtown shops, although at first sight, all you’ll see will be concrete apartment blocks when entering the city (and Selimiye Mosque right in front of you).
Temperate continental – hot and occasionally rainy (as showers which tend to last for 15-20 minutes) summers (expect up to 40º C); cold and rainy, occasionally snowy winters (expect down to -10º C). Spring and autumn months tend to be warmer than the locations on the sea coast (such as Istanbul), but winter arrives earlier (in November). Because Edirne lies in a geography that is the entering point of many weather systems from Balkans (Southeastern Europe) into Turkey, a good way of forecasting the weather conditions for the next few days is to follow what other Balkan cities such as Plovdiv, Bulgaria is currently experiencing, as quite the same conditions will be what Edirne is experiencing within a two or three days time.
PLACE TO VISIT
Selimiye Mosque - that mosque which dominates the skyline of the city. A grandiose piece of art by Sinan, the Ottoman architect of 16th century. Sinan himself considered this building as his best work. The dome of the building had the largest diameter (31.28 mt) of all domes in the world for several centuries. And its minarets (towers) are the second highest minarets (70.89 mt) in whole world, surpassed only by Qutb Minar (72.50 mt) in Delhi, India. The mosque has 999 windows in total, which according to its architect Sinan, symbolize the perfectness of God. If you have admired Blue Mosque (Sultanahmet Mosque) of Istanbul, you’ll sure adore this one, since Blue Mosque is quite a copy of Selimiye. Free admission
Arasta – This is one of the covered bazaars of Edirne. Next to Selimiye.
Old Mosque (Eski Cami) - The smallest –and the oldest- one of three nearby, imperial mosques in downtown Edirne, it's known for its calligraphic inscriptions on its interior walls.
Üç Şerefeli (Three Minaret) Mosque - This downtown mosque is also easily recognizable by not only its dinstiction of having three minarets (towers) which is not very common in Islamic world (one, two, and four towers are most common), but also by the uniqueness of its towers that all three have different designs/motives decorated on. Free admission
Behind this mosque stands the last tower of Edirne’s city walls. It's named Makedonya Kulesi (“Macedonian Tower”), a round and robust tower, and next to it is the last visible section of city walls. It’s possible to enter the tower itself, but impossible to climb upstairs. It’s located in a back alley, so while you are near the Three Minaret, look around on the top of buildings to see the flag on a tower made of red-brick if you can’t exactly find it. The tower also served as a clock tower until 1953, when the upper part of the tower was demolished because of the danger of collapse.
Saraçlar Caddesi (Street) in downtown is a pedestrianized shopping street with pleasant cafés on sides. The old shop buildings on this street has a distinctively neoclassical architecture.
Maarif Caddesi and the adjoining streets, located a few blocks west from Saraçlar Cad., is where lots of historical wooden houses are located. Their walls are decorated with highly delicate handwork. Also on one end of Maarif Cad. is the Jewish Synagogue, the biggest one in Turkey, but is slowly decaying now. Almost all of its wooden sections (roof, windows) has collapsed in one way or the other, but its stone walls are sound enough to show its former grandeur. Entry is forbidden.
Muradiye Mosque
Beyazit Complex
Medical Museum (Sağlık Müzesi)– This museum, which was awarded “European Museum of the Year” in early 2000s, was essentially a mental institution used during Ottoman times. It was notable for its “progressive”/”alternative” approach towards its patients. Instead of locking them into cells with shackles, which was widespread during that time, methods such as meditative music or flower gardens were tried in this institution.
Balkan Wars Martyrdom (Balkan Savaşları Şehitliği) – On the highest hill of the city, next to the city cemetery. The hill gives a nice view of the city and the forests surrounding the rivers behind. Free admission
Museum of Archeology
Museum of Islamic Arts
Justice Court (Adalet Kasrı) - former Ottoman imperial residence before the dynasty moved to Istanbul in 15th century. Unused for nearly five centuries, there is only one tower of it left, fortunately in an intact state. It’s located in the outskirts of the city, near a river (Tundza probably). Also Kırkpınar Pasture where oil-wrestling competitions take place every year is nearby.
Old Bridges
Karaağaç Quarter (pronounced kaa-rraa-ah-ach) - Although very quiet now, it used to be main nightlife spot of the city in the past. You’ll pass on two old and very long bridges (on Tundza (tr.:Tunca) and Maritsa (tr.:Meriç) rivers respectively, Maritsa bridge is gloriously longer as the riverbed is gloriously larger) and a cobbled road going through a forest of centuries-old trees on the way to Karaağaç from downtown. While you are in Karaağaç, don’t forget to take a look at the historical building of Presidency of Trakya University (Rektörlük), which served as the main train station of the city for years. Also you can check out the Lausanne Monument (a modern art monument which consist of three poles which symbolize Turkish motherland: the longest one symbolizes Anatolia, or Asian Turkey, the middle-sized symbolizes Eastern Thrace, while the shortest symbolizes Karaağaç itself, being the only Turkish soil west of Maritsa River, in other words west of Eastern Thrace) and the open air sculpture exhibition in the Presidency’s yard, which contains marble statues chipped in situ by sculptors from countries neighbouring Turkey.
HOW TO REACH
By bus - Easiest way to reach to Edirne is by bus from Istanbul. Departures are at any time with a fare of some 10 euros and a trip of two hours. Bus station in Edirne is located out of the city but free service midibuses will take you to the city center.
There are no direct buses to Bulgaria. It is, however, possible to take a taxi to Kapikule on the Bulgarian border. From there one can sometimes wave over a bus traveling on to Plovdiv and Sofia. Another approach could be to walk across the border and take a bus or train from Kapitan Andreevo on the Bulgarian side of the border.
By train - There are two daily trains from Istanbul’s Sirkeci station (one at 8:30AM in the morning, and the other at about 4PM in the afternoon. Both arrives in Edirne about four hours later). Trains from Europe to Istanbul also call at the city station.
By car - The city is located on the main highways linking Turkey and Europe (road numbers: toll-free D100 and toll-road/motorway O-3/E80). A drive takes no more than two hours from Istanbul (224 km away) to Edirne on the motorway, even less if you drive very fast. The main European-Turkish border post Kapikule/Kapitan Andreevo (between Turkey and Bulgaria, SE of Svilengrad) is about 15-20 km away from the city, while less significant Pazarkule border post (between Turkey and Greece, north of Orestiada) is even nearer.
