Old City Reloaded: Eskişehir

Eski-şehir means "Old-city" in English. I remember Eskişehir as a cold and old provincial city of middle Anatolia. Last time I visited this city I was very positively surprised. Thanks to its mayor Prof. Dr. Yılmaz Büyükerşen and its two universities, the whole city metamorphosed into a glowing city and a culture hub.
The city was founded by the Hittites in about 14th century B.C.. Following them Phrygians in 11th century B.C., Lydians, the Persians, the Macedonians in 4th century B.C .and the Romans in 2nd century prevailed on the city. In 1074 A.D. it is conquered by Turks.
The city of Eskişehir is sited on the banks of Porsuk river. Eskişehir is the place of Turkey's first aviation industry. The railway industry, boron, meerschaum and magnesite mines are also the locomotives of the local economy.

Kurşunlu Mosque

Kurşunlu Mosque and Kurşunlu Külliyesi (complex) is one of the main attractions in the historical quarter "Odunpazarı". It was built with the order of Selim I.'s leading vizier Damat Melek Pasha between 1515-1525 by the palace architect Acem Ali. The part caravanserai of the complex was built by Mimar Sinan (the architect of the Sokullu Mehmet Paşa Bridge in Bosnia and Herzegovina).

Entrance of the Kurşunlu Mosque

Külliye is composed of a mosque, schools, dormitories, bazaar and some other buildings. Bazaar has been used as hand crafts bazaar. Dormitory rooms are transformed into workshops and meerschaum museum.

Hand crafts bazaar

Meerschaum - before

Meerschaum - after

Calabash (Su kabağı) on the wall of a house.

We continued our tour in the Odunpazarı. The way among the old houses took us to Atlıhan which is a bazaar built in 1880 by Takattin Bey.

Entrance of Atlıhan

Interior of Atlıhan

There are many meerschaum and Turkish calligraphy workshops in Atlıhan. The small tea canteen is a nice place to have a break and taste the Turkish tea served in thin belt glasses.
We were hungry and ate in Köfteci Ahmet. Köftes (a Turkish meat ball dish) were really delicious.

Köfteci Ahmet is right in front of the Atlıhan.

Historical Odunpazarı houses are typical examples of middle-Anatolian architecture.

A pretty old-timer in the Oldcity.

This historical place has been used as movie plateau time to time. As this time ...

We went to Köprübaşı, the traditional shopping mile of the city, and shopped some local sweets. Met helvası is a sugar and flour based sweet typical to Eskişehir. Pestil is a fruit based sweet and it is made by drying the crashed fruits such as grapes, mulberries, plums etc. in the sun.

Helvas

A place identified with Eskişehir is Kara Kedi (Black Cat) Bozacısı. Boza is a typical winter drink in Turkey which is made of fermented wheat and chickpeas. It is usually served with cinnamon on top and with some roasted chickpeas.

Boza

In terms of natural springs Eskişehir is a very rich place. The hot springs have been used in Hamams and even in the city center there are several of them. The most famous spring water of Eskişehir is Kalabak. Almost all drink water of the city is supplied from Kalabak. Which tasted so good after our wild tourism marathon.

A small hamam in Köprübaşı.

This house in Kırmızıtoprak Mahallesi is my favourite house in Eskişehir...