Bursa Ottoman heritage and silk bazaar

Bursa was the first capital of the Ottoman Empire, and its old centre, with the nearby village of Cumalıkızık, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The day starts at the Ulu Cami, the Grand Mosque with twenty domes and a fountain inside the prayer hall. We visit outside prayer times, ask guests to remove shoes and dress modestly, and provide headscarves for women at the door.

Next door is the Koza Han, the fifteenth-century silk cocoon market, still full of silk shops around a courtyard with a small mosque at its centre. The guide explains the silk trade that made Bursa rich, and there is time for tea under the trees and shopping in the covered bazaar. Lunch is İskender kebab in the city where it was created.

In the afternoon we visit the Green Mosque and Green Tomb, known for their tiles, and finish at the tombs of Osman and Orhan Gazi on the Tophane hill, with candied chestnuts and a view over the city.