2010 Trip: Edirne
9th May 2010
Today I walked around Edirne, exploring the town and visiting the sites. This included four mosques and two museums. I was almost surprised when I woke up that I hadn’t been robbed in my sleep and I had actually slept fairly well. The shared toilet/shower facilities were actually surprising usable once you got used to the idea of the shower being in the same place as the eastern (hole in the floor) style toilet.
I headed out at a reasonable hour and my first stop was the Old Mosque (Eski Camii), completed in 1414, a beautifully decorated mosque with 8 small domes surrounding a large central one. The wall featured intricate patterns of arabic calligraphy in a stark black against the stone walls. Unusual and effective.
After this, I headed towards the Selimiye Camii (mosque), one of the largest mosques in Turkey and featuring the second tallest minarets in the world at 70.69m tall. This mosque is considered the crowning achievement of Sinan, an architect at the peak of Ottoman power and expansion in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century. In turn, he is considered the best and additionally the most prolific of all of the Ottoman architects.
Before I could get there, it started to pour down and I chatted with a young kid in the courtyard of the mosque. He knew as much English as I did Turkish (i.e. almost none), but we managed to discuss his passion for soccer (really surprising that) and the inclement weather. I think he was trying to help his mother sell something, but he seemed a little preoccupied and was far from caring when I didn’t buy anything.
The inside of the mosque can best be described as effortless. It is a single dome with 8 sides, supported by flying buttresses. I sat for a while and watched the tourists come and go. Most of the tourists here (about 90%) are Turkish themselves and the rest are from nearby countries. I did not meet anyone from a ‘western’ country in Edirne at all. I watched as a harried lady manhandled a oversized vacuum cleaner across the floor, missing at least half of it. A stunning mosque and deserved of its reputation.
By chance, I decided to go to the small museum behind the mosque. It was specifically dedicated to Ottoman history and the results of nearby archaelogical sites. The most spectacular items were some illustrated Korans, some rather impressive examples of Greek vase painting (a particular fixation of mine), and a well displayed exhibit of the coinage from the region, separated into the different empires that had dominion over it at different times.
After this, I took a break for lunch, well brunch. I went to a rather nice looking cafe in town and had a Turkish breakfast. It consisted of tomato, rocket, cucumber, three different cheeses, ham (not for me), a hard boiled egg, a bowl of olives, honey, cherry jam, a basket of bread rolls, orange juice, and tea. Yum.
After this I walked to the north of the town, stopping at another mosque (Uc Serefeli) on route. A lot of money has obviously been put into the town’s attractions in the past few years, resulting in all of the ceiling fresco work looking clean and fresh. My first destination in this area was the health museum (aka the Beyazit Complex), an old Ottoman mental hospital and medical school that were saved from collapse (as they liked to point out excessively often) and turned into a museum. Apparently, it has even won some awards for museum awesomeness (as they also like to point out rather frequently).
The museum was admittedly very interesting. It features rooms decorated in period furniture and with manekins performing various tasks, all rather well done. The captions were straight to the point, often with English translations, that were a little amusing. It also featured a rather good history of medicine generally. The comments on European influence were rather disparaging (as is well the case) until the 17th century. Of particular interest were the documents pertaining to the operation of the facility. It operated in a particularly liberal way, especially considering European medicine at the time. Individuals were treated mainly by providing rest and a type of music therapy. The facility was supported by the state and the donations of wealthy benefactors. Interestingly, the head teacher got paid twice that of the head doctor. This value was 20 times that of a nurse.
After this, I visited the next door mosque which had very floral patterning, reminiscent of palaces throughout western Europe. It was currently under renovation. Following this I walked along one of the large dikes beside the river (needed as the river floods regularly), trying to catch sight of some oil wrestling which the area is famous for. While I saw many festive partygoers dancing and playing music (live), there was no wrestling to be found. I headed back to town and eventually found an awesome buffet place for dinner, with various tradition dishes for me to try! Oily aubergine stew, pilaf, lentil soup, and a delicious spinach and bulgur dish.
I leave Turkey tomorrow, so before I go a few more observations. The Turkish are what one might call Ataturk mad. To understand the legacy of Ataturk is to understand the current political and cultural climate. As a national hero, he is worshipped. He brought the country to strength in the decades following the Ottoman decline. He transformed a overtly anti-secular country into a modern secular one with modern democracy and secent essential services (health and education). To give an idea of the strength of feeling, for the past few years YouTube has been blocked in Turkey because a Greek teenager decided to upload a one minute clip basically saying Ataturk sucked. This shapes the current Kemalian (Ataturk centric) politics. On the surface every political party claims they follow the teachings and legacy of Ataturk. But, politics here does not divide along the Left/Right lines we see in western democracy. The key issue is, with a 99% muslim population, Secular/Anti-Secular. In the past years the anti-secular lobby has be gaining power. It will be very interesting to see how far this movement goes.