"Edirne: the Second Capital of the... " a Edirne Travel Page by WulfstanTraveller

Edirne is a wonderful place to visit. Although not a very large city, it was the second capital of the Ottoman Empire and its first capital in Europe. Even after Istanbul became the capital in 1453, Edirne was often chosen as a site for monuments and other buildings. As a result, it has a wealth of old architecture that includes not only monuments, but old domestic and commercial buildings as well. The city thus has a lot to see, is very rich in old buildings for its size. The region is also quite well developed and prosperous so, while not full of flashy resorts, it has good hotels and places to eat or shop.

Because it's not in a resort area, lacks famous ruins like Ephesus, and is a bit out of the way for most tourists, Edirne is also not very touristy. One can shop or explore the city without the pressure one can sometimes feel in Istanbul or Kusadasi.

Edirne is also near several other places of interest, such as the attractive, quiet town of Karaagac and Uzunkopru, the name of which means the Long Bridge, and which is justified for the very long and interesting old Ottoman Bridge that is to this day still the bridge on the main road between the two towns.

Finally, Edirne may see out of the way because of the direction in which one must go, but it really isn't. It is only a few hours' easy drive from either Istanbul or Gallipoli and the roads are great.

Edirne has, in addition to the big monuments like the mosques, quite a lot of old residential and commercial buildings. There are many on Maarif Caddesi and the area around central Edirne.

Many old wooden Turkish houses in this part of the country look a lot like Victorians. This house would practically fit right in in some cities in California as I have seen almost identical detailing on some Victorians in Santa Rosa, Petaluma, and San Francisco.