"Hadrianopolis...Adrianople...beautiful... " a Edirne Ili Travel Page by June.b

The other day was Iznik & Bursa, I still have 5 days left to spend to complete my 9 days in Istanbul. I can't remember if this was my 12th time in this country.

Anyhow, I decided to hop on the bus to Edirne - not much hitting on the popularity chart but am looking for a place to see outside of Istanbul but not far - so Edirne it is.

This city is out of the regular tourist track, as most of the bunch are heading to the east - Antalya, Bodrum, Cappadocia, Black Sea and all those popular ones on that side of the country.
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Edirne is on the european part,sort of gateway to the the rest of europe as it is sharing borders with Bulgaria and Greece.

Home to the beautiful Selimiye Mosque - a masterpiece of the great ottoman architect, Mimar Sinan. And several other mosques from various era.

The city has a considerable sights to boast of.

The main activities I guess are centered around the very quaint pedestrian shopping street called "Saraçlar Caddesi".

It's few meters from the Selimiye Mosque complex and park. Saraçlar Caddesi or street is neat and it's nice to just sit at one of those benches around the fountain, sip a coffee or a cola and watch the world go by.

This street is full of wooden houses that looks to me like a miniature mansions. There is also a mini train that tours around the area.
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The atmosphere is more relaxed compared to Bursa (which I saw the other day).

I took the morning Ulusoy bus (they have frequent buses to Edirne) at the Buyuk Otogar in Istanbul, paid I think YTL20 and the trip was about 2.5 hours with beautiful green and yellow (flowers) rolling on the landscapes.

Upon arriving at the Edirne otogar, there are small buses that goes to the central which by the way is a challenge to your patience as they stop so frequently to pick up passengers along the way. I got off near the pedestrian street and started my tour around from there.

The good news about Edirne is you can get a good glimpse of this beautiful city on a daytrip! I also took the Ulusoy bus back to Istanbul at 6:00pm, fare was lower at YTL16.
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