Edirne

Marmara, Turkey 1 tours visit here

Edirne stands in Turkey's Marmara region, in Eastern Thrace near the Greek and Bulgarian borders, where the Meriç, Tunca and Arda rivers meet. Known in antiquity as Adrianople, it was the Ottoman capital from 1369 until the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, and the imperial patronage of that era left a concentration of monumental architecture unusual for a city of its size. The centrepiece is the Selimiye Mosque, built by Mimar Sinan for Sultan Selim II and inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list; its wide dome and four slender minarets are visible from every approach. Nearby stand the Old Mosque with its huge wall calligraphy, the Üç Şerefeli Mosque, the covered Bedesten and Sinan's Ali Paşa bazaar, while across the Tunca the Bayezid II complex, an Ottoman hospital and medical school, is now a health museum. The historic core is compact and walkable, so Edirne is usually seen as a full-day trip from Istanbul. Late spring and early autumn are the most comfortable seasons; the city is at its busiest during the Kırkpınar oil-wrestling festival, held each summer at Sarayiçi and among the oldest continuing sporting events in the country.