Hi all, I was lucky enough to be able to spend 2 days in Edirne earlier this year. January 1 & 2 to be precise.
To come to Edirne from Istanbul you go to the intercity bus terminal and catch one of the many buses that serve the route. There are hourly buses that depart from Istanbul which go to Edirne. The fare costs 25-30 lira and takes give or take 2.5 hours.
Some bus companies have services that will take you from Edirne bus terminal to the city or you could catch a taxi for around 20 lira (AUD 12, USD 13, EUR 9 you get the drift).
We arrived Edirne at 2000 and was told there was no service till 2030. We had just come from a non stop 30 hour trip and as the weather was cold caught a taxi to our hotel in Sarayici (inner palace).
The hotel we stayed at was called Edirne Antik Hotel. Don't be fooled by it's name as me and my partmer found the hotel to be a lovely place to spend a few nights in. Twin share rooms cost us 100 lira per night. There was no prebooking involved though we did exchange some emails before we arrived.
Here is a review I left on trip advisor
Breakfast is included in the accommodation which is basic but does the job. If you want you can skip it and sample what the beautiful city of Edirne has to offer.
There is a decent looking restaurant located next door which we didn't dine in at.
The place ws literally a short walk from the town centre where you could find Saraclar caddesi which is closed to traffic that has an umpteen number of eateries and other shops. Another good location to eat is behind the Eski camii.
Edirne has some sweets worthy of samplng namely peynir tatlisi, selanik kurabiyesi, badem ezmesi and so on.
If you follow Sarayici caddesi down you will eventually come to a few rivers which have Ottoman constructed rock bridges over the Tunca & Meric rivers. Our of the 2 the Tunca is the far older one being built in 1608. It is a surreal feeling crossing over the coblestoned bridges whether by foot or transport.
After the 2 bridges there is a really nice eatery called Lalezar restaurant. It is a huge place besides the river that doubles as a reception. The prices are dirt cheap but they offer good service.
If you keep walking down the road for another 10kms you will get to Greece.
I won't go in to much detail but other must visited places in Edirne are:
Selimiye Mosque (worlds largest dome)
Uc Serefeli Mosque (distinct minarets, exquisite marble work on the main door)
Eski Camii (Edirne's most important mosque, the conquest of Istanbul was started from this mosque)
Adalet Kasri (tower of justice)
Kirkpinar stadium (oil wrestling stadium events are held late June early July)
II. Bayezid Kulliyesi & hospital/medical school (the hospital is well worth visiting. They even treated patients for schizophrenia)
There are old churches (Sweti George) and remains of a synagogue that could also be visited.
If you want to buy a leather jacket or leather goods then there is a shop called Ejder Deri in the bazaar underneath Selimiye mosque which sell leather goods for a bargain.
A leather jacket which costs 600 lira at Istanbul's grand bazaar costs 300 at Selimiye arasta. There are also lots of shops behind the old mosque which carry bargains.
The people of Edirne are extremely friendly as are all shopkeepers and you won't find any of the pushy salesman of Istanbul in this old 2nd capital of the Ottoman from 1365 to 1453.
I met some decent and good people at all the mosques I visited. A local in Eski camii uttered the following to me in relation to the 3 main mosques of Edirne
Selimiyenin yapisi - Selimiyes build
Eski camiinin yazisi - The writings of old mosque
Uc Serefelinin kapisi - The door of Uc Serefeli mosque
These are the 3 main features of each of these mosques.
I loved Edirne as a whole and will be back there in the future.
After Edirne I caught a bus and went onwards to Canakkale to visit Gallipoli which was another 3 hour trip at 30 lira.
Happy to answer any questions in relation to this beautiful city.
Should add Edirne could easily be done in a day if coming from Istanbul as a day trip or better yet spend a night or two there like we did.
Edited: 8 years ago





