tophane
I took a ferry from the ferry terminal in Istanbul to land in bursa- the winter skiing capital of Turkey but this was only summers. Arriving on Saturday evening I didn’t think of it as a good decision but anyhow what’s done was done. The place I stayed was the old centre of the city though I seem to forget its name. The city of Bursa has a few monuments when seen in context with Istanbul but then the reason why I had come to it was to pump some adrenaline and that meant one thing only; conquering ULUDAG.
Although the mountain is not that difficult to climb but one should not begin climbing unless there is some local guide or someone who has gone on the top because the trails are not properly marked.
birds eye view of bursa at night
Thus on the Sunday morning I went to this place having no idea of what was in store for me. In the cable car I met a group of mountain conservationists who had come to spend the day on the mountain and who would be descending on foot and going to the top in the cable car. They openly welcomed me to join and knowing me how can I say no to Turkish hospitality! The descent for me was not very tiresome infact I enjoyed the views as well as the fact that we had a camp fire with cooked food. Now that’s what I call getting into the right place at the right time. The descent was although long with the meals and the rest which the others wanted to take but I think it was only for 6 YTL ,the cost of the cable car, is a good enough exercise for the day. So do you concur?
After the climb I went to the other monuments around the old city including some mosques and the surrounding areas. There is this place called Tophane which is built like a fort where one can get a bird’s eye view of Bursa at night and the best time to see would be at 8 pm since the people around bursa sleep early. Thus that was Bursa and now it was time to move on and the next place on my list was Cappadocia.
