To make a long story short, I was supposed to go to America on Thursday but I had to cancel my ticket, but I had taken time off of work so I decided to keep some of it to relax and enjoy some time in Istanbul. I decided to go on a day trip to Edirne, a city to the west of Istanbul, on the European continent and very close to the Greek and Bulgarian borders. It's only about 2.5 hours away by bus but I had to take 2 buses to get to the real bus but it was fun to go out and do something independent and out of the city.
Edirne was the 2nd capital of the Ottoman Empire (after Bursa) and it's really famous for its mosques. The most famous is the Selimiye mosque, which has a dome even larger than the Hagia Sophia's. It was quite stunning but I was in there just before prayer time and people were in there so I didn't stick around too long.
Men performing ablutions.
At the women's restroom outside of the mosque, there were places for them to perform their ablutions.
There were some also great old houses that I drooled over:
I also stumbled across a market. I'm not sure if it's everyday or just Fridays, but it was fun to wander around.
I also came across an old synagogue, it was so beautiful it gave me the chills.
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