Mobile cafe

I've never seen such a big tea tray! The owner was taking tea around the market stallholders. He filled the glasses from a huge teapot in his other hand.

Turkish pizza

Our local baker makes extremely tasty pide (Turkish pizza). Here they are waiting to go into the oven.

Turkish recycling

This is recycling, Turkish style! There is hardly any official recycling here, but people like this man do a good job or sorting and recycling the rubbish. He was taking plastic, tins etc from the waste bin and putting it in that big white carton. Who knows where it will go next?

Who left these simits here?

I couldn't see who was selling them, I'm sure he would come back quickly as soon as a customer came though.

Ipek Han

This is the section of the covered market which was dedicated to silk in the past (ipek means silk). Here they were selling the finished goods, as opposed to the Koza Han which is where the silk cocoons were traded. Today the Koza Han is more known as the silk market.

Closed for now

There aren't many takers for sitting outside at the moment. But that gives an opportunity to admire the beautiful tables.

Rice and chick peas

These stalls selling rice and chick pea snacks can be found in various places around Bursa. I think it might be a winter speciality because I don't remember seeing them at other times.

Every kind of t-shirt

Another part of the covered market in Bursa. You can still buy just about everything in this market, it is more functional than the one in Istanbul which has become more of a tourist destination. The market is arranged into different areas for different goods - this is the clothes section.

Memories of summer

Another view of the Ataturk statue at heykel. It was taken a while ago but it's nice to see some flowers now that the weather is getting colder.

Hitching a ride

This photo isn't very clear (blame it on the dirty windscreen) but is the best I could get. This kind of sight is quite common on the edge of Bursa but I never seem to have my camera at the right moment to snap it properly. From the looks of it the sheep aren't going hungry.

Balibey Han

A new han in the town centre which has recently been restored. Inside there are some shops and cafes. Above on the hill behond you can see part of the original old city walls.

Autumn colours

Autumn colours are starting to show. This is one of many peach orchards on the fertile plains just outside Bursa.

Iznik medresa

"it is the peaceful part of one of the medresa in iznik(it is situated about 100km. to bursa,it was the capital of Byzantin Empire  1204-1261)..it is renovated of course..there are some doors inside ..these were once the classes for students who came here to study religion..nowadays they are shops selling pottery and you can have a nice cup of tea or coffee in front of the shops.."

inside the market

"this is the decoration of the ceilings in the covered market...there are some shops selling special things for the wedding party...actually it is before the wedding...the groom's family should buy to the bride and her family some presents..so the shops in that part of the market are specialized for this reason..."

Underground fountain

"this historical fountain is very inside of the bazaar...the covered market in Bursa has got so many little roads inside..you walk through one of these and you can come to this old fountain made of marble...you can drink clean water from the mount of Uludag.."

Religious Books

"In the entrance of the bazaar near to the main Ulu Camii there are some religious book sellers...the ones on the top are Kur'an ..the other ones' are little prayers for daily life.."

Fried sweets

"these are fried sweets ...they are natural bombs for energy...it has a taste similar to churros (spanish sweet)...i think it is origin is coming from syria but i am not sure...it is very very sweet indeed...it can warm you up quickly in a cold winter day...yum yum.."

Pideli Köfte

Apologies to vegetarians for this post...

When we sat down in the restaurant they asked if we would like one or one and a half portions. This is the small version!

The dish is a bit like the famous Bursa kebab - cubes of pide bread with tomatoe sauce eaten with yogurt on the side. However instead of sliced lamb as in the Iskender kebab, it is topped with meatballs (köfte). Yum!

Blocked

A lot of renovation work is going on in the town centre at the moment. This is one of the houses that have been restored.

Blogger and all blogspot blogs have been blocked in Turkey from this afternoon, so please bear with me if posting is a bit erratic until it comes back - it's not very easy to get into the site at the moment.

Kaplama

Kaplama means 'covering' and this cart offers plastic covering of documents, for instance a driving license.