BILECIK TURKEY

Bilecik

Bilecik, theplace where the Ottoman Empire was founded and it has manytourist attractions like the Ertuğrul Gazi (the founder ofOttoman Empire) Tomb, Şeyh Edebali Tomb, and MetristepeVictory Monument. People can visit the Söğüt Ertuğrul Gazi Museum inthe town of Söğüt near Bilecik and see traditional potteries in KınıkVillage. In addition to all historical places, Bilecik has many beautifulnatural beauties and fertile lands. Bozüyük, Gölpazarı, İnhisar,Osmaneli, Pazaryeri, Söğüt, and Yenipazar are thedistricts of Bilecik.

Natural Beauties and Promenade Places

Harmankaya Canyon Nature Park 

Harmankaya Canyon is located inHarmanköy, between Yenipazar and İnhisar districtsof Bilecik province. The vegetation of the nature parkconsists of low trees and shrubs like oak, juniper, rowan,terebinth, willow and blackthorn. In the4-square-kilometre canyon, there are two waterfalls –one ofthe two falls from 25 metres and the other one from 20 metres. Apart from this,there are numerous small waterfalls and caves in the canyon. The canyon is alsohome to mammals such as wild boars, foxes, jackals, rabbits and squirrels.Nature lovers perform various activities in the canyon, such as nature walks,nature sports, mountaineering, rafting, caving, windsurfing, paragliding, andcamping. Harmankaya Canyon is the perfect spot for outdoor sports and walks.

Pelitözü Pond 

Pelitözü Pond is 7 kilometres awayfrom Bilecik city centre. As it is easy to get there by publictransportation and the amazing area is vast, the pond, surrounded by pinetrees, attracts great attention especially on weekends. You can go there for ahike or a cycling circuit while enjoying the lake view.

Türbin Recreation Area 

Tübin Recreation Area locatedin the Bozüyük district of Bilecik, is one of the mostimportant recreation areas of the city. There are also fish and meatrestaurants along the promenade covered with wood and greenery. Karasu River, 2kilometres away from the recreation area, is a natural beauty worth seeing.

Küçük Elmalı Pond and Nature Park 

The Küçükelmalı Nature Park, wasplanned for recreational and cultural needs of people in Bilecik as well wetheir mental and physical health. Natural Park is in Bilecik’s Pazaryeri districtand is 10 kilometres Pazaryeri’s town centre. With its geographical location,topographic structure, forest texture, Küçükelmalı Pond and its surroundingsoffer pure air, away from urban noise and pollution, and it attracts dailyvisitors.

Bozcaarmut Pond 

Bozcaarmut Pond, close to BozcaarmutVillage in Pazaryeri district, is an impressivenatural wonder with its untouched nature, pine trees surrounding the lake,clean air, silence and extraordinary beauty – the perfect address for fishingenthusiasts.

Magic Plateaus

The city of Bilecik encloses beautiful plateaus thatare very popular destinations for those who are wild about mountain and naturetourism.

Kömürsu, Sofular, Çiçekli, Avlan, Oğulpaşa, Uzunçam and Kamçıthe plateaus, whose heights range from 1250 metres to 1906 metres, awaityou with their clean air, clear waters, lush greenery and, colourful andsweet-scented flowers. Kömürsu Plateau is 28 kilometres awayfrom Bozüyük centre. There are 4 natural watersprings in the plateau covered with fir, black pine, beech, junipertrees and many kinds of flowers. The highest peak is around 1700 metres-high.This natural paradise will soon become a centre for mountain and wintertourism.

Sofular Plateau is 25 kilometres to Bozüyük,and its height is around 1445 metres. The plateau covered with pine and firtrees.

Waterfalls

Bilecik holds many waterfalls that appeal both eye andear. 

İnhisar Waterfall is located in İnhisar districtof Bilecik. The distance between Bilecik and İnhisar is56 kilometres. The waterfall, located on mountain slopes, at an altitude of 520metres, is totally hidden among the greenery. A pathway leads you up a steep300-metre slope. Follow the path, the cold waters of the waterfall falling fromabout 8 metres meet you.

The hidden paradise of Kınık Waterfallsurrounded by figs and plane trees, is a rare beauty. The waterfalling from about 10 metres has a high-flow on March and April. The KınıkWaterfall is located at an altitude of 360 metre. The waterfall is 25kilometres to Bilecik city centre.

Çukurören Village 

Çukurören is a villageBilecik’s central district. Agriculture and farming are the main activities inthe village. The most common agricultural products are chili peppers andtomatoes. Approximately 50 tons of hot peppers have been grown annually inÇukurören village for 150 years without any genetical modifications.Bilecik’s Çukurören Pepper is registered as geographicalindication. 

Kurşunlu Eco and Agrotourism Village 

Kurşunlu Village is in the Gölpazarıdistrict of Bilecik. The village is one of the few ecotourism villagesin Turkey, and was chosen as the cleanest village in Bilecik. With itswhite painted houses and flower gardens, Kurşunlu offers a real village scenery.Within the scope of the ecotourism project, visitors who come to the village toget away from the chaos of urban life, walk in the forest, bake their own breadin adobe houses and have breakfast with the eggs they collect from the coop.

Pazaryeri Kınık Pottery and Ecotourism Village 

Kınık Village is in Bilecik’s Pazaryeri districtand it is the perfect place to discover traditional pottery making. The villageoffers also various activities for families who would like to explore countrylife –collecting eggs from the coop, feeding chickens, making hoes, taking careof animals, and playing with mud and making are amongst visitors’ favouriteventures.  

Imperial Mosques and and Tombs

As the birthplace of Ottoman Empire, Bilecik alsoshines out as the city of important historical mosques and other religiousmonuments.

Orhan Gazi Mosque is the first exampleof Ottoman period Turkish architectural art in the field of religiousarchitecture and it is thought that it was built in the 14^th century. The mosque’s most interesting characteristic is the main minaret built ona rock 30 metres away from the edifice.

Kasım Pasha Mosque is located in Söğüt district.It is one of the classic Ottoman mosques and one of the apprenticeships worksof Mimar Sinan. It was built by desire of Kasım Pasha who was one of Suleimanthe Magnificent’s commanders. The building is very interesting thanks to itsstone walls, its windows with wooden swings and its mihrab, as well as itswoodwork and ivory embroidery. Its pulpit is covered with white marble tiles ofvarious colours.

Other historical mosques to admire in Bilecik provinceare Rüstem Paşa Mosque, Yıldırım Beyazıt Mosque, MedreseMosque, Çelebi Mehmet Mosque (Söğüt district), HamidiyeMosque (Söğüt), Ertuğrul Gazi Mosque, KasımlarMosque (Gölpazarı district), Mihalgazi Mosque (Gölpazarı), RüstemPaşa Mosque  (Osmaneli district), Köprülü Mehmet Paşa Mosque (Vezirhandistrict), Kuyulu Mescid or Ertuğrul GaziMosque (Söğüt) and Şerif Paşa Mosque.

Bilecik is also home to the final resting place of 13^th-centuryIslamic theologist and scholar Şeyh Edebali (Sheikh Edebali) who was thespiritual founder of Empire Ottoman as well. Şeyh Edebali’s Tomb isone of the most important historical monuments in Bilecik.

Hagios Georgios Church

Osmaneli was a significant midpoint in the era ofByzantine and Ottoman empires, where Turks and Anatolian Greeks had livedtogether until the War of Independence. The Hagios Georgios GreekOrthodox Church located on Cumhuriyet Avenue is the onlystructure in Osmaneli, left from Greek people.

Metris Tepe Zafer Anıtı (Metris Hill VictoryMonument) 

Metris Tepe Victory Monument ison the Bozüyük-Eskişehir highway. The monument was built on Metris Tepe inorder to preserve the memories where the İnönü Wars were won.On that hill, the great leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk saidto İsmet İnönü “You not only defeated the enemy but also the badfortune of the nation”. It symbolizes the invincibility of Turkish People. 

Kaymakam Fountain 

The Kaymakam Fountain, locatedin Söğüt district of Bilecik and built in 1919 represents the neoclassicalstyle. It is is an important example of late Ottoman architectural art. Atthe centre of each three sides of the fountain, vase shaped troughs are placedin slices. The surfaces and pointed arches are formed into niches, while itsinterior and top are covered with coloured tiles. The fountain made of Kütahyatiles and marble has four façades.

Bilecik Museum 

The Bilecik Museum is located in thecity centre. The museum exhibits objects and weapons used by Oguz Turks,clothing, carpets, rugs, pots, pots and weaving tools used in daily life ofBilecik.

Söğüt Ertuğrul Gazi Museum

The museum showcases ethnographic artifacts anditems belonging to Söğüt and nomads living in the vicinity.There are also banners, old clothing and accessories, handwoven rugs andcarpets, weapons, measuring and weighing instruments, napkins and money bags,and archaeological artifacts (Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman period coins, as wellas Roman pottery).

Osmaneli Houses

Rather than historical monuments, Osmaneli is knownfor its civil buildings. During Ottoman era, the town housed three mills forsilk production and every household was engaged with the business of silkwormbreeding.

Classical Osmaneli houses are structured on woodencarcasses, mostly with two or three-stories. Houses are filled with mud brickor brick and are plastered over, which is specially made to breed silkworms.

Their ground floors have no windows and were used tostore mulberry leaves to feed silkworms. The upper floors are bright andspacious where silkworm cocoons were fed.

King Gordios Rock Tombs 

The rock tombs, located in a valley 15kilometres away from Gölpazarı town centre, are carved asrooms and have both exterior and interior doorways.  There are threeseparate sarcophagi places in the room section. It is believed that one ofthese sarcophagi belongs to Phrygian King Gordios and theothers to his child and wife.