Bursa

Twenty domes in four rows make up the roof. The fountain for washing stands inside the hall rather than in the outer court, and the ceiling opens above it. The calligraphy panels are so large and so many that the mosque gets called a gallery of writing.

Turquoise tile covers this tomb inside and out, and Green Tomb is what everyone calls it. It stands on a rise with steps up to it, and you leave your shoes at the door.

Twelve tombs of sultans and princes stand about in one garden. The tiling differs from tomb to tomb, so it pays to follow the keeper who unlocks the doors. Many of the princes died in the fights over succession, and the panels read as one long story.

It takes over twenty minutes to ride from the town up to the station below the summit. There is a stop partway at Kadiyayla, and the line carries on above it to Sarialan. In winter the queue fills with people carrying skis.

A courtyard hall built in 1490 for the trade in silk cocoons. Silk shops fill the lower floor now, and a small prayer room occupies the middle of the yard. In the spring cocoon season people still turn up with sacks of them.

The village keeps its early Ottoman timber houses, and the cobbles are rough enough that smooth soles are a mistake. Several households set out a breakfast spread in their yards. It went onto the UNESCO list together with Bursa.

Osman, who founded the dynasty, and his son Orhan lie together on the hill inside the citadel.

Sulphur water rises in this quarter and the Ottoman bath houses over it are still open for business. Some split men's and women's use by hours rather than by room, so ask before you go in.

Shadow puppets cut from hide hang here in order of period. The story that Karagoz and Hacivat were real men comes from this city, and their graves are in it too.

A fishing village on a spit that pokes into Lake Ulubat. A Greek church stands roofless where the land meets the lake, and the nets are mended beside it. The lake is so shallow that boats push along the bottom in places.

Raised around 1419 just opposite the Green Tomb, its inner walls are dressed in turquoise tile. The sultan's raised loge upstairs is tiled throughout. Most minaret tiles have fallen away, and the porch was never completed, its building marks still showing.

Built over a stream in 1442, it carries a roofed double row of shops. Rebuilt after war and earthquake damage, it now houses craft studios and tea rooms. Walk across and the stream is hidden, so many cross without realising it is a bridge.

A lakeside town about 80km northeast of Bursa, ancient Nicaea where the first church council met in 325. Roman walls and gates ring it, and its Hagia Sophia at the centre is now a mosque. Workshops in town fire Iznik tiles while you watch.

Bursa's port on the Sea of Marmara, where boats leave for Istanbul. The seaside mansion where the 1922 armistice was signed survives as a museum. Fish restaurants run along the waterfront path.

A former Greek village on the shore west of Mudanya, stone-and-timber houses clinging to its slope. A Byzantine church converted into a mosque survives. Olives grow all around, and village shops sell them along with the oil.