Arrived in Turkey in an almighty thunderstorm; the border crossing was fine and spent the night in Edirne; a pleasant, historic city seldom visited by tourists even though it's an easy day-trip west of Istanbul. Edirne (eh-DEER-neh, pop. 130,000; formerly Adrianople) has wonderful mosques because it was the second capital of the Ottoman Empire (after Bursa, before Istanbul). Fine mosques representing the great ages of Ottoman architecture: the Eski (1418), Muradiye (1436), Üçserefeli (1447), Beyazıt II (1488) and the elegant Selimiye (1575). The Meriç (Maritza) River, across which the graceful Ottoman stone bridges. Cols and Chrissy admired muscular semi naked men in an historic oil wrestling match. Edirne's Selimiye Mosque (1575) is the masterwork of Mimar Sinan, Turkey's greatest architect.
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