The Green Mosque and Tomb, Bursa

Bursa was the Ottoman capital before Istanbul, and the Green complex of the early fifteenth century shows what the architecture looked like before the great domes arrived. The mosque is built on an inverted T plan, with hexagonal turquoise and blue tiles climbing the walls of the prayer hall, a carved marble portal, and a tiled royal loge above the entrance that most visitors miss. Across the road the Green Tomb is a small octagon sheathed in tile, with a tiled sarcophagus under a painted dome. Downhill the Ulu Cami roofs its prayer hall with twenty domes over an indoor fountain and hangs huge calligraphy panels on the piers, and the Koza Han silk bazaar still trades around a courtyard mosque. UNESCO listed the ensemble in 2014.

What you actually see

• The Green Mosque interior - hexagonal tilework and the raised royal loge.
• The Green Tomb - the tiled octagon and painted sarcophagus opposite.
• Ulu Cami - twenty domes, an indoor fountain and giant calligraphy panels.
• Koza Han - the silk bazaar courtyard with its small raised mosque.

When to go

Spring and autumn are comfortable and clear; Bursa gets humid in summer and grey in winter. Mosques close to visitors during the five prayer times and around Friday midday, so plan the day around them. Allow a full day, since the listed sites are spread across a large city and traffic is heavy.

Honest expectations

This is not a compact old town - the components sit across a modern city of two million and you will spend real time on trams and in traffic. The Green Tomb's outer tiles are nineteenth-century replacements after an earthquake. Cumalikizik village on the slopes above is now heavily geared to weekend day-trippers and can feel staged.

Nearby

The Muradiye tomb complex, the Uludag slopes above town and Cumalikizik village.