Cumalıkızık

Cumalıkızık was founded as a waqf village supporting the Ottoman foundations in Bursa, and roughly two hundred and seventy of its houses survive from the early Ottoman period - timber frames filled with brick and stone, upper storeys jettied over the lane, painted in blues, ochres and reds, along steep cobbled streets that vehicles cannot use. It is the best-preserved village of its kind in the country and it carries the UNESCO listing jointly with Bursa's historic centre. People still live in it. What has grown up alongside is a breakfast trade: the village serves the enormous multi-dish Turkish breakfast to weekend visitors from Bursa and Istanbul, with village jams, honeycomb, clotted kaymak, eggs cooked in copper pans and mulberry preserves, at tables set out in courtyards. There is a small ethnographic museum, mulberry trees through the lanes, and Uludağ rising directly behind.

History

Oghuz Turks founded the village in the early 14th century, the founding period of the Ottoman state, as a waqf village in honour of Sultan Orhan Gazi, and its early Ottoman rural architecture survives remarkably intact, with 270 protected buildings, 180 of them still lived in. Electricity arrived only in the 1970s, before which the streets were lit by candles or gas, the first tourists came in the 1980s, motor vehicles are kept out, the village is a favourite setting for Turkish historical films and series, and in 2023 it became a zero-waste zone (Wikipedia, Cumalıkızık).

The main sights

• The Ottoman houses - timber-framed and jettied over the lanes.
• The cobbled streets - too steep and narrow for vehicles.
• The breakfast courtyards - village tables under the mulberries.
• The Uludağ backdrop - the mountain immediately behind.

When to go

April to June and September to November. Weekday mornings for the village; weekends are the breakfast rush and the lanes fill completely.

Things to know

Cobbles are steep and uneven - poor footing and hard with a pushchair. It is a lived-in village, so respect doorways and washing lines. Weekend crowds and breakfast queues are substantial.

Nearby

Bursa's Ulu Cami and bazaar are 30 minutes west; the Uludağ cable car climbs from the city.

Key facts