Trilye

Trilye - officially Zeytinbağı, olive yard, between 1968 and 2012 - sits on the southern shore of the Sea of Marmara west of Mudanya, and it kept its Greek fabric better than most places on this coast: stone and timber houses with overhanging upper storeys line the lanes above the harbour, several of them nineteenth-century and now restored as guesthouses and cafés. The Fatih Mosque, formerly the church of Hagios Stephanos, is the oldest Byzantine building in the region and became a mosque in 1661, and the Agios Georgios church known as the Dündar House, from the 19th century, was long a school mess hall and has been restored as a cultural centre. The village lives on olives: the surrounding slopes are olive groves, the oil and table olives are sold everywhere in the village, and the name change reflects it. Along the small harbour is a row of fish restaurants where people come from Bursa for a long lunch of meze and grilled fish looking out at the Marmara. It is quiet midweek and busy on Sundays.

What's there

• The stone houses - Greek-era fabric on the lanes above the harbour.
• The Fatih Mosque - the converted Byzantine church.
• The olive groves - the slopes behind and the oil sold in the village.
• The harbour restaurants - fish and meze on the waterfront.

When to go

April to June and September to October. Weekdays for quiet; Sundays bring Bursa out for lunch and the harbour fills.

Things to know

It is small - a couple of hours of walking covers it. Lanes are steep and cobbled. Restaurant prices on the harbour are above the inland norm, and weekends need a booking.

Nearby

Mudanya and its ferry to Istanbul are 15 minutes east; Bursa is about an hour inland.

Key facts