Turkey’s fifth biggest town, Eskişehir was built over a hot spring in an area which boasts some of the world’s largest reserves of meerschaum. The university has brought a new liveliness to the town, which has also been improved by the provision of new monuments, fountains, and trees. A flashy new tram has made it much easier to get about too. From cafes to Chinese and Italian restaurants, from thermal baths to museums, mosques and ancient ruins, there is much to see and do in and around town.
A thriving modern town
Originally called Dorylaeon by the Greeks and Dorileaum by the Romans, Eskişehir was probably established near an old Phrygian settlement on the banks of the Porsuk River. Famed for its thermal baths, the city prospered through trade and acquired city status in 1925. Through trade and manufacturing, it has always been a prosperous city; it was also the cradle of civil aviation in Turkey and is home to the Anadolu University, one of the country’s biggest institutions of higher learning. After years of hard work, Eskişehir’s star is once again in the ascendant, the new tram (”the Estram”) a symbol of its go-ahead outlook.
Eskişehir may be an “old town” in name, but there’s not a great deal left to see of its past in the town center which was badly damaged during the Turkish War of Independence. Recently, the surviving 19th-century pastel-colored houses in the Odunpazarı (Wood Market) neighborhood have been given a makeover, making it one of the most enjoyable areas to explore.
It’s worth taking a stroll along bustling, pedestrian Hamamyolu Caddesi, where every other shop seems to sell sweets. The large 16th-century Kurşunlu and Haznedar Camii (Mosques) are also worth a visit; the former might be a work of the famous architect Sinan. Spare some time, too, for the museums: the Archaeological Museum, which contains some of the finds from Dorileaum; the Atatürk and Culture Museum; and the Beylerbeyi Konağı, an Ottoman House which is sporadically open to the public.
Don’t leave town without taking a dip in one of the thermal baths. Public baths can be found at the junction of Hamamyolu and Savtekin Caddesis (street), or you can book into a hotel which boasts its own thermal waters.
Meerschaum country
Eskişehir is famous for its light, white meerschaum stone, a substance which is not common elsewhere in the world. It has been mined and processed here for nearly 5,000 years, and many beautiful pipes and other astonishingly elaborate objects made from meerschaum (which means “sea foam” in German) are on display in the small Lületaşı Müzesi (Meerschaum Museum).
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