22 · City guide
Edirne
City of the Selimiye, second capital of the sultans
Edirne was founded as Hadrianopolis in the Roman period and, after passing to the Ottomans in the 1360s, served as the state's capital until the conquest of İstanbul. The city center can be explored on foot: the Selimiye and its arasta (bazaar), the Eski Mosque and the Bedesten, Ali Paşa Bazaar and the Macedonian Tower are a few minutes from one another. Bridges over the Tunca and Meriç link the city to the Bayezid II Complex, Sarayiçi and Karaağaç; the Kırkpınar wrestling is held at Sarayiçi every summer. The province reaches south to the Gulf of Saros and the Meriç delta: the castle of Enez, the birds of Gala Gölü (Lake Gala) and the beaches of Erikli show a different Edirne. Uzunköprü, regarded as one of the longest stone bridges in the world, and the dolmens of Lalapaşa can also be added to the route.
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Practical information
Machine translated — This content was machine-translated and may differ from the original Turkish text.- Climate
- Transitional continental; hot summers, cold and occasionally snowy winters. Milder in Enez and Keşan on the coast
- Best season
- April–June and September–October; Kırkpınar in late June–early July, July–August for the Saros coast
- Museum pass
- Müzekart (Museum Pass) is valid at Ministry-run museums such as the Edirne Museum and the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts; the Health Museum belongs to Trakya University
- Getting there
- About 2.5–3 hours from İstanbul by motorway; there are regular intercity bus services and an İstanbul–Edirne rail connection. The city center is explored on foot.
- Border crossings
- Traffic can be heavy at the Kapıkule (Bulgaria), Pazarkule and İpsala (Greece) border crossings during religious holidays and vacation periods