Kütahya: Around the City … Tile Art and More

Thursday, 11 October (Part I)

I sure did not expect that we’d be walking so much today!  Good thing we were wearing comfortable shoes; otherwise our feet would be in considerable pain right now.  We saw so much; we did so much.  In fact, today will require several posts to tell the whole story.  So, here goes the first part.

Since our room rate does not include breakfast, mom and I decided to skip the over-priced breakfast buffet and head to the Simit Sarayı instead.  Simit — known as gevrek in some regions — is a bread ring covered with sesame seeds.  (You can read about the history of simit here.)  We each ordered a breakfast plate, which was plenty filling.

Left: the display case includes a variety of breads and sİmİts, and pastries and sandwiches as well.
Right: this is what you get when you ask for the “Breakfast plate.”

Thus sustained, we stopped by our hotel briefly to verify directions for the first stop on our sightseeing itinerary before setting out to explore downtown Kütahya.  Our destination was Cumhuriyet Caddesi (Republic Street) — a pedestrian way also known as Sevgi Yolu (Path of Love).  On the way there, we came upon one of the iconic symbols of this city, which is known for its glazed, multi-colored tiles and pottery — a fountain with a çini vazo (glazed tile vase) as its centerpiece.

Kütahya emerged as one of two centers for the Ottoman ceramics industry after Sultan Selim I
re-settled tile workers from Tebriz here following his defeat of the Persian Empire in 1514.

A few more things caught my eye when we walked around the roundabout with the fountain on our way back to the hotel at the end of the day … I’ll share them here.

Left: This statue of a woman in the traditional garb of the 1800s is dedicated,
as a local folk song goes, “to our daughters who light up our homes.”

Right: the 19th century clock tower was built on the orders of a former governor.

Sevgi Yolu was crowded with men and women going to work, and students on their way to school.  The shops that line both sides of the road were just starting to open their doors.  We weren’t there to shop, so we didn’t dally long, stopping just long enough for me to study the transformer boxes that had been painted with scenes from around the city.  I was charmed by the idea of these mini-murals; too bad people had piled rubbish around many of them, making them less attractive as a photographic subject.

One of several transformer boxes decorated with a neighborhood scene.

Although we were headed to a landmark mosque at the end of Sevgi Yolu, somewhere along the way we took a detour to Germiyan Konakları, a series of renovated Ottoman period mansions on Germiyan Street.  We had very basic information on how to find the neighborhood where these homes are located, but as they say in Turkish, “you can find Baghdad if you keep asking for directions.”  And that’s what we did.  People were incredibly helpful, some stopping what they were doing — even leaving their shops unattended — to escort us a little ways down the road to the next turn so that we wouldn’t get lost.  We did anyway, but we eventually found the mansions.

A renovated mansion (left) stands in stark contrast to one that is in need of some TLC.
The property is for sale, so there’s hope that it will soon be restored to its former glory.

Dating back to 1783, the Alopaşalı şeker Konağı (left) is one of the oldest Ottoman
period mansions in the city; the two photos on the left show details from the
Karadonlu Camİİ, a small neighborhood mosque that dates back to 1680.

Some renovated; some awaiting renovation.
The blue mansion (right) houses a gallery and atelier featuring the tile art of Mehmet Gürsoy.

When we noticed that one of the mansions housed the gallery and atelier of Mehmet Gürsoy, a well known tile artist, we decided to step inside to check out what was on display.  Artisans — all women — were working on new pieces in the room downstairs.  In the gallery on the second floor, there were some really lovely pieces on display, many of which were available for purchase.  Since we’re in downsizing mode for a retirement life of fulltiming in our RV, my wallet remained in my pocket ;-)

Breakables and living in a motorhome don’t work well together, so window-shopping suffices.

Painting designs on tiles requires good eyesight and a very steady hand.

By the time we got back on track with our original plan and visited a few more landmark sites (next post) it was 12:30p.  Hunger pangs were reminding us that lunch time was upon us.  Unfamiliar with the area, we asked a taxi driver who was hanging out at a cab stand to recommend a casual restaurant in the area of Dönenler Meydanı (Square of the Whirlers).  He gave us directions to a hole-in-the-wall eatery specializing in köfte (Turkish meatballs).  The place was filled with locals, so we figured it couldn’t be too bad.  And it wasn’t.  In fact, it was quite good.  Finding a couple of empty seats at a shared table, we placed our order for köfte served over chunks of pide (pita bread).  The waiter suggested that we might want to split an order; he was right.  (Sorry, neglected to take photos.)

Dönenler Havuzu (Fountain of the Whirlers) is named for the mosque by the same name
(in the background); the statue in the center revolves around itself,
in a manner similar to the Whirling Dervishes.

Our tummies sated, we continued our exploration of the city with a few more museums (next post).  As we made our way to one of them, we came across an interesting house decorated with mismatched tile panels.  Turns out it was a culture and art house.  Unfortunately, it was closed at the time or we would have stopped in for a look-see.

Çİnİlİ Köṣk (House of Tiles) is decorated with mismatched tile panels.

Seeing as how we’re exploring a city famed for it’s glazed tile work, here are a couple more panel details from the Çinili Köṣk …

After the last museum, we — our feet, really — decided to call it a day.  Slowly, we made our way back to Sevgi Yolu, and from there to the Hilton Garden Inn.  Leaving mom at the hotel, I headed off to the old passenger bus terminal to check on transportation to a city of antiquity that is about an hour outside Kütahya.  Unfortunately, while there are public busses that travel to the general area, no one was able to tell me how to get to the ruins once we get off the bus in the village center.  Nor could they confirm the availability of cabs in the village.  With no public tours operating this time of the year, looks like hiring a cab to take us there is going to be my best option.  I have a call into the cab driver who took us to the fortress today.  He asked if he could call me back tonight — keeping fingers crossed that we can come to an amenable arrangement.

I returned to the hotel with some goodies for afternoon tea, which we had in mom’s room.  Then, I left mom to rest and watch TV, while I drafted most of this post.  Dinner was at Acar Karavan, the same place we ate last night.  This time, mom ordered a bowl of chicken soup, and I finally got to have kuru fasulye (a traditional Turkish dish made with dry, white beans; recipe here) — Yummm!

Now, we’re back in our rooms.  Although I have finished writing this post, when it gets uploaded to the blog is TBD … too many photos (as usual) to process first.