Manisa/Turkey

        After seeing a lot of beautiful historical monuments of Ottomans in Bursa, I decided to see and learn more about early stages of Ottoman Turks and I learned that I should visit Manisa.I decided to hitchhike from Bursa to Manisa because it is relatively close and I hope I can meet with new people and have good memories on the way.

    Good morning dear followers! I arrived in Manisa yesterday evening and found a park and set my camp tent there at night.People were puzzled when they saw me in their small park and asked me a lot of questions!

    But they were speaking Turkish and I didn't understand most of them.When they understood that I am a foreigner, they cheered up and said ''welcoooome, how are youuuu, nice to meet youuu!''People are great but we couldn't have a proper dialogue in English:) It is time to learn some Turkish!

    I will start touring around city and share my ideas ASAP!

    In ancient times, Manisa was known as Magnesia and Sipylum and was a strategically important city. It prospered during the Byzantine period but reached its apogee under the Ottomans, when it became the place where the şehzades (crown princes) were trained for their imperial destinies.

 Many of the buildings in the historic centre date from the nine-year period when Süleyman the Magnificent and his mother Ayşe Hafsa Sultan lived here. The main reasons to visit are to see the exquisite Muradiye Mosque and attend the annual Mesir Macunu Festivalı, which is inscribed on Unesco's list of intangible cultural heritage.I couldn't join Mesir Festival because it was a month ago but I found a local shop and bought some Mesir paste.Some says it is a medicine and you should consume it regularly.It is made of 41 herbs and spices,unbelievable! I will leave some links below,if you want more information, you can click on them!

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesir_macunu

https://www.goturkeytourism.com/things-to-do/mesir-paste-festival-unesco-turkey.htmlu

     Manisa is a small city and all historical sites are very close to each other.I visited all historical monuments in a day!You can see the photos I took on my Instagram and here, in my blog page.I also should add that there is a huge mountain named Spil here.And I heard that some wild horses are living on it.I will try to go up to the mountain tomorrow and if I can take some photos of those wild horses,I will share.Wait for it!

    I hitchhiked to top of the mountain yesterday and took some photos, some good people got me in their car and helped me to find wild horses.Photos are on the next pages with other photos from Manisa.By the way I decided to go to a city called Isparta because I heard that there is a festival there and I can't miss a festival dedicated to ROSES:)