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Bilecik
Bilecik, the place where the Ottoman Empire was founded and it has many tourist attractions like the Ertuğrul Gazi (the founder of Ottoman Empire) Tomb (Ertuğrul Gazi Türbesi), Şeyh Edebali Tomb (Şeyh Edebali Türbesi), and Metristepe Victory Monument (Metristepe Zafer Anıtı). People can visit the Söğüt Ertuğrul Gazi Museum (Söğüt Ertuğrul Gazi Müzesi) in the town of Söğüt near Bilecik and see traditional potteries in Kınık village. In addition to all historical places, Bilecik has many beautiful natural beauties and fertile lands. Bozüyük, Gölpazarı, İnhisar, Osmaneli, Pazaryeri, Söğüt and Yenipazar are the districts of Bilecik.
Natural Beauties and Promenade Places
Harmankaya Canyon Nature Park
Harmankaya Canyon (Harmankaya Kanyonu) is located in Harmanköy, between Yenipazar and İnhisar districts of Bilecik province. The vegetation of the nature park consists of trees and shrubs like oak, juniper, rowan, terebinth, willow and blackthorn. In the 4-square-kilometre canyon, there are two waterfalls. Apart from this, there are numerous small waterfalls and caves in the canyon. The canyon is also home to mammals such as wild boars, foxes, jackals, rabbits and squirrels. Nature lovers perform various activities in the canyon, such as nature walks, nature sports, mountaineering, rafting, caving, windsurfing, paragliding, and camping. Harmankaya Canyon is the perfect spot for outdoor sports and walks.
Pelitözü Pond
Pelitözü Pond (Pelitözü Göleti) is 7 kilometres away from Bilecik city centre. As it is easy to get there by public transportation and the amazing area is vast, the pond, surrounded by pine trees, attracts great attention especially on weekends. You can go there for a hike or a cycling circuit while enjoying the lake view.
Türbin Recreation Area
Türbin Recreation Area (Türbin Mesire Alanı) located in the Bozüyük district of Bilecik, is one of the most popular recreation areas of the city. There are fish and meat restaurants along the promenade covered with wood and greenery. Karasu River, 2 kilometres away from the recreation area, is a natural beauty worth seeing.
Küçük Elmalı Pond and Nature Park
The Küçükelmalı Nature Park (Küçükelmalı Doğa Parkı), was planned for recreational and cultural needs of people in Bilecik as well we their mental and physical health. Natural Park is in Bilecik’s Pazaryeri district and is 10 kilometres Pazaryeri’s town centre. With its geographical location, topographic structure, forest texture, Küçükelmalı Pond and its surroundings offer pure air, away from urban noise and pollution, and it attracts daily visitors.
Bozcaarmut Pond
Bozcaarmut Pond (Bozcaarmut Göleti), close to Bozcaarmut village in Pazaryeri district, is an impressive natural wonder with its untouched nature, pine trees surrounding the lake, clean air, silence and extraordinary beauty – the perfect address for fishing enthusiasts.
Magic Plateaus
The city of Bilecik offers beautiful plateaus which are very popular destinations for mountain and nature lovers
Kömürsu, Sofular, Çiçekli, Avlan, Oğulpaşa, Uzunçam and Kamçı plateaus, whose heights range from 1250 metres to 1906 metres, await you with their clean air, clear waters, lush greenery and, colourful and sweet-scented flowers. Kömürsu Plateau (Kömürsu Yaylası) is 28 kilometres away from Bozüyük centre. There are 4 natural water springs in the plateau that is covered with fir, black pine, beech, juniper trees and many kinds of flowers. The highest peak is around 1700 metres-high.
Sofular Plateau (Sofular Yaylası) is 25 kilometres to Bozüyük, and its height is around 1445 metres. The plateau covered with pine and fir trees.
Waterfalls
Bilecik holds many waterfalls that appeal both eye and ear.
İnhisar Waterfall (İnhisar Şelalesi) is located in İnhisar district of Bilecik. The distance between Bilecik and İnhisar is 56 kilometres. The waterfall, located on mountain slopes, at an altitude of 520 metres, is totally hidden among the greenery. A pathway leads you up a steep 300-metre slope. Follow the path, the cold waters of the waterfall falling from about 8 metres meet you.
The hidden paradise of Kınık Waterfall (Kınık Şelalesi) surrounded by figs and plane trees, is a rare beauty. The water falling from about 10 metres has a high-flow on March and April. The Kınık Waterfall is located at an altitude of 360 metre. The waterfall is 25 kilometres to Bilecik city centre.
Çukurören Village
Çukurören is a village located in Bilecik’s central district. Agriculture and farming are the main activities in the village. The most common agricultural products are chili peppers and tomatoes. Approximately 50 tons of hot peppers have been grown annually in Çukurören village for 150 years without any genetical modifications. Bilecik’s Çukurören pepper is registered as geographical indication.
Kurşunlu Eco and Agrotourism Village
Kurşunlu village is in the Gölpazarı district of Bilecik. The village is one of the few ecotourism villages in Türkiye, and was chosen as the cleanest village in Bilecik. With its white painted houses and flower gardens, Kurşunlu offers a real village scenery. Within the scope of the ecotourism project, visitors who come to the village to get away from the chaos of urban life, walk in the forest, bake their own bread in adobe houses and have breakfast with the eggs they collect from the co-op.
Pazaryeri Kınık Pottery and Ecotourism Village
Kınık village is in Bilecik’s Pazaryeri district and it is the perfect place to discover traditional pottery making. The village offers also various activities for families who would like to explore country life –collecting eggs from the co-op, feeding chickens, hoeing, taking care of animals, and playing with mud are amongst visitors’ favourite ventures.
Imperial Mosques and and Tombs
As the birthplace of Ottoman Empire, Bilecik also shines out as the city of important historical mosques and other religious monuments.
Orhan Gazi Mosque (Orhan Gazi Cami) is the first example of Ottoman period Turkish architectural art in the field of religious architecture and it is thought that it was built in the 14th century. The mosque’s most interesting characteristic is the main minaret built on a rock 30 metres away from the edifice.
Kasım Pasha Mosque (Kasım Paşa Cami) is located in Söğüt district. It is one of the classic Ottoman mosques and one of the apprenticeships works of Mimar Sinan. It was built by desire of Kasım Pasha who was one of Suleiman the Magnificent’s commanders. The building is very interesting thanks to its stone walls, its windows with wooden swings and its mihrab, as well as its woodwork and ivory embroidery. Its pulpit is covered with white marble tiles of various colours.
Other historical mosques to admire in Bilecik province are Rüstem Pasha Mosque (Rüstem Paşa Cami), Yıldırım Beyazıt Mosque (Yıldırım Beyazıt Cami), Medrese Mosque (Medrese Cami), Çelebi Mehmet Mosque (Çelebi Mehmet Cami), Hamidiye Mosque (Hamidiye Cami), Ertuğrul Gazi Mosque (Ertuğrul Gazi Cami), Kasımlar Mosque (Kasımlar Cami), Mihalgazi Mosque (Mihalgazi Cami), Rüstem Pasha Mosque (Rüstem Paşa Cami), Köprülü Mehmet Paşa Mosque (Köprülü Mehmet Paşa Cami), Kuyulu Mescid or Ertuğrul Gazi Mosque and Şerif Pasha Mosque (Şerif Paşa Cami).
Bilecik is also home to the final resting place of 13th-century Islamic theologist and scholar Şeyh Edebali (Sheikh Edebali) who was the spiritual founder of Ottoman Empire as well. Şeyh Edebali’s Tomb (Şeyh Edebali Türbesi) is one of the most important historical monuments in Bilecik.
Hagios Georgios Church
Osmaneli was a significant midpoint in the era of Byzantine and Ottoman empires, where Turks and Anatolian Greeks had lived together until the War of Independence. The Hagios Georgios Greek Orthodox Church (Aya Yorgi Yunan Ortodoks Kilisesi) located on Cumhuriyet Avenue is the only structure in Osmaneli, left from Greek people.
Metris Tepe Zafer Anıtı (Metris Hill Victory Monument)
Metris Tepe Victory Monument (Metris Tepe Zafer Anıtı) is on the Bozüyük-Eskişehir highway. The monument was built on Metris Tepe in order to preserve the memories where the İnönü Wars were won. On that hill, the great leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk said to İsmet İnönü “You not only defeated the enemy but also the misfortune of the nation”. It symbolizes the invincibility of Turkish people.
Kaymakam Fountain
The Kaymakam Fountain (Kaymakam Çeşmesi), located in Söğüt district of Bilecik and built in 1919 represents the neoclassical style. It is is an important example of late Ottoman architectural art. At the centre of each three sides of the fountain, vase shaped troughs are placed in slices. The surfaces and pointed arches are formed into niches, while its interior and top are covered with coloured tiles. The fountain made of Kütahya tiles and marble has four facades.
Bilecik Museum
The Bilecik Museum (Bilecik Müzesi) is located in the city centre. The museum exhibits objects and weapons used by Oguz Turks, clothing, carpets, rugs, pots, pots and weaving tools used in daily life of Bilecik.
Söğüt Ertuğrul Gazi Museum
The museum showcases ethnographic artifacts and items belonging to Söğüt and nomads living in the vicinity. There are also banners, old clothing and accessories, handwoven rugs and carpets, weapons, measuring and weighing instruments, napkins and money bags, and archaeological artifacts (Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman period coins, as well as Roman pottery).
Osmaneli Houses
Rather than historical monuments, Osmaneli is known for its civil buildings. During Ottoman era, the town housed three mills for silk production and every household was engaged with the business of silkworm breeding.
Classical Osmaneli houses are structured on wooden carcasses, mostly with two or three-stories. Houses are filled with mud brick or brick and are plastered over, which is specially made to breed silkworms.
Their ground floors have no windows and were used to store mulberry leaves to feed silkworms. The upper floors are bright and spacious where silkworm cocoons were fed.
King Gordios Rock Tombs
The rock tombs, located in a valley 15 kilometres away from Gölpazarı town centre, are carved as rooms and have both exterior and interior doorways. There are three separate sarcophagi places in the room section. It is believed that one of these sarcophagi belongs to Phrygian King Gordios and the others to his child and wife.
