235km from Istanbul, the quiet town of
Edirne seems to get overlooked by the majority of tourists but still holds a
few notable attractions in its beautiful mosques and cluster of easy-to-meander
shopping streets. It was here, after a semi-stressful navigation of Istanbul’s
typically disorganized bus station and a couple of hours dozing off against a
window of blurring greenery, that I began my first solo assignment for Rough
Guides. Now, with little more than two days ‘experience’, a few jumbled words
of Turkish and a fistful of scribbled place names in my notebook, I was
understandably a little daunted at the task lying ahead of me.
.
It was already midday when I arrived and my
list of things to do was rapidly increasing every time I turned a corner.
Thankfully Edirne is small enough to walk through at a rapid pace and I soon
found myself gliding seamlessly between hotel rooms of widely varying
standards, stunningly beautiful mosques and quaint cafes. I visited so many
hotels that my mind became a flurry of logoed carpets, parquet flooring and
bath-shower combos, each one being quickly transcribed into page after page of
furiously scrawled observations in my notebook. I spread my maps against walls,
benches and forearms, haphazard arrows darting from place to place as I marked
each new find and scrubbed out places that had seemingly disappeared or turned
into something new. It was almost 5pm when I realized I hadn’t yet stopped for
lunch.
.
Finally, I checked into a tiny box room for
a measly 30TL, with a sweat-dampened shirt and throbbing feet, and passed out
amidst piles of business cards and pamphlets. Such is the life of a travel writer,
or so it seems.
.
My second day in Edirne was notably more
relaxed, partly due to my blitzing of all possible tourist attractions on the
first day and partly due to the fact that, having now realized that I am up to
the task, I had begun to relax and enjoy the job, as apposed to panicking about
getting everything done. In fact, having realized that I am actually pretty
good at dashing frantically between locations and finding interest in the most humdrum
information, I have been thoroughly enjoying myself. There is a strange
satisfaction in being allowed the chance to poke around each hotel and
restaurant in town, and review places as you see fit. My travel finally seems
to have a purpose and I couldn’t be happier for it.
.
Edirne's famous fruit-shaped soaps
.
In the courtyard of the incredible Selimiye Mosque
.
