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The modern city center of Eskişehir, known to locals as Çarşı, is mostly centered around the Porsuk River. The river winds through the city and has pedestrian bridges crossing it every so often.
Riverwalk
On the banks, there’s a wide riverwalk with trees and benches. There are also several restaurants and shops. It’s even possible to take a boat ride down the river.
City Center
The rest of the modern city center is just that – a modern city. Around Köprübaşı Street (Köprübaşı Caddesi) and Hamamyolu Street (Hamamyolu Caddesi) is where Greeks and Armenians traditionally lived. Eskişehir was known as Dorylaeum (Δορύλαιον) to the Greeks.
The entire area was burned to the ground by the Greek army as they retreated in 1922 during the Turkish War of Independence. Nothing of historical significance remains.
Parks
Hamamyolu Street splits in two and contains Yediler Park (Yediler Parkı) in the center. You can walk through the park south to Alaaddin Park (Alaaddin Parkı), which is a large pleasant green space with flowers and trees. It’s wedged between the modern city center and Eskişehir’s old town of Odunpazarı.
Alaaddin Mosque
The Alaaddin Mosque (Alaaddin Camii), originally built in 1267 during the reign of Seljuk Sultan Gıyaseddin Keyhüsrev III, sits in Alaaddin Park. It was commissioned by Cacaoğlu Nureddin, a follower of Rumi, and is the oldest mosque in Eskişehir. A beautiful marble ablutions fountain (şadırvan) sits opposite the entrance.
The Alaaddin Mosque has lost its original appearance, especially after it was closed it to worship in 1945 and converted to an archaeology museum. It functioned as such until 1966, when the museum moved to the Kurşunlu Complex in Odunpazarı.
The mosque features a rectangular prayer hall with a flat wooden roof. An octagonal dome 6.5 meters (21.3 feet) in diameter sits in the middle of the roof. The mosque was under restoration during my first visit to the city in March 2013. It reopened in 2014 and I was finally able to visit on my latest trip in November 2019.
Atatürk Boulevard
Atatürk Boulevard (Atatürk Bulvarı) runs passes the southern end of Alaaddin Park and separates the modern city from Odunpazarı. If you walk west from the park, you’ll come to the ETİ Archaeology Museum, which is covered in another post.
Reşadiye Mosque
The largest and most important mosque in Eskişehir is the Reşadiye Mosque (Reşadiye Camii). It sits at a junction of two main arteries in the city and on the tram line. The name refers to an older Ottoman mosque built between 1916 and 1918 by Sultan Mehmed V, but the current structure dates back to 1979. The mosque was designed after the New Mosque in Eminönü, Istanbul.