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Kütahya is known for its
beautiful colored tiles and pottery,
but it has an interesting history as
well.
Kütahya (kur-TAHH-yah,
pop. 150,000) rests beneath a ruined
hilltop fortress in Aegean
Turkey just about equidistant (around
330 km/205 miles, 5 hours) from Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir, Konya and Pamukkale.
Everybody here seems to be in the
business of making or selling colored faience (tiles),
but the town also has an Ulu Cami (great
Mosque) dating from 1410, a 16th-century market
building, and a former medrese (theological
seminary) dating from 1440. The interesting museum is
in another medrese, dating from 1314,
the Vacidiye, right next to the Ulu
Cami.
Hungarian revolutionary hero Lajos
Kossuth (1802-1851) fled to Turkey
when his revolt (1849) against the
Hapsburgs was crushed by Russian
troops. He lived here from 1850 to
1851. His Kütahya house is now
a museum.
While you're here, visit the Roman ruins
at Aizanoi with their well-preserved Temple
of Zeus, next to village of Çavdarhisar
60 km (37 miles) south of Kütahya
on the way to Usak.
The scant remains of ancient Phrygia (1200-600
BC) are scattered through the hills
east of Kütahya, south of Eskisehir and
north of Afyon.
You can get to Kütahya by bus, car or train,
although the train connections are
not particularly good. Coming from Istanbul,
cross the Sea
of Marmara on a ferryboat to Yalova and
catch a bus from there or from Bursa to
Kütahya.
The nearest airport is
at Afyon,
but you might as well just go by road
and ferry to Istanbul.
Distances & Travel Times
Afyon: 97
km (60 miles) S, 1.75 hours
Ankara: 310
km (193 miles) E, 5 hours
Bursa: 178
km (111 miles) N, 2.75 hours
Çavdarhisar (Aizanoi): 60
km (37 miles) S, 1 hour
Egirdir: 268
km (167 miles) S, 4 hours
Eskisehir: 78
km (49 miles) NE, 1.5 hours
Isparta: 242 km (150 miles)
S, 3.75 hours
Istanbul: 360
km (224 miles) N, 6 hours by road;
or 233 km (145 miles) N, 3.75 hours
to Yalova,
plus 1 hour via ferry
Izmir: 334
km (208 miles) W, 5 hours
Konya: 320
km ( 200 miles) SE, 5 hours
Pamukkale: 314
km (195 miles) S, 5 hours
Usak: 144 km (90 miles) SW,
2.5 hours
Yalova: 233
km (145 miles) N, 3.75 hours
Aegean
Turkey
Turkey
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