Why this ride
329 km from Eminönü to Eminönü, about 3 h 53 of riding. On the way it passes Hüdavendigar, Muradiye, Khans Area and back through Muradiye.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Istanbul day out · Khans Area
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 329 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 53
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Uludağ Ascent
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 1 km this is Uludağ Ascent, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 3 km
- Named road
- Uludağ Ascent
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Istanbul
Istanbul sits across two continents, split by the Bosporus, and the point here is in the old peninsula on the European side, where the Golden Horn meets the strait. The city was Byzantium, then Constantinople, capital of the Roman Empire in the east for over a thousand years, and from 1453 the seat of the Ottoman sultans. The layers show everywhere. Hagia Sophia, finished in 537, still has the most astonishing dome in the world, hung as if from nothing over a vast interior, and nearby the Blue Mosque, with its six minarets and cascade of domes, stands across a garden, built in the early seventeenth century as an Ottoman answer.
Read the complete Istanbul write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Istanbul is where the day begins. Next is Hüdavendigar.
2. Hüdavendigar
Bursa was the first capital of the Ottomans, and the Hüdavendigar Mosque in the hot-spring suburb of Çekirge is one of the earliest great buildings of the dynasty. Murad I, who conquered large parts of Thrace and the Balkans in the fourteenth century, took the title Hüdavendigâr, meaning sovereign, and the mosque complex that carries the name was built in the second half of that century. It has an unusual plan, with an upper floor that served as a school, and the shapes already show a style that would grow into the classical Ottoman mosque.
Read the complete Hüdavendigar write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hüdavendigar comes up 32 km in. Next is Hüdavendigar.
3. Hüdavendigar
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hüdavendigar write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
At least 90 km in you reach Hüdavendigar. Next is Muradiye.
4. Muradiye
Bursa was the first great capital of the Ottomans, taken in 1326 and held for over a century before the court moved to Edirne, and the Muradiye district is where the sultans of that period are buried. The complex was begun in 1426 by Sultan Murad II, a mosque with a medrese and a garden, and around it are a dozen or so tombs of sultans and their families, set among cypress trees and roses. The tombs are plain from outside and surprisingly lovely inside, with painted ceilings, tiled walls and a row of simple sarcophagi. One of them holds the sons of Mehmed the Conqueror, and the stories of the princes buried here, some of them victims of palace power struggles, have their own sad drama.
Read the complete Muradiye write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Muradiye, about halfway. Next is Khans Area.
5. Khans Area
Planning note
Khans Area sits at 126 km, about halfway. Next is back through Muradiye.
6. back through Muradiye
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Muradiye write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Muradiye comes up 158 km in. Next is back through Hüdavendigar.
7. back through Hüdavendigar
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hüdavendigar write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
189 km in you reach back through Hüdavendigar. Next is back through Hüdavendigar.
8. back through Hüdavendigar
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hüdavendigar write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Hüdavendigar, late in the day. Next is Istanbul.
9. Istanbul
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Istanbul write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 329 km.
Leg by leg
Istanbul to Hüdavendigar
Istanbul → Hüdavendigar is 121 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Hüdavendigar to Muradiye
Hüdavendigar → Muradiye is 3 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Muradiye to back through Hüdavendigar
back through Muradiye → back through Hüdavendigar is 3 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hüdavendigar to Istanbul
back through Hüdavendigar → Istanbul is 121 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Uludağ Ascent · 113 km
- Istanbul · Black Sea Forest and Şile Coast · 376 km
- Şile Black Sea Coast · 89 km