Day Trip from Bursa to Iznik (Ancient Nicaea): Council History, Walls and Tiles

Eighty kilometres north-east of Bursa on the eastern shore of crystal-clear Lake Iznik (ancient Lake Ascania) lies Iznik, the classical and Byzantine city of Nicaea. Few small towns in the world carry such monumental historical weight: here in 325 AD Emperor Constantine the Great convened the First Council of Nicaea (formulating the Nicene Creed that defines Christian doctrine to this day); here in 787 AD Empress Irene convened the Seventh Ecumenical Council inside Hagia Sophia; here the Byzantine Empire in exile ruled from 1204 to 1261; and here from the 15th to 17th centuries Ottoman master potters fired the world-famous cobalt-blue, turquoise and coral-red Iznik quartz ceramic tiles that line the Blue Mosque and Topkapı Palace in Istanbul. Direct minibuses run every 30 minutes from Bursa Terminal (Otogar) to Iznik in 1 hour 10 minutes.

Five Essential Stops Inside Iznik's 5-Kilometre City Walls

Remarkably, ancient Nicaea's entire 4,970-metre Roman and Byzantine stone-and-brick fortification wall still encircles the flat town grid today, pierced by four monumental triumphal gates meeting at right angles right in the centre of town:

1. Hagia Sophia of Nicaea (Ayasofya Orhan Camii, At the Central Crossroads): built by Emperor Justinian in the 6th century on the site of an earlier gymnasium church, this three-aisled brick basilica hosted the Second Council of Nicaea in 787 AD (which restored the veneration of icons across the Christian world) before Orhan Gazi converted it into a mosque in 1331. Look down at the intricate 11th-century coloured marble opus sectile floor mosaics and the fresco of Christ, the Virgin and John the Baptist in the side pastophorion chamber.
2. Lefke Gate (Lefke Kapısı) & Istanbul Gate: triple-arched Roman triumphal gates built under Emperors Hadrian and Vespasian using marble friezes and gargoyle masks from the ancient theatre, flanked by the surviving arches of the Roman aqueduct.
3. The Green Mosque of Iznik (İznik Yeşil Cami, 1378 to 1391) & New Iznik Museum: crowned by a dazzling cylindrical minaret inlaid with glazed turquoise, green and purple chevron tiles; directly opposite stands the 1388 Nilüfer Hatun Soup Kitchen (İmareti) and the modern Iznik Archaeological Museum displaying royal sarcophagi.
4. The Submerged Underwater Basilica in Lake Iznik: walk out to the lakefront promenade at sunset, where the stone foundations of the 4th-century Basilica of St Neophytos (discovered by aerial photography in 2014) lie clearly visible beneath two metres of shallow lake water just 20 metres off the beach.
5. Traditional Quartz Tile Workshops (Çini Çarşısı): watch contemporary masters mixing 80% crushed quartz crystal to hand-paint tulips and carnations.