Emirsultan, Yeşil and Nostalgic Tram T3: Walking Eastern Historic Bursa

While the western half of central Bursa holds the busy commercial inns of Ulu Cami and Koza Han, the eastern half of the historic slope, stretching across the Gökdere stream through Setbaşı, Yeşil and Emirsultan, preserves the quiet spiritual neighbourhoods, plane-tree courtyards and 19th-century silk-factory museums of the old capital. You can link the entire 2.2-kilometre corridor effortlessly by riding Bursa's Nostalgic Tram Line T3 (Cumhuriyet Caddesi, Çancılar).

1. Riding Nostalgic Tram T3 down Pedestrian Cumhuriyet Caddesi

Start at Zafer Plaza / Pirinç Han just north of Ulu Cami and step onto one of the vintage red-and-cream 1950s German Gotha trams running along Tram Line T3. Closed to car traffic, Cumhuriyet Caddesi (laid out in 1906 to link the bazaar with the eastern bridges) is lined with early-20th-century stone commercial buildings, historic hardware merchants, copper-smiths, tahini bakeries and chandelier shops. Ride the tram across the Gökdere bridge (or walk across the parallel 1442 Irgandı Artisan Bridge) up to the Yeşil complex.

2. The Tofaş Museum of Anatolian Cars (In Umurbey, Free Admission)

Five minutes' walk south of the Irgandı Bridge in the leafy Umurbey neighbourhood sits a quiet local favourite that even non-car enthusiasts love: the Tofaş Museum ofaguchi Anatolian Cars (Tofaş Anadolu Arabaları Müzesi). Set inside a tranquil, park-like 19th-century French-Ottoman raw silk spinning factory (mancınıkhane) shaded by 300-year-old plane and mulberry trees, this completely free museum traces 2,600 years of wheeled transport in Anatolia: from the reconstructed 6th-century BC bronze-wheeled Phrygian/Lydian chariot excavated from the Üçpınar Tumulus in Balıkesir, through hand-painted wooden Ottoman horse carriages (fayton) and ox carts, up to the first cars manufactured in Bursa in 1971, plus a restored 1430s Umurbey Hammam exhibition space.

3. Emirsultan Mosque and Cypress Courtyard

From the Green Tomb, walk ten minutes east along a pedestrian boulevard lined with wooden houses to the cypress-crowned hilltop of Emirsultan. Built around the mausoleum of Muhammed Şemseddin (Emir Sultan, 1368 to 1429), a revered Bukharan scholar and descendant of the Prophet who became the spiritual advisor and son-in-law of Sultan Bayezid I, the 1804/1868 marble-arcaded courtyard and octagonal domed tomb form one of the most peaceful sanctuaries in Turkey.