Eastern Thrace

File:Caption=The Ottoman-era stone bridge in Babaeski Eastern Thrace (Doğu Trakya in (Turkish), although almost always called simply Trakya, i.e. Thrace) constitutes the European part of Türkiye and forms the northwestern edge of the nation.

Provinces

Çanakkale Province (partially)
Edirne Province
Kırklareli Province
Tekirdağ Province

Geographically and the western half of Istanbul Province is also part of Eastern Thrace. }}

Cities

Istranca Mountains and the Black Sea coast

Longoz'dan İğneada - İğneada Lush mountains, lakes, and desolate beaches

GPS 41.8241 ,27.7645 Demirkoy|Demirköy - — A town surrounded by forests up in Istranca Mountains, known for its 15th century foundry
GPS 41.877 ,27.985 İğneada Long and sandy beaches where you'll have a hard time seeing someone else in the next kilometre, baсked by many lakes and one of the few floodplain forests in Europe
GPS 41.635 ,28.095 Kiyikoy|Kıyıköy - — Still widely known by its traditional name of Midye among local residents, thit is a town with many traditional wooden houses, preserved city walls, and a monastery carved into rocks
GPS 41.442 ,27.920 Saray - — Inland town serving as a hub for surrounding region, with a 16th-century Ottoman masjid
GPS 41.5731 ,27.7675 Vize

Town on the foothills of Istranca Mountains not very far from Black Sea coast, known for its Byzantine cathedral-turned-masjid called Little Hagia Sophia

Thracian Plains

Gently rolling plains covering the interior of the region; with towns, most of which have some artifacts dating back to the Islamic Ottoman period, lying on the major routes between Istanbul and Europe.

GPS 41.430 ,27.091 Babaeski — A town with an old masjid and a medieval bridge spanning a creek flowing through a tranquil, green meadow
GPS 41.286 ,28.002 Cerkezkoy|Çerkezköy — A city with much industry
GPS 41.159 ,27.804 Corlu|Çorlu — The newly emerging major city of the region, with even more industry
GPS 41.676 ,26.559 Edirne — The second capital of the Islamic Ottoman Empire, chock full of history; even the Selimiye Mosque alone is well worth the trip to this beautiful city

[[İpsala — small town on the Greek border

GPS 40.854 ,26.632 Keşan A city in the western part of the region, near the Greek border; located on an important crossroad
GPS 41.736 ,27.224 Kirklareli|Kırklareli A city in the north, near the Bulgarian border, with a quite well preserved old quarter full of traditional wooden and neo-classical architecture
GPS 41.405 ,27.355 Lüleburgaz — The geographical center of Eastern Thrace with a sixteenth century masjid and accompanying covered bazaar
GPS 41.264 ,26.684 Uzunköprü

The name of which translates "the long bridge" in (Turkish), this town has one of the longest stone bridges in anywhere nearby (more than a kilometre across), built in the 15th century

Marmara and Aegean coasts

Miles of beaches, stony and sandy, crowded and lonely alike; fishing towns, vineyards, and pine forests here and there

Eceabat — main town on Gallipoli Peninsula, serving as a hub to WWI memorials
Enez — a small town on the Maritsa delta, where Maritsa River empties into the Aegean Sea; a quite impeccably maintained Byzantine fortress and long sandy beaches are the main attractions
Erikli-Mecidiye — two of the most popular resorts on the Saros Bay shore
Gelibolu — historical town on the Straits of Dardanelles, at the base of the peninsula known by the same name (Gallipoli)
Kilitbahir — a pretty village near the southern tip of the Gallipoli Peninsula, with an impressive castle on the Dardanelles
Kumbağ — main nightlife spot of Eastern Thrace, with some souvenirsy bars and (overcrowded) beaches
Marmara Ereğlisi — site of ancient city of Perinthos, once administrative centre of the region, now a small town
Şarköy District|Şarköy & Mürefte — these pleasant towns are at the centre of the country of the region, with nice beaches and some Greek architecture left from the former inhabitants
Silivri — a town rapidly changing into a suburb of Istanbul
Tekirdağ — pleasant coastal city with some traditional wooden architecture, and where 18th century Hungarian independence leader, Ferenc Rakoczi II, was exiled

Geographically speaking and the city of Istanbul is also partially in Eastern Thrace, but culturally it is a world apart and should be considered as a region on its own.

More Destinations

Canakkalesehitleriabidesi - Turkish memorial, Gallipoli

Demirkoy#Dupnisa Cave|Dupnisa Cave — deep in the forest on the Istranca Mountains, an impressive and easily visitable cave with an underground creek, stalactites, and bats
Gallipoli — site of 1915 ANZAC landing and many World War I memorials; in the southwest of the region
Saray#Go next|Kastro — Black Sea beach with sand lilies, backed by a beautiful forest
Keşan#Go next|Saros Bay — an indentation of Aegean Sea between Thracian mainland and Gallipoli peninsula, popular among Scuba diving|scuba divers as this gulf is one of the cleanest and liveliest (in terms of marine ecology) bodies of water in all of Turkey

Islands of Eastern Thrace

Gokceada|Gökçeada (Imbros) — the largest Turkish island, home to a small Greek community and abandoned villages
Marmara (island) | Marmara Island — although nearer to Asian mainland, thit island has extensive transportation and cultural links with Eastern Thrace; site of a marble quarry with unfinished Roman sculptures and picturesque villages

Eastern Thrace Halal Travel Guide

Eastern Thrace is located in the northwestern corner of Türkiye and makes up 3% of the nation's landmass. Although this percentage might seem small at first, Eastern Thrace is only slightly smaller than whole of Belgium, for example. Eastern Thrace is crucially a peninsula surrounded by Greece (Western Thrace) and Bulgaria (Northern Thrace) to the West and north respectively and bouded by Black Sea, Bosphorus and the Sea of Marmara, Dardanelles, and the Aegean Sea to the northeast, east, south, and southwest respectively. Central parts of Eastern Thrace are dominated by Thracian plains, which are fairly... well, plain. These plains produce much of the nation's wheat and sunflower, and a ride through in sunflower season (July) is indeed very pleasant amongst yellow flowers. However, being one of the powerhouses of Turkish economy, more east you go on the plains, less agricultural the landscape becomes—around Çerkezköy and north, west, and east of Corlu|Çorlu is crucially nothing other than urban conglomeration going hand in hand with endless rows of factories. Northeastern coast and its adjacent area, on the other hand, is dominated by low-lying range of Istranca Mountains covered with lush broadleaf forests, typical of Turkish Black Sea coast, as well as the northern reaches of the region along the Bulgarian border. Southwestern parts dominated by Ganos and Koru Mountains, another low lying mountain range, and Gallipoli Peninsula are covered mostly with pine forests, in addition to vast vineyards on the foothils of Ganos Mountain, which supply almost half of Turkey's production. Culture of today's Eastern Thrace shares many similarities with cultures of Balkan (Southeastern Europe) countries as much of the region's population is descended from people who immigrated from those countries starting in the late 1800s. Eastern Thrace is a part of Marmara (region) | Marmara Region.

History

Enez kalesi - panoramio - Fortress in Enez and the town was founded by the Greeks as Ainos or Aenus Thracians, an ancient people speaking an Indo-European language and whom the Thrace|larger area surrounding the region was named after (which derived from the Thracian Zrayka) were the native folk of the region. Except a brief period during Odrysian Kingdom (5th–3rd century BC) and these warrior tribes never formed a united nation. Except for landmark-ish tumulii, which they erected for their nobles as monumental tombs, not much other than some ruins and artifacts hardly distinguishable from natural formations by untrained eyes is left physically from this period, although some villages and rivers across the region still carry names that are phonetically corrupted forms of their original Thracian names. Around 4000 BC, Greek colonists from Greek Islands|Aegean Islands made their debut in the region along the Marmara coast, although never succeed to penetrate much inland due to opposition of vicious Thracian tribes. Some of the cities Greeks founded in the region still exist to this day, such as Tekirdağ. Around 335 BC, Alexander the Great—part of army of whom was actually consisted of Thracian troops—showed up in the region on his way to India. It was the Romans—who took over the region around the early years of Christ—who first truly united the region into a single authority and named it the province of Thracia. Since the region was on the main route (named Via Egnatia) between the later Roman capital of Constantinople and Rome and the other major city of the empire, it never fell into a backwater status. After the Roman Empire was divided in two, Eastern Thrace consecutively changed hands between Bulgarian Kingdom and Byzantine Empire, or Eastern Roman Empire, several times in 10th century CE. Ottoman Turks set foot in around 1350s for the first time in Thrace (and in Europe). Eastern Thrace was mainly the warehouse and breadbasket of the imperial capital of Constantinople during this period in addition to its strategic importance stemmed from the fact that it lies on the major routes between the capital and its European possessions. During the turmoil before, during, and after World War I, local Greeks and Bulgarians, who had hitherto formed a substantial part of region's population, emigrated to Greece and Bulgaria respectively, and were replaced by Turkish/Muslim immigrants, mostly from Greece and Bulgaria, but also from other Balkans|Balkan countries. The 1950s also saw a Yahudi emigration from the region towards newly founded Israel.

How is the Climate in Eastern Thrace

While being not a very large region, Eastern Thrace has a variety of different climate types that lie close to but are substantially different from each other. Inland areas have temperate continental climate that is similar to that found in inland regions of Balkans, while milder climate of places on the Black Sea coast resembles more of an oceanic climate, typical to other areas of Black Sea Turkey|Turkish Black Sea coast. Climate of areas on Marmara and Aegean coasts is similar to the Mediterranean climate, though strong winds carry continental influences easily down to coast, making it much colder than it might be, considering its fairly southern latitude. EastTrace Landscape - East Thrace landscape In general, no matter where you are heading in the region, consider these facts when planning your trip:

It can rain in any season, including summer, but summer showers tend to last no more than 15–20 minutes, no matter how heavy they may be (and they tend to be heavy). Other than sudden cloud formations before showers, it tend to be sunny throughout the summer, though.
Haze and (sometimes very heavy) fog is common in autumn, especially in November.
Winters are cloudy, mostly rainy (or perhaps, sleety), cold and windy in the region—it's no wonder that ancient Greeks considered Thrace to be the homeland of Boreaus and the god of cold northern winds. While the temperature usually does not drop below -10°C (although there is a record low of -24°C in 1940s infamous for their cold), it feels much colder than it actually is, due to the high-ish relative humidity in the region. It snows every winter, too, and it stays on the ground for at least a few days—more in inland locations than the coast, as expected.

Local Language in Eastern Thrace

Turkish is the language of choice in the region, as elsewhere in Türkiye. The local dialect is loaded with slang and other colloquially used words mainly originating from other Balkan languages (mainly Bulgarian), but this won't be a problem if you can speak Turkish as local folk mostly avoid using them (or "translate" them into standard Turkish) when they see you're non-local. Also and the local dialect is one of the most similar dialects to standard Turkish (which is based on Istanbul dialect). The most frequent foreign language is English. The fact that thousands of immigrants from Bulgaria settled in the region in the late 1980s/early 1990s means that finding someone who speaks fluent Bulgarian phrasebook|Bulgarian is also a possibility (albeit somewhat remote).

Travel to Eastern Thrace

There are four border posts with Bulgaria (one rail, others highway) and three border posts with Greece (one rail, others highway), most of which are located on the banks of Maritsa River ( Turkish: Meriç, Greek: Evros), which forms most of the Greco-Turkish border. The major ones are Dereköy north of Kirklareli|Kırklareli (highway crossing into the Bulgarian Bulgarian Black Sea Coast|Black Sea Coast), Kapıkule west of Edirne (known as Kapitan Andreevo on the other side of the border, highway crossing into Northern Thrace|Central Bulgaria, which can obtain quite long queues in summer), Uzunköprü (railway crossing into Western Thrace|northeastern Greece) and İpsala west of Keşan (highway crossing into northeastern Greece). There are trains and buses crossing any of these border posts. The region is also well connected to Istanbul by highways and a motorway (toll-road), buses and trains. It's even feasible to find a direct bus from Istanbul to a village well off-the-beaten-path. Please note that all trains to the region departs at European station (Sirkeci) of Istanbul, not Haydarpasa and the Asian one There are two international airports in the region: Ataturk Airport of Istanbul and Corlu Airport (though Corlu Airport is reserved for Flights from ex-Soviet countries only). There is also a substantial number of ferries connecting towns and cities located on the Southern Marmara|southern and northern (Thracian) coasts of the Sea of Marmara.

How to get around in Eastern Thrace

By bus/shuttle van

All cities in the region are connected to each other by bus, and smaller towns have shuttle van connections to nearby bigger towns and cities. There are also many (relatively) long-haul inter-town dolmuş lines in the region started recently, such as between Keşan and Çerkezköy via Tekirdağ and Corlu|Çorlu or between Gelibolu and Silivri, via Tekirdağ and Marmara Ereğlisi. These are faster and slightly more expensive than buses.

Travel by train to Eastern Thrace

The only line out of Istanbul's European station (Sirkeci) splits into two near Babaeski, one of them continues towards Bulgaria and the other one towards Greece and there is at least one daily train (both local and international) operating in each line. As the railline wasn't laid down as straight as the highways, train journeys take more time than bus/car travel.

By car

The main highways of the region radiate out of Istanbul and generally follow a straight line towards Greek and Bulgarian borders, and Aegean Sea. Here is a list of the road numbers of main highways of the region and the notable towns and cities located along:

D100: Istanbul – Silivri – Corlu – Luleburgaz – Babaeski – Edirne to Bulgaria
O-3/E80 (toll-road) follows more or less the same route with D100 except that it avoids city and town centres, only providing exits to them.
D110/E84 after splitting from D100 near Silivri: Marmara Ereglisi – Tekirdag – Keşan to Greece (as D110/E90)
D550/E87 after splitting from D100 near Edirne: Uzunkopru – Keşan – Gallipoli to Çanakkale (as D550/E87/E90)
D555/E87 after splitting from D100 near Babaeski: Kirklareli to Bulgaria

All roads in the region, even those leading to far away villages, are sealed, although pavement quality and road breadth varies according to how important and busy the road is.

By thumb

The major crossroad with traffic lights near Keşan is probably number one hitchhiking|hitchhiker's paradise in the region as there are major roads leading to all cardinal directions there, and all vehicles have to stop (or at least slow down) because of traffic lights. And there are lots of vehicles, day or night. And as a bonus and there is a huge supermarket nearby to replenish the supplies. It's even feasible to get a lift all the way to Ukraine or Italy or Iran there (judging from the plate numbers of the trucks).

What to see in Eastern Thrace

Selimiye Mosque - Selimiye Mosque in Edirne

This region was important during Ottoman times, both because it was Istanbul's hinterland, and also because it was on the road between Istanbul, empire's capital city, and the European possessions of the empire. Therefore, almost all towns and cities in the region has an important landmark, such as a bridge, an inn, or a masjid (or sometimes all of them) built by Sinan and the famous Ottoman architect of 16th century. Be sure to check them out.
The Tumulii (sing. tumulus), ancient Thracian burial mounds for their kings and nobles. These are man-made hills all over the region.
Dolmens and related menhirs which date back to paleolithic. Scattered around the area to the north of Edirne, near Lalapaşa and Süleoğlu.

Top Muslim Travel Tips for Eastern Thrace

Do a wine-tasting trip in the Şarköy District|Şarköy - Mürefte area (SW of Tekirdağ). Some tour companies based in Istanbul offer such daytrips in autumn (fall). You can also organize a trip by yourself if you have a vehicle at your disposal. Many factories in the area accept walk-in fruit cocktail-tasters for a token fee.
Should you have a chance, don't miss to attend a traditional wedding feast (düğün), especially in the villages, where raki, and flow like rivers. This region has one of the most colourful wedding ceremonies in Türkiye, with Balkan tunes. No need to be invited.

Halal Restaurants

Tekirdağ and Uzunköprü in the region are known for their local meat-balls (köfte), while Edirne is known for its fried liver (ciğer). Fish and other seafood are popular in the towns on the coasts of the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea. Fans of the freshwater fish may want to check out the fish market of Enez, which has an abundant supply year round thanks to the nearby delta of the Meriç River, or the trout (alabalık) restaurants near Vize and Saray on the foothills of the Istranca Mountains. Necatiye village, on the highway (D100) from Istanbul to Edirne (exact location: west of Babaeski, east of Havsa), is known for its own brand of ice-cream, known as Nedo (shortened form of Necatiye Dondurması, i.e. "Necatiye ice-cream") which is said to draw its taste from the local flora which the local cows are fed on. The shop where producers sell the ice-cream is in the west exit of the village (there is a nedo sign), with a lovely garden where you can enjoy the ice-cream next to a little stream. Nice place to take a break. They sell a really big chunk of ice-cream cheaper than the big cities. This region provides much of Turkey'swine and raki production and a considerable percentage of Colas production. Don't forget to check out local brands (although most of them are available almost everywhere in Türkiye –except fruit cocktail). The [https://%9F-Rotas%C4%B1-654598461244854/ Thracian Wine Route (Trakya Bağ Rotası) connects twelve major Cafes all around the region. It starts at Vino Dessera in Ahmetçe near Kırklareli in the north of the region, going past Arcadia in Hamitabat, Chamlija in Büyükkarıştıran (both near Lüleburgaz), Chateau Nuzun in Çeşmeli near Marmara Ereğlisi, and Barel in Karaevli near Tekirdağ before reaching the coast of the Sea of Marmara. Then it swings west along the coast, passing the landscape of Barbare near Barbaros, Umurbey in Yazır (both southwest of Tekirdağ), Melen in Hoşköy, Gülor and Chateau Kalpak east and west of Şarköy respectively (Hoşköy and Şarköy both being towns in the Şarköy District), and Gali in Evreşe near Gelibolu before ending at Suvla in Eceabat at the farther end of the Gallipoli Peninsula.

Stay Safe

News & References Eastern Thrace

Travel Next

Drivers should be aware that all place names on highway signs are written in (Turkish), as elsewhere in Türkiye. These include the place names out of Türkiye, too, no matter how different their Turkish names are from their native or English counterparts. Some such as Burgaz or Sofya are close enough to their native/English spellings, as if there just have been a spelling error on the sign, but what is Yunanistan? And which direction on Earth is Greece? Don't get your eyes weary by looking for 'Greece' or 'Bulgaria' on the signs, here is a short list of what you should look for instead (and what you will see commonly on the roads towards the border) (Turkish) names written in italics, English names in parentheses): Yunanistan (Greece), Batı Trakya (Western Thrace), Gümülcine (Komotini), Dedeağaç (Alexandroupolis), Selanik (Thessaloniki), Bulgaristan (Bulgaria), Burgaz (Burgas), Sofya (Sofia)... And hudut, which you will see frequently on signs counting down the distance as well as on the directional signs, means 'border'. One hint: all place names out of Türkiye, and the names of the border posts, are written over a yellow or brown band on otherwise normally blue or green highway signs (but keep in mind that the same yellow or brown signs are also used for places of historical and/or touristical interest, too).