Porsuk Riverside

The Porsuk river runs through the centre of Eskişehir, and in the 2000s its banks were rebuilt into the city's main place for a walk. The channel was deepened and cleaned, low stone embankments were laid, a dozen and a half footbridges were thrown across and gondolas were put on the water — a straightforward idea, but it caught on, and the city is now called the Turkish Venice, although the resemblance stops at the boats. Cafes run along the water, and in the evening the lighting comes on: bridges, trees and facades are washed in colour that keeps changing. Bronze sculptures of city characters are set out along the embankment — old men sitting on benches, musicians, traders — there are several dozen of them, and they have become a mark of Eskişehir. This is a university city with around seventy thousand students, and in the evening the banks are packed with young people. From here the way leads to the Odunpazarı quarter with its old Ottoman houses.

On the map