We present here a do-it-yourself walk around Edirne as it was in Ottoman times. The starting point is meaningful. You enter the city along the now little-used Old Istanbul Way (Eski İstanbul Yolu) as if arriving from Istanbul with a caravan of camels or on horseback. Rich people lived here. Important buildings are scattered along the route. To the left and right, stairways lead up or down the slope of the hill.

The walk lasts about 1.5 hours. Opportunities for tea breaks are indicated along the way. Starting the walk from a different point is not advisable; it would spoil the spirit of adventure and discovery. Dates in brackets indicate the year the building was constructed, though many have now been restored. Street names are on red or blue plates close to corner buildings. You can easily see them. Off we go then...

First, find Balta Hotel (1986). The locals all know where it is - it’s a sort of landmark. Three years ago it was one of Edirne’s biggest hotels. It’s situated on the new road in and out of town built in the 1950-60s, called Talat Paşa Asfalt, which rendered the former “Istanbul Way” redundant. Now, look across the road for a big hand holding a bowl of fruit and make your way over to it.

This large sculpted fountain symbolises the scented fruit-shaped soap for which Edirne is famous. Sultans once bestowed it on visiting dignitaries. (You can buy some yourself later at the Ali Pasha Bazaar.) Just left of the Fruit Fountain is the Kadi Bedrettin Mosque (1530). The walk starts here. This is the beginning of the Old Istanbul Way, signposted as Eski Ɣstanbul Caddesi.

Saunter towards the centre of town and you get a sense of the somewhat chaotic hurly-burly typical of any Turkish town. On the right a little further along is the Hacı Müslim Çeşmesi fountain (1647) and the Ayşe Kadın Mosque (1468).

Keep straight ahead and looming up on the left is Ekmekçizade Ahmet Pasha Caravanserai (1609), offering accommodation for travellers and beasts of burden after the long journey from Istanbul. It’s very large inside. Ekmekçizade Ahmet Pasha was an important personage; the treasurer of the sultan no less. If the gate is open, go in and walk around. Exhibitions are sometimes held here. Opposite the gateway is a former primary school, now restored. Note the wooden columns.

Carry on past the second-hand furniture shops, savouring the contrast between old and new, large and small, stone and wooden houses. Then you see a small tower on the right with metal bands inside and empty light sockets. This was, believe it or not, an electric substation, part of the distribution grid of the city, and still working ten years ago.

Just before the corner tower is a short cobbled road leading up to a metal gate, unmarked and painted purple. This is the unused entrance to a Teachers High School (Anadolu Ögretmen Lisesi). The school was founded in the 1890s by the Sisters of the Charity of Agram (Zagreb) as the St. Helene Elementary School and supported by Empress Elizabeth of Austria-Hungary personally. First constructed of wood, it burnt down and was rebuilt in stone, as it is now. The building offered refuge from bombardments during the Siege of Edirne in the First Balkan War. The main entrance is now up on the main road.

Coming up on your right are the sloping walls of Edirne Lisesi (high school). A glance at the architecture tells you this building is quite old. Constructed in 1857, it’s one of the oldest schools in Turkey. Just before the school, on the left, is a small Islamic saint’s tomb, Koyunbaba Türbesi, named after a devout person who performed some miraculous deed. Other such tombs are scattered around the city.

Just after Edirne Lisesi appears a large, semi-derelict building. This is marked on 1905 maps as the "Regie de Tabac", a joint Ottoman-European consortium founded in the 1860s then nationalized in 1925 as Tekel. The building you see almost certainly dates from those years. Here, government-controlled products (gunpowder, tea, coffee, tobacco, alcohol, matches, salt) were stored and distributed. You can see the letters “TT” on the metal gates.

At the crossroads across from Tekel is a bakery called Has Fırın which is rather famous locally. Although the front is bright and snazzy, the bakery itself is very old.

You are still on the Eski İstanbul Caddesi. Go straight ahead and İnönü İlkokulu (primary school) is on your right, with gaily-painted front walls. This was built around 1893 as the Jewish Boys’ School, funded by the Alliance Israelite Universelle (AIU) in Paris, though children from other communities attended it. There was an AIU Boys School in Edirne from 1867 to 1937 and Girls School from 1870 to 1920. The slanting roof of the central section of the school, seen in old postcards, was burnt in a fire in 1986-87 and the roof is now flat.

Keep going ahead. Göktüg Hotel (2006) is on the left. Two minutes later you meet a main road curving round and down. Cross straight over and aim for Saray Hotel (1971) on the left. This is Sabuni, the “soap-makers” district.

On the right is Lari (Laleli) Mosque (1514) with a glass enclosure on one side. You are now deep in old Adrianople, as Edirne was known before the Republican era. The Old Istanbul Way ends here. From now on, we follow a more zigzag route.

Don’t go into the main street just yet. Dive right into the narrow Terziler Sokak (Street of Tailors). Stroll along. In Ottoman times many streets were like this, specializing in one commodity. The Street of Sweet-sellers (Şekerciler Sokak) and Street of Butchers (Kasaplar Sokak) are nearby. Times have changed, however, and the Street of Tailors now mainly consists of shoe-repairers.

At the end of Terziler Sokak, by the pet shop, turn left into the busy Saraçlar (Street of Saddlers) shopping street, a pedestrian precinct. Facing you is the Fish Market (Balık Pazarı). Use this as a reference point in case you get lost. At this junction are shops selling spices and delicacies, with signs in the window in Greek or Bulgarian for the benefit of day-trippers from across the border a few kilometres away. There are cafes nearby if you need a break.

When you’re ready to continue, walk down Saraçlar between the boutiques and bars past the Mermaid Fountain. This area is Zindanaltı, named after the dungeon (zindan) once situated here. The dungeon was underneath one of the city's four defence towers (you will see the last remaining tower later in the walk) and used as a prison until the abolition of the Janissaries. After the clothing store Ender you see a building with three balconies, above Kokteyl Pub. This was Hotel Salonique, the ritziest hotel in town. After various name changes, it last operated as Alp Otel. The whole block down to the corner is slated for restoration, which it desperately needs, as you will agree.

At the bottom of the slope, 25 Kasım Stadium is on your left and phaetons (horse carriages) await customers. Straight ahead you can see the railway line from Istanbul to Sofia, built in the 1970s, running along the top of a flood barrier (1960s) which, unfortunately, completely obscures any view of the rivers Tuna and Meriç beyond. If it’s Friday, the Ulus Pazarı will be on. You can rummage among the cheap clothing stalls and fruit and vegetable stands outside if the fancy takes you. Then, come back to where the horse and buggy drivers are and...

Turn right. There is a Goodyear tyre dealer just around the corner. Walk along. The large empty space by the embankment was once a graveyard. Beyond that were jetties where goods were loaded onto rafts and transported down the Meriç to the Aegean port of Enez. Continue past the derelict warehouses that once stored silk, attar of roses, broomsticks, sesame seed oil, red wine and suchlike. Take the fourth street on the right: Maarif Cadde (1-77, 2-78). You are now in Kaleiçi (Kastro) neighbourhood and within the walls of the castle founded by Emperor Hadrian in 125 AD. Kaleiçi was inhabited predominantly by the more well-off members of the Greek, Armenian and Jewish communities.

You can’t miss the Grand Synagogue (havra). It’s of cathedral-like dimensions, tall and imposing. This was one of the largest synagogues in Europe. It was built in 1907 to replace 13 wooden synagogues reduced to ashes in the Great Fire of 1905. It is now being totally restored after falling into disuse and ruin in the 1970s.

After the synagogue, walk up a little way, turn left at Cumhuriyet Cadde (25-23, 26-24), then right into Türk Ocaği Cadde, where you immediately see an old-looking stone wall around a public park officially called Cumhuriyet Parkı. It was once Reşadiye Bahçesi, where citizens dressed up to attend the cinema, gazino and theatre. The emblem of the 35th sultan, Mehmed V Reşad, can still be seen on the gate’s metalwork. This park has seen better times and is not ideal for a coffee break. More suitable places lie ahead.

Even though there are plenty of wooden houses still standing, old-timers remember that many more existed in previous years until they were replaced by modern apartments. The problem is, wood is combustible. Lighting and heating was by candle, gas lamp or wood stove, ergo, many fires in the old days.

Keep going up the gentle slope, past Şehit Asım İlköğretim Okulu school (the Armenian church and school once stood here). Continue along Türk Ocağı Cadde, cross a busy street (to the right up the slope are fruit-sellers and the fish market you visited earlier) and enter the quiet street opposite, again Türk Ocağı Cadde.

On your right is the front entrance to the former Greek Girls High School (L’Ecole Centrale de Filles du Zappion), a prestigious institution founded in 1850 by the Zappas family. It’s now the Polis Evi, a recreational facility for the police. The old front entrance is now the back of the building.

The coffin on being removed from the hearse, at the gate of the Cemetery, was again borne by the sailors.

The pall bearers were the British Ambassador Sir Gerard Lowther, Mr. H.C.A. Eyres H.B.M.’s Consul General, Sir Edwin Pears, Vice Admiral Sir Henry Woods Pasha, Mr. T.J. Maltass and Mr. C.B. Charnaud.

After the service, numerous friends and acquaintances of the deceased came forward to console with Lady Whittall and members of her family.

The death of Sir William Whittall comes just a year after the movement which brought about a change in the reign of this country.

On that occasion Sir William opened the doors of his residence at Moda to a great number of persons who were in danger of losing their lives and many of whom were present at his funeral. With the pluck characteristic of Englishmen Sir William unhesitatingly risked his own life and those of the members of his family in order to protect those who had sought refuge in his home. The strain was, however, too much for a man of his advanced age and he was in failing health ever since that memorable day.

The Late Sir William Whittall

At a Meeting of committees of the Eastern Question Association held on Monday, April 18, the Right Honle.Seyid Emir Ali, C.I.E in the chair, it was unanimously resolved on the motion of Dr. Guy Stephen:- “That this committee expresses its deepest regret at the death of Sir William Whittall, of constantinople, whose sympathetic and untring labours extending over a period of 50 years in furthering humanitarian work throughout the Ottoman Empire have justly gained approbation of all classes and whose high personal chracrer and love of justice have won the veneration of all races and creads in Turkey. (**)

“In recognition this testimony the the worth of their valued friend and colleague the committee desire to offer to Lady Whittall and her familt their respectful and sincere condolences in their grief; and beg to assure them how greatly the passing away of Sir William Whittall will be felt by all who knew the extent of his public- sprited services to his fellow men, markes as they invariably ware, by wisdom, courage and unselfishness.”

At the time of his death Sir William Whittall was the Senior Honorary Secretary of the Eastern Question Association and enjoyed in a marked degree the confidence of Turkish Statesmen. He was in intimate friend of Kiamil Pasha, ex- Grand Vizier, and of Talat Bey the Present Minister of the Interior.