Edirne

Selimiye to the Meriç Bridge in two unhurried days

Edirne repays two days. Day one takes in Mimar Sinan's Selimiye Mosque of 1575, the Üç Şerefeli Mosque, Eski Cami, the Ali Paşa Bazaar and the timber houses of Kaleiçi. Day two crosses the Tunca to the Bayezid II complex and its museum of Ottoman medicine, then continues to Sarayiçi and the Meriç Bridge.

Morning, day one: walk up to the Selimiye Mosque early, before tour buses from Istanbul arrive, and spend time under the dome Mimar Sinan finished in 1575. Below it, the Arasta, a covered market along the south-west flank, sells almond soaps and towels. Late morning: continue to the Üç Şerefeli Mosque, whose four minarets are each different, then to Eski Cami, the oldest and smallest of the three imperial mosques, with giant calligraphy on its walls.

Afternoon: lunch on fried liver near Eski Cami, then browse the Ali Paşa Bazaar, another Sinan building. Walk the lanes of Kaleiçi, south of the centre, where timber houses still line the streets. Evening: a drink on Maarif Caddesi, where several bars and birahanes line one strip.

Day two: cross the Tunca to the Bayezid II complex, a mosque, medrese and hospital whose museum explains Ottoman medicine, including music therapy. Carry on to Sarayiçi, the island where the sultans' palace once stood and where the Kırkpınar arena now sits. In the afternoon, head south over the long Meriç Bridge to Karaağaç and its handsome former railway station, a quiet end to the trip.

Tava ciğer, almond paste and the ciğerci tables by Eski Cami

The dish to eat in Edirne is tava ciğer: thin slices of lamb liver floured and deep-fried until crisp, served with fried dried chillies, bread, onions and ayran. The ciğerci restaurants cluster around the park beside Eski Cami and open from breakfast to early evening, and badem ezmesi almond paste is the sweet to take home.

Edirne has one dish everybody comes back talking about: tava ciğer, thin slices of lamb liver dusted with flour and deep-fried until crisp. It arrives with a pile of dried red chillies that are fried until they crackle and are genuinely hot. People who think they dislike liver often change their minds here, because the frying removes the strong taste. Order it with bread, onions and a glass of ayran, the salty yoghurt drink that tames the pepper.

Liver restaurants are called ciğerci, and there is a cluster around the park beside Eski Cami, where you can compare a few on successive days. Most open from breakfast to early evening. Anyone in your group who will not eat liver can find köfte or stews at a lokanta nearby.

For something sweet, look for badem ezmesi, the city's almond paste, sold in the bazaars alongside the fruit-shaped soaps that Edirne also makes. Evenings are relaxed: the birahanes along Maarif Caddesi serve beer and rakı, a reminder that this is a student town as well as a pilgrimage stop for architecture lovers.

Kırkpınar summers and flood-season winters by the Tunca

Edirne's biggest event is the Kırkpınar Oil Wrestling Festival in late June or early July on the river island near Sarayiçi, with records going back to 1360. Summer peaks at 33C, September (28C) and October (21C) are reliable, and winter is grey, with December the wettest month and the Tunca and Meriç rivers prone to flooding.

The big date is the Oil Wrestling Festival at Kırkpınar, held in late June or early July on the river island near Sarayiçi. Wrestlers in leather breeches coat themselves in olive oil and grapple until one pins the other; records of the Edirne contest go back to 1360, which makes it one of the oldest sporting events still held. The arena is a walk from the centre, and the town is crowded all week.

The climate is continental for Turkey. Nights stay cool, around 16-18C in summer. Autumn is reliable: September is still 28C, October 21C, though rain returns that month. Heavy rain swells the Tunca and Meriç, and districts such as Karaağaç can be cut off when the old bridges flood.

For sightseeing alone, May and late September are hard to beat: warm enough for the bridges, cool enough for the long walk to the Bayezid II complex.