The Greek “40 Churches” Population: 85,500
Old names: Saranta Ekklisies (Greek), Lozengard (Bulgarian)
Festival: Kakava – around 9-10 May
Kirklareli is not the sort of place most people ever think of visiting. This is a town that will forever lurk in the shadow of its bigger and better neighbour Edirne, the one-time capital of the Ottoman Empire before Constantinople (İstanbul) stole its thunder.
Nevertheless, Kırklareli has a history stretching back to Byzantine times when it was called the Greek equivalent of “Kırk Kilise” (40 Churches). The name reflected the fact that this was always a town with a large “minority” population, but in 1924, after the population exchange between Greece and Turkey, its name was changed to Kırklareli.
Today, virtually the only reminder of the 40 churches (if they ever existed) is an unfinished gravestone in the museum that features an angel brandishing a blank cartouche.
Kakava The best time to visit Kirklareli is early May when the coming of spring is celebrated here and in the surrounding towns at the Roma festival, Kakava. The origin of the name “Kakava” is unclear, but this is a fire festival rather like Nevroz (the Kurdish and Iranian New Year). It was traditionally celebrated in much the same way with people taking it in turns to leap over outsized bonfires.
Around town
In the town centre the Hızırbey Cami dates to 1383 and forms part of a pleasing complex of buildings facing the central Şevket Dingiloğlu Park. Its walls are painted with 19th-century landscape scenes. Across the road, a small bedesten (covered bazaar) is attached to a magnificent double hamam, the roofs of both buildings studded with little glass skylights like upturned beakers; the complex was the gift to the town from Köse Mihalzade Hızır Bey. The women’s section of the hamam is now closed although the men’s side continues to pump out steam; the bedesten has turned into the place to stock up on colourful wedding finery, including poppy-red veils and baskets piled with packets of henna all ready for weddings and other celebrations.
Kırklareli has a surprising number of old fountains for a town that can never have been that hot. The finest is the Çarşı Çeşmesi (Market Fountain), a four-sided affair immediately in front of the Hızır Bey Cami. Many others can be found down the side streets. Yet more survive in name only.
The streets between the mosque and the hamam are filled with a fairly traditional bazaar in a mish-mash of architectural styles. It may not be picture-postcard pretty but it is very authentic with not a chain store in sight, and the shop windows are filled with the sort of things that used to be found on every Turkish high street — helva, gold jewellery and dried okra — but which are fast being squeezed out in favour of clothes, mobile phones and electrical appliances. The overall effect is vaguely reminiscent of Kula in western Anatolia, except that here the surrounding buildings are stone-built and European in style whereas there they are wooden and Ottoman.
The mosque complex aside, Kırklareli’s main official attraction is a small Kırklareli Museum (closed Mondays) housed in an imposing stone building. The ground-floor boasts a fairly ho-hum natural history section but the upstairs houses finds from local archaeological excavations, especially those carried out on some of the Iron Age tumuli (burial mounds) that dot the landscape between Lüleburgaz and the border with Bulgaria. Most of these appear to date from around the fourth century B.C. The pottery associated with them seems to suggest that the occupants, usually described as Thracian chieftains, actually espoused a Hellenistic culture.
The most impressive finds, though, are some large stone reliefs found during the excavations in the Roman theatre at nearby Vize. These depict the Greek wine god Dionysius, the goddess Nike (Victory) and a solitary man on horseback; it’s thought that they may have been designed for another building and then incorporated into the theatre at a later date.
Sleeping
Although both Kirklareli and Babaeski have simple town-centre hotels, most people will probably want to visit on a day trip from İstanbul.
Transport info
Hourly buses for Kirklareli leave Esenler bus station in İstanbul, passing through Babaeski. There are frequent local buses between the two towns.
Day trip destinations
İgneada
