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Kurşunlu, the meerschaum museum and the carvers of Atlıhan

A sixteenth-century mosque complex under lead domes, and the soft white stone the city carves into pipes.

Free-ish2–3 hoursa weekday, outside prayer times for the mosque

Not yet checked by the Smileys team — prices and hours may have moved.

Why do it?

At the foot of Odunpazarı stands the Kurşunlu complex, built between 1517 and 1525 for Çoban Mustafa Paşa, a vizier of Selim I and Süleyman the Magnificent; the 'leaded' name comes from the lead-covered domes. The architect is not known for certain — it is attributed to Acem Ali, the chief architect before Sinan, not to Sinan himself. Around the mosque are the old medrese, kitchens, guest rooms and a Mevlevi lodge that housed the whirling dervishes for centuries, and inside the complex the Odunpazarı municipality runs a museum of lületaşı — meerschaum, the soft white sepiolite mined by hand from deep shafts on the plain around the city and carved into pipes, beads and figures. Eskişehir's mines are the world's best-known source of it, and Eskişehir meerschaum is a registered geographical indication. Next door, the restored Atlıhan caravanserai is a bazaar of crafts and meerschaum workshops.

The Smileys Take

Do the mosque courtyard first, then the meerschaum museum — it's small, and the master carvers' pipes (sultans, lions, bearded heads, whole scenes in one stone) are startling up close. Then cross to Atlıhan and find a workshop where someone is actually carving; most will talk you through it and show you how raw meerschaum looks like a lump of chalk. If you want to buy, a real carved pipe is not a cheap souvenir — be wary of very low prices, and ask how the stone was finished. The craft is ageing; the carvers will tell you they struggle to find apprentices, which is a good reason to buy from them directly. Cover shoulders and knees in the mosque.