Inkaya Tarihi Cinar is a very old and large sycamore tree in the Inkaya neighborhood south of Bursa. It is about 600 years old, and is named after Inkaya, one of the first villages of the Ottoman Empire. Its leafy canopy shades a small park, with 13 main branches. It is claimed to be 35 m high with a trunk 3-4 m thick and over 9 m in circumference.
As I sat under this massive tree, I felt a living link with the past. It started growing at the dawn of the Ottoman Empire (Osman I became Sultan in 1398). The expansive green canopy overhead invited rest from the hustle-bustle of Bursa city life and contemplation of the centuries in which a great empire rose and fell.
Nearby there is a barbecue restaurant, tea garden (hot Turkish tea and fresh pastries), grocery store and gift shops. There were stalls where village women were selling handicrafts, vegetables and fruits grown in their gardens. I took the 1C bus to get to Inkaya (metro 1 and 2 also go there). The park is open at all times with no entry fee.
If I were living in Bursa I would go there at least once in a week in summer at afternoons, it will make you feel relaxed and to cool down your body in hot summers in Bursa.
