Uşak

Understand

Uşak is called "Aegean" but is 240 km from the coast, and its climate is more like Anatolia. It's an ancient weaving centre, with a distinctive style of rug long exported to Europe, whereby Ushak has become an English term for such rugs. Vermeer's painting The Procuress shows an Ushak offered along with other goodies to buy sex. Modern industries include foodstuffs and bathroom tiles. It also has a university, and there is a student buzz in the centre.

Get around

The centre is flat and compact, so is walkable. A fleet of public minibuses run to the suburbs, but you are unlikely to use them.

İsmet Paşa Caddesi is the teeming thoroughfare heading north from the highway overpass; its pedestrianized northern half is particularly lively.

The sides of the main streets in the centre are marked as no parking zones, but the signs are so unheeded throughout the day that you should consider yourself lucky if you can find enough space to stick your car into. Trying the side alleys is a better idea.

See

thumb | 300px | Wine jug from the Karun treasure is the monument to the War of Independence at the north end of İsmet Paşa Cd. Old Town is north of the monument. Nearby buildings are neoclassical mansions mostly converted to shops, restaurants and hotels, and a small bazaar and historic mosques. Further north are simpler Ottoman houses. Grand Mosque (Ulu Camii) at Mimar Sinan Cd 17 was built around 1419, late in the Germiyanid period. The inscription giving that date only refers to its courtyard fountain, but the mosque cannot have been without a water supply. Kırık Minare Mosque is 100 m northwest of Grand Mosque, a stubby low building of 1826.

Do

Football: Uşakspor play soccer away down in the amateur leagues. Their home ground is Bir Eylül Stadyumu 200 m west of the Atatürk monument.

Buy

thumb | 300px | The kelim rug in Vermeer's 1656 painting The Procuress was from Uşak Lots of small supermarkets. Nearest to Old Town is Efe, on Polis Cd 100 m north of the Atatürk monument, open 24 hours.

Eat

İsmet Paşa Cd is the main eating strip. Tarhana is the local delicacy, a thick soup of flour and veg, fermented, dried and grinded to a powder — a predecessor of instant soups.

Connect

thumb | 300px | Atatürk Monument Uşak and its approach highways have 4G from all Turkish carriers. As of Jan 2024, 5G has not rolled out in Turkey.

Go next

Kula is the first major town to the west. It has a preserved old town and an extensive volcanic area, recognized a global geopark, in its outskirts. Izmir and Manisa further to the west are major regional cities. Consider visiting the extensive ruins of the Lydian capital, Sardis, on the way. Denizli to the south is the hub for visiting the surreally white landscape of Pamukkale. Afyonkarahisar is a traditional city to the east, with a hilltop castle. The highways and railways diverge here northeast to Ankara, the national capital, and southeast to Konya, the capital of the medieval Seljuk Turks and the site of the shrine of Sufi mystic and poet Rumi. Çavdarhisar to the north has the impressive ruins of Aizanoi, including the Temple of Zeus. Kütahya, a city with a pretty old town and ancient tilemaking industry, is further on that direction.