Eskişehir in 2 days: Odunpazarı, museums and the Porsuk

Odunpazarı, the first Turkish settlement in Eskişehir, takes its name from the firewood once sold near today's Yediler Park. Its narrow streets are lined with houses in the civil Turkish style: the kitchen, stable, laundry or storeroom was usually on the ground floor, while the family lived on the floors above. After the fires of 1905 and 1922, commercial and public buildings also moved into the quarter. The Odunpazarı Historic City Centre was added to Türkiye's UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List in 2012. Early in the morning, before the shops open, is the quietest time to walk the slopes and take in the bay windows and painted façades.

The Kurşunlu Complex in the heart of Odunpazarı is the city's most complete example of 16th-century Ottoman architecture. According to the endowment record in the Topkapı Palace Museum Archive, Vizier Çoban Mustafa Paşa had every building except the Great Caravanserai built between 1517 and 1525. The complex comprises a mosque, a fountain, a small dervish lodge, a harem, a soup kitchen, the tomb of Mevlevi sheikhs and two caravanserais. Its lead-covered domes give it its name. Pause in the courtyard for a few minutes to see how the buildings connect; it makes the museum and the craft bazaar next door easier to read.

Meerschaum, also called "Eskişehir stone", is a mineral regarded as the city's emblem because this region is the only place in the world where it is mined. Odunpazarı Municipality opened the Meerschaum Museum inside the Kurşunlu Complex in 2008; it shows work from the international meerschaum festival and craft competitions held since 1998. In the complex's former guest house, the Eskişehir Art Bazaar is where crafts such as meerschaum carving, marbled paper, illumination, calligraphy, silverwork and carpet weaving are made and sold. You can watch the craftspeople at work and ask about their technique.

Atlıhan was built in the 1850s by Takattin Bey to lodge market traders, travellers and villagers from the surrounding area together with their animals. Its tea house was where the social, political and economic news of the day was discussed. Today the rooms of the two-storey inn hold workshops that carve and sell meerschaum alongside other craft shops. If you want a meerschaum souvenir, this inn and the Çukur Çarşı on day two are the two places to look. The inn also makes a good short stop before lunch.

Give the afternoon to contemporary art. Odunpazarı Modern Museum presents itself as a contemporary art museum set in Odunpazarı, on the UNESCO Tentative List, and its modern building among the traditional timber houses puts two eras of the quarter side by side. Exhibitions change regularly, so it is worth checking the current programme before you go. Across the street are the 16-room OMM INN and a café. The rest of the walk is within easy reach on foot.

End the day at one of the city's oldest mosques. The Alaeddin Mosque was built in 1267, in the time of the Anatolian Seljuks, and is surrounded by Alaeddin Park. After the slopes of Odunpazarı, a rest in the shade of the park is welcome. You can spend the evening back in Odunpazarı with a short walk through the lit streets.

Day two begins at the Eti Archaeology Museum on Atatürk Boulevard. The city's museum history goes back to a storage museum set up in the Alaeddin Mosque in 1945; the Eskişehir Museum Directorate was formally founded in the Kurşunlu Complex in 1966, and a new building was put up in Akarbaşı in 1974. Today's building was made possible by a sponsorship protocol signed in 2007 between the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the ETİ Group. The galleries run from the Neolithic to the Ottoman period; one of the museum's original pieces is the first meerschaum seal, regarded as evidence of trade between Eskişehir and Mesopotamia about 4,000 years ago.

Eskişehir is one of the few cities with a river running through it. The Porsuk divides the centre in two, and you can take a gondola or boat trip along it. A short boat ride shows the city from a different angle; if you prefer to walk, crossing from bridge to bridge along the banks is just as pleasant.

Hamamyolu Street, closed to traffic and lined with trees and water, is one of the city's busiest walking routes. Strolling between its cafés and shops, you feel Eskişehir's student-town atmosphere. For lunch, try balaban or an Eskişehir simit; both are in the food section.

Spend the afternoon in the city's old trading streets. Taşbaş is lined with pulse sellers and herbalists, and the smell of spices and dried beans fills the lanes. The Çukur Çarşı is the place for meerschaum souvenirs; you may find pieces here that you did not see at Atlıhan on day one. Then try met halva or nougat halva, local to Eskişehir, from one of the halva shops in the centre.

End the programme with an evening walk along the Porsuk. After dark, the illuminated Reşadiye Mosque is reflected in the water and the riverside looks quite different from the daytime. If you are leaving by train, it is easy to head from the river to the station; check the timetable in advance.