Bolu

Bolu occupies a broad basin amid the wooded mountains of northwestern Anatolia. The ancient city of Bithynium, later called Claudiopolis, stood on the hills here; the Roman emperor Hadrian's favourite Antinous came from the city. Its location between the Black Sea coast and the roads of the interior made it a centre for the surrounding valleys and passes.

Under Ottoman rule Bolu became the centre of a sancak. Prince Bayezid sponsored a mosque and bath in the town in the late fourteenth century. The bath's inscription gives 1388 as its date and preserves the name of its architect, Ömer son of İbrahim. Markets and religious foundations grew around these buildings, while travellers crossed the mountains between Istanbul and the Anatolian interior.

Inns, workshops and shops contributed to the life of the Ottoman town. Among its later commercial buildings were the Lower Stone Inn, dating from around 1750, and the Upper Stone Inn of 1804. Together with the covered rows of shops, they formed part of the historic market district. Its older classical name survived in written memory, but its everyday landscape was shaped by the mosque, bath and bazaar as well as the mountain basin that enclosed it. Bolu's position made it a meeting place for people from the coast and the high country beyond.