Overview
A city we'd visited before on previous trips, but this time we got to stay with a local and experience it like a resident for the first time. If it weren't so cold and had a coastline, it would hands-down be the number one place to live in Turkey. Even as it is, it easily cracks the top three. Possibly the best municipal governance in the entire country, everyone should take notes.
What to See
Examples that seriously impressed us:
- In newly developed areas, every apartment building is required to have at least one garage space per unit. In Istanbul, there's supposedly a parking requirement too, but every curb is pure chaos. The fact that everyone has their own private garage here is incredible, that this can actually be enforced in apartment buildings is amazing.
- All building exteriors in the area look the same. At first glance, we thought we'd arrived at one massive gated complex, but it turned out to be something entirely different. The visual aesthetics are top-tier.
- At each building entrance, you can scan a single QR code to access everything about the building. Complete transparency.
- The Porsuk River banks have been turned into something like the Caddebostan waterfront. Tea drinkers and beer drinkers hang out side by side. Nobody's blasting loud music to bother everyone, and despite the crowds, the overall noise level is remarkably low. People are incredibly respectful of one another. A cycling and pedestrian path runs along the entire riverbank into the city center.
- Traffic is practically nonexistent. We drove all over the city during what should have been peak hours and I can't recall ever stopping and waiting even one minute. However they solved this, it should be shared with every municipality in the country.
- Several mobile apps have been developed to make getting around the city easier. While many of these are private, the infrastructure enabling them deserves credit too.
- Everyone obeys pedestrian crossings. In roughly 99% of the country, you could force your way onto a crosswalk and still get honked at and cursed out. Here, they've somehow achieved European standards. Superb.
Budget
The city is remarkably affordable. We were always surprised on previous visits too, that a city with such quality, modern venues could have such cheap dining is truly wonderful. Eskisehir is also quite rewarding for a tourist visit. If I could go back to my university years, this would definitely be my top choice.