Cumalıkızık is a village in the Yıldırım district of Bursa Province, located 10 kilometers east of the city of Bursa, at the foot of Mount Uludağ. Its history goes back to the Ottoman Empire's foundation period. The village is now included within the border of the Yıldırım district as a neighbourhood. Cumalıkızık was founded as a vakıf village. The historical texture of the village has been well protected and the civilian countryside architectural structures of the early Ottoman period are still intact. Because of this, Cumalıkızık has become a popular but still unspoiled center for tourists.
A group of similar villages which are placed close together between the foot of mount Uludağ and the valleys have been called Kızık in Turkish. The name stands for one of the twenty-four clans of the Oghuz Turks and the people from the villages also called Kızık. Similar villages, less well preserved, are Değirmenlikızık, Derekızık, and Hamamlıkızık (see Kızık for other places named Kızık in Turkey). Hamamlıkızık was the village of the local baths (hamamli), and Cumalıkızık was named because people gathered there on Friday (Cuma, in Turkish) for worship.
Every June there is a raspberry festival. The famous Cumalıkızık houses are made out of wood, adobe, rubblestones. The windows upstairs are generally latticed and with a bay window. The handles and knockers on the main entry doors are made of wrought iron. Cobblestone streets are very narrow with no sidewalks, but a typical medieval gutter in the center for rain and waste water.
Cumalıkızık holds 270 historical houses. Some of these houses are in process of restoration and maintenance, and 180 of them are still being used as dwellings.
I have been here on two occasions, one in winter, when it was a very romantic sight. The 2014 spring view was more ordinary, and people were gearing the village for tourism. Still, it was a joyful visit to a fine spot.