Our walking was over, but we still had a few days left in Turkey and our plan was to spend it on rest and recuperation at the Black Sea city of Trabzon. The Black Sea was always one of those mystery places that, for us, belonged to the realm of Jason and the Argonauts – it was time to rectify that. After spending a foggy night in Ayder, we set off by car in the morning sunshine to head off down through the deep richly green forested valley that led to the coast.
Our first glimpse of the Black Sea was less than mysterious – it lay there, dark and calm, stretching out to the horizon, but a modern 4-lane highway ran along its edge in both directions. We turned left and followed this highway past the many coastal villages and towns, through impressive tunnels that cut beneath the mountains plunging into the sea, past the hills of Rize covered in tea plantations and on to Trabzon. As we drove along the rocky shoreline, we began to wonder whether our dream of a swim in the Black Sea might remain just that.
Just before reaching the city, we headed 45 km inland to visit the Sumela Monastery, over 1000 years old and built into the side of a rock face in a deep and leafy gorge. It was only abandoned in 1923 and, despite some serious vandalism, the murals and setting remain impressive. It is apparently a must-see destination for local tourism. If we ever had any doubts that the Turkish population was in holiday mode, they were dispelled at Sumela, where busloads and carfulls of tourists jostled through the monastery site and lunched in the gorge below.
