After a short day in the rather unremarkable port of Sinop, Turkey yesterday, we docked in the Turkish city of Trabzon this morning. Most of the city consists of rather drab 1960's era apartment block style architecture, but the countryside was totally beautiful and more than worth the visit.
We drove about 30-45 minutes through small villages, subtly climbing higher each mile, until we reached the base of a mountain where we had to transfer to smaller, 10 person passenger club vans which took us to the beginning of our little hike up to the spectacular Sumela Monastery.
This monastery was begun in the fourth century, AD and more recently completed sometime in the mid-twelfth century. No longer in operation, the Turkish government maintains it as a sort of national park and tries to protect it.
We had a hike of about 20 minutes or so over some relatively rough terrain which was challenging for some of the guests. Even when we reached the stone stairs to enter the monastery, they made for quite a climb. The mountain views around us were really impressive; one of the guests commented how much the lush green forest of mixed varieties of trees reminded one of British Columbia. Really beautiful and gave me a new perspective of my take on Turkey.
The monastery is carved right into the side of the mountain, not unlike the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde in Colorado. How in the world they got workers and building materials up there is a real wonder.
Many of the buildings have wonderful frescos both inside and out which survive, altho just barely, due to lots of graffiti destruction over the years.
After our time at the monastery, we drove to an ancient church in the city of Trabzon and visited a local mosque for an educational visit. We also visited the Trabzon home Attaturk, the founder of modern, democratic Turkey who is much revered to this day.
A nice full day with a wide variety of sights. Definitely a highlight of this voyage!
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