Trabzon
Standing in walled gardens amid symphonies of birdsong, 4km west of centre, is this fine 13th-century church-turned-mosque retaining some carved reliefs…
Must-see attractions in Black Sea Coast
-
Black Sea Coast
If you're driving between Amasra and Inebolu, the greatest highlight is gazing out across the paradise cove of Gideros. It's a timelessly photogenic spot…
-
Black Sea Coast
At the summit of a steep urban hill, this unexpected little paradise is primarily a delightful teahouse beneath a big, fragrant magnolia tree, but there…
-
Black Sea Coast
The region's most spectacular man-made attraction is the neatly restored 13th-century shell of Zil Castle, a fine stone tower surrounded by sturdy walls…
-
Black Sea Coast
Ordu's top attraction, this seven-minute teleferik (cable-car) ride whisks you 2.3km from the seafront promenade to Boztepe, at an altitude of nearly 500m…
Black Sea Coast
The extensive ruins of Sumela Monastery, founded by Greeks in the 4th century, cling improbably to a sheer cliff, high above evergreen forests. This is…
-
Black Sea Coast
This low-lying, grassy cape is a very pleasant place for sea-view strolls, watching cormorants on the off-shore rocks and visiting a well maintained…
-
Black Sea Coast
For extensive views down between conifers onto a sweep of coastline, take the five-minute cable-car ride from Batıpark to this hilltop with its twin…
-
Black Sea Coast
In May 1919, when Turkey was under the essential control of post WWI allied powers, Atatürk was dispatched by steamer to Samsun to quell a minor uprising…
-
Black Sea Coast
The northern section of Amasra is a citadel of mixed Roman, Byzantine and Genoese heritage with heavy grey-stone walls that are often woven into today's…
-
Black Sea Coast
Giving definition to much of central Sinop are the very hefty remnants of stone walls. With origins dating back four millennia, these once ran 3km,…
-
Black Sea Coast
Whitewashed and holding the 'lamp of reason', a statue of the Sinop-born Greek philosopher Diogenes (412 to 323 BC) stands with his dog on a barrel in a…
-
Trabzon
This three-storey, blindingly white late-19th-century mansion has fine views and lovely formal gardens. Built for a wealthy Greek banking family in the…
-
Black Sea Coast
With an impressive archaeological and ethnographic collection spanning the Bronze Age to the Ottoman Empire, Giresun's museum occupies Gogora, a well…
-
Black Sea Coast
This powerful, if fairly narrow, 15m waterfall is best viewed from the roadside overlook, though few visitors can resist the temptation to descend on the…
-
Black Sea Coast
On clear days, the views from this summer shepherds' hamlet (elevation 2030m) seem to stretch to infinity with a foreground of typical bungalows climbing…
-
Black Sea Coast
The is impressive new centre offers multi-sensory 15 minute 'shows' that run hourly on the hour, painting an emotional more than academic narrative of the…
-
Black Sea Coast
On a steep, green-sided crag about 7km inland from the town stand the ruins of Ünye Castle, founded by the Pontics and rebuilt by the Byzantines. There's…
-
Black Sea Coast
High, high above (lower) Çat village, Çat Yayla sits at around 1800m is a glorious area of comparatively accessible meadows that are at their most…
-
Black Sea Coast
A popular family strolling spot north of central Samsun, this seaside park is most notable for the cable-car ride to Amisos Tepesi and for the so-called …
-
Trabzon
This professionally presented ethnographic museum tells the main points of the city's history three times over, once in film, once in artefacts and once…
-
Black Sea Coast
In a pair of historical wooden houses, this extensive museum appealingly lays out Samsun's commerce, history and culture with an audio guide and booklet…
-
Black Sea Coast
Highlights of this excellent museum include the fabulous Meydankapı mosaic from the 4th century AD, depicting the four seasons and seven muses; a marble…
-
Black Sea Coast
Up the stairs behind the tourist-office kiosk, this fine, Ottoman-era house has mannequins modelling traditional costumes. The basement has a mish-mash of…
-
Black Sea Coast
This once infamous prison (1887 to 1997) incarcerated many famous Turkish writers. Though the extensive site has little in English, the grim, bare blocks…
-
Trabzon
Recently restored with intricate ceiling paintings and back-lit panels in the spired minbar (pulpit), Çarşı Camii was till recently the largest mosque in…
-
Black Sea Coast
This ambitious little museum occupies a handsome, breezy, 250-year-old Ottoman house, with displays bringing to life the history, lifestyles and folklore…
-
Black Sea Coast
Standing in a hilltop garden overlooking the sea, this hefty former stone building was built as a Greek church (1853) and is undergoing extensive long…
-
Black Sea Coast
Named for the remains of the castle (kale) that historically dominated the hill, this pleasant green space benefits from its perch above Giresun,…
-
Trabzon
The Kostaki Mansion was constructed in 1917 for a Greek banker and briefly hosted Atatürk in 1924. The Ottoman Black Sea-style building, with its fine neo…
-
Black Sea Coast
This excellent little museum showcases Amasra's multilayered Roman, Byzantine, Hellenistic and Ottoman history with valuable statuary, coins and…
-
Black Sea Coast
Built by the Byzantines on the steep hill at the back of town, Rize's modest kale (castle) has two concentric sections. The upper, inner fortress might…
-
Black Sea Coast
One of the most popular day-trip driving destinations from Ayder (13km by unpaved track), Yukarı Kavron is a slightly scrappy seasonal yayla village in a…
-
Black Sea Coast
This turn-of-the-20th-century house is celebrated for hosting Atatürk for a week in the late 1920s. It lovingly preserves the great man's picnic hamper,…
-
Trabzon
Sultan Selim I the Grim, the Ottoman conqueror of Syria and Egypt (and known as Yavuz, or 'The Great' to the Turkish), built this mosque southwest of the…
-
Black Sea Coast
One of several ancient cave tombs in the region around Ünye, Tozoparan has carved bull figures flanking the entrance, which is thought to date to between…
-
Black Sea Coast
The Kaçkar region's full glory becomes most apparent when you climb high above the treeline to one of the upland meadows (yayla) from which the beautiful…
-
Paşaoğlu Mansion & Ethnography Museum
Black Sea Coast
Occupying a handsome stone mansion built in 1896, this ethnographic museum provides a glimpse into the life of upper-class Ottoman society, before it all…
-
Black Sea Coast
At the eastern end of Ayder village is a popular viewpoint from which to look out across a very deep-cut valley to a long, vertical series of cascades…
-
Trabzon
One of the most distinctive buildings of the bazaar area, the Bedestan is a 16th-century covered market hall – though, from its heavy octagonal uppers,…
