Have you traveled along the Black Sea coast of Turkey?

The w. coast is pretty and popular, but I am keen to explore the Black sea. What is it like? Where are the best places to stay? Please tell me a little about interesting cultural must-sees and what to avoid.

Well I don’t want to sound like a prick but I do consider myself a bit of Black Sea expert. I’ve spent countless years in the coast while my father worked in Georgia and I loved nothing more than exploring the Black Sea (the only thing I haven’t been able to do is really explore the West Black Sea Coast and any other country aside from Georgia and Turkey).

First of all if you’re up for it I definitely urge you to do a trip starting from from Istanbul and going to Georgia from there. Keep in mind it’s going to be a long and tiring trip and if you want to see everything you’d need at least a month. If you have less time (see one to two weeks) I think you should keep your trip to the East of the Black Coast (starting from Ordu) the part which I know best and could give you the most detailed information.

There are so many things to say I’m officially confused o where to start and how to organize my answer. I personally hate tours and always prefer to voyage on my own (on my own meaning with a few friends) and with people who know the area, getting in contact with locals as we go along.

The West side of the Black Sea coast is industrialized and very much like the inner Anatolia regions, although we hadn’t spend so much time there I could easily say that there isn’t much to see or do that purely touristic. Otherwise I have heard very good things about the higher mountain sides of that area which are populated by mostly immigrants and these days by a withering old population. As far as I understand these are small villages who harbor houses with interesting architecture and warm and lovely people. Let’s call it a visual delight more than cultural discovery. Otherwise Zonguldak is an interesting place to be as well, being a mining town it has a lot places to visit where you’d find precious stones and watch the exploitation and construction of the city’s natural resources (for example the construction of small ships near Cehennemagzi). I’d also advise you to drink a tea in either Kopuz or Uzunkum and watch the scenery around you. Otherwise Bartin would also be somewhere you’d want to check out if you’re doing the West trip. It has a lot of ancient cities, notably Amasra which is a favorite for locals, so you can find ruins, castles and churches left from the Byzantine period as well. And one more thing that makes it special, it has the best place in the Turkish black sea coast where you could wade in the sea freely and without problems (usual problems being unsanitary conditions and lack of beaches due to the construction of the highway). I’d also like to mention Sinop which in my opinion is not a city to miss but you can make that trip on a later date independently from a Black Sea coast tour. There are a lot of things to see and do in Sinop starting from the historically important Sinop cezaevi not only is it a historic ford constructed on a peninsula (the Turkish Alcatraz if you will) but has been the temporary home of famous people such as Sabahattin Ali, Nazim Hikmet. You can also stand on the most Northern part of Turkey in Inceburun. There are also a few number of world renown natural sites (waterfalls, rock formation) that aren’t all that popular but shouldn’t be missed. I kinda forgot their name but I’ll be sure to add the names if I remember.

I honestly believe you could die without ever seeing Samsun, if you’re willing to spend some time there it has a lot of interesting places to see but it’s definitely not the greatest city in Turkey. As a city it’s unfortunately complicated and not the best city to be able to walk around. But as you may know already it has been an important part in many Empire’s and civilization’s history, so you’ll find many historical buildings and sites (there’s a mosque built in the 13th century notably, Pazar Camii).

After Samsun starts one of the most beautiful areas in the world. Beginning with Ordu and Giresun which are quite similar and all have incredibly charming seaside towns (Tirebolu in Giresun especially, there’s a lovely pideci in the center area). There a lot of beautiful pansions you can stay in in Ordu, and there’s a Byzantine monastery in Giresun which was closed when we were there (it was a Monday), it’s still in pretty good shape. Honestly you shouldn’t linger too much in this area, I’d say look at it as a rest stop where you’d spend the night and watch the scenery. I mean that these are wonderful stops to rest but you wouldn’t want to keep your time to this area, there are a lot more things to see and do.

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