Karadeniz, along the Black Sea..

After a couple of weeks of terrible dry heat in central Turkey and the horrible humidity in the southwest, this area is a surprise and, finally, a little refreshment. The sky is often gray, the land is green and rich, it’s touristicly exploited only for locals, foreigners are rare, people are more conservative, the scenery is unbelievable, the coast is dramatic, full of cliffs and hidden coves.

Along the Black Sea, or as the locals call it Karadeniz, we went around the cities of Safranbolu and Amasra on the coast.

On the bus to Safranbolu we met a young guy Murat who is going for his military service of 15 months near Safranbolu. He told us the story of his yet brief and distant love affair with Steffi, a Turkish girl who lives in Germany. They met on her vacation. She is 26 and she goes to Turkey with her parents every year for holiday. With all the influence of modern European urban culture, and after Murats effort to win her and her parents heart, with constant requests for occasional meetings with their daughter, she agreed, opted for a conservative approach to the Muslim religion and they got engaged. He is now learning German language and they will meet in two years when they are starting a new life together. Here is this little story written down, especially since Murat is an incredibly good guy, and has also given Mateja a small hand-made Turkish cushion so she can sleep in my arms.

Safranbolu, a small town near the Black Sea, known for the good preserved old Ottoman houses, on the UNESCO’s World Heritage list. There are not many tourists, the locals are not accustomed to a lot of tourism. There is almost no alcohol in any restaurant. In the shops you can buy beer but I was only allowed to drink in my hostel room. Here we had the pleasant company of a friend Mengualp, who showed us around the city and took us to a restaurant for the best Manti (Turkish version of ravioli) in town.

I found an interesting thing here. Men greet each other by shaking hands and hugging by leaning their faces to one another on both sides. I thought that they are trying to kiss on the cheek and I also responded, until I figured it out. :)

Turkish kahve or Turkish coffee. They use to do it in the traditional way on a coal stove. It is good to know to order coffee at a certain level of sweetness. So az şekerly means "low sugar", orta şekerly "moderate sugar" and çok şekerly "with lots of sugar." 

A more often seen beverage, Turkish tea, or as they call it here çay.

Elderly locals enjoying a cup of tea in various games.

We were at a Muslim funeral.

Before the prayers and entering the mosque, they wash their hands, face and feet.

We wanted to go along the Black Sea coast from Amasra to Sinop. The coast is supposedly beautiful, dramatic and full of cliffs as at the end of the world. However, we would spend too much money for those 330 km. The roads are reportedly very bad and it takes about 8 hours to drive these 330 km and Turkey has also one of the largest gas prices nearly 2 euros per liter.

Amasra, a beautiful small fortified town on the Black Sea coast. Known for its fishing and tourism, mainly for the local population.

Slippers outside the mosque. :)

Everything is full of some crazy jellyfish and the people swim between them. Well, they are obviously harmless.

The average Turkish family on the beach comes with one car, with 8 passengers, from grandmother to granddaughter, they make a camp on the beach, half of them are not swimming at all, they eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, after they leave residues remain on the beach like left bits of watermelon and similar.

Not a lot of foreigners come here, so we were very interesting. They are incredibly nice and friendly, and we had to share contacts with everybody. :)

A view at the Black Sea. In a kind of fog the horizon disappears and at the same time a sense of infinity and emptiness remains.

An excellent way of growing flowers in boots. :)