Saturday – Trabzon, Turkey
Today, we arrived in Trabzon, Turkey. It was another early start, as we were both assigned escorting duties on the ‘Sumela Monastery’ tour.
Sumela is an ancient monastery situated at over 3000 feet in the hills, in a National Park roughly one hour’s coach drive from Trabzon. The journey there was relatively uneventful. It was a grey, drizzly morning, so anything situated over 3000 feet seemed unpromising. As we left Trabzon, the hills, what we could see of them, looked inpressive, but at around 500-700 feet, they disappeared into the mist… it was all quite gloomy.
When we arrived at our destination, the clouds were still low, but gaps were starting to appear with even the occasional glimpse of blue sky. Everybody had to be decanted from the 44-seater coaches into small minibuses for the rest of the climb up to the monastery. The road wound its way for a further mile or so, up into the higher mountains, round tight hairpin bends and over small bridges that spanned impressive waterfalls, pausing only briefly for a photo-stop. We were lucky; the view across the valley to the monastery had cleared. Whispy couds clung to the surrounding mountains and the valley below, but there, in all its glory, huddled up against the steep rocks of the mountain was Sumela Monastery… a spectacularly impressive view indeed.
When the minibuses finally reached their destination, the real work began. To get to the monastery required a further walk of approximately 300 metres, over rough ground, uneven with exposed tree roots and overhanging rocks.
It should be said at this point that we’d chosen to visit the place on a Saturday, on the first weekend of a Turkish holiday, so we didn’t have the place to ourselves. The pathway to the monastery was busy with visitors of all ages. It was Selfie-Heaven! Young folks, in particular, appear incapable of appreciating such a place, and taking photos, without having their own stupidly-grinning faces slapped into the foreground. Selfies and group photos were being taken at every turn; in fact… the monastery seemed to be the absolute least of their interest. Once at the monastery, they gathered together, bless ’em, in every corner they could find, and in every pose they could conjure, all in search of the perfect selfie… they must all possess massive colllections of selfies…
Don’t get me wrong – I may be a bit of a dinosaur when it comes to these sort of things, and personally, I rarely take a photo with me in it – I do understand how the occasional self portrait in front of a stunning view or an iconic location can enhance a photo album, and, if necessary, simply prove that you were actually there… BUT NOT EVERY SINGLE BLOOMIN’ SNAPSHOT!!! Give it a rest! Enjoy the location! Stop being so flippin’ Narcissistic!!
Despite the army of selfie-snapping, occasionally thoughtless, impatient, and, frankly, selfish visitors, Sumela Monastery is a curious place, in a stunning location. Unfortunately, during the hour or so that we were there, the cloud never lifted enough for us to appreciate what must be some spectacular views down into the valley. In fact, the cloud grew heavier, and eventually it started to rain. As our party began to make their way back to the minibuses, the rain started to come even heavier, and the numbers of people arriving seemed relentless. In many ways, it was a good thing we’d got there as early as we had; we’d been blessed with a good, clear photo-stop view, and the people, although being large in number, hadn’t detracted from underlying spectacle of the place.
Five hours later, we were back at the ship. Tired and damp from our trek, we had lunch in the Verandah Restaurant then decided to take a look at Trabzon itself. All-aboard time wasn’t until 6pm, so there was plenty of time to have a wander.
I’m not sure I knew exactly what to expect. I suppose I though Trabzon would be a small place, similar to Sinop, where we were yesterday, but I couldn’t have been more wrong…
Trabzon is a big, bustling city. Typical of many places we’ve seen in Turkey, the decaying, unmaintained old parts of the city seem to sit uneasily alongside the newer parts. Both Tracey and I confessed that it reminded us of Istanbul in some ways; colourful, bustling markets fill streets that wind their way through the city and seem to go on forever. The traffic is relentless and has little regard for pedestrians, or other road users, in fact. Most faces we saw were male; men drinking in bars and meeting in little cafes; women begging on the street with young children in their arms was something that you’d never see at home, but was very much in evidence here. We managed to get slightly lost in the labyrinthine maze of streets, and found ourselves on more than one occasion, feeling slightly uneasy with regards to our surroundings. In trying to find one of the large mosques marked on our really badly-printed map, we came across a large swathe of the ciity that looked like the remains of a bombsite. Buildings that looked like they’d been attacked by rampant bulldozers looked sad and forgotten, but got even sadder once we realised that there were still people living in them.
In the city centre, we saw something else that you’ll never see in a British city centre; a group of about a dozen men, young and old, linking arms and dancing, encouraged by more men who seemed to be enjoying the spectacle just as much as the dancers. In fact; men walk arm-in-arm with other men, in a friendly fashion, as women will do with other women. I can honestly say, I’ve never walked down a city street arm-in-arm with a mate of mine; in Trabzon, apparently, it’s all perfectly normal!
It wasn’t anything like what I expected, and we spent far longer meandering through the streets than I thought we would, but ultimately… I kinda liked Trabzon… even with underlying whiff of decay, and the strange un-macho daddy-dancing…
