A Quick Trip to Trabzon Pt. 2

Uzungol- which translates to Long Lake- is about 100km south of Trabzon.  We awoke and went for our complimentary breakfast (which was actually quite good) and then relaxed, read and waited for our tour van to show up at 10am. 

Uzungol

  We stopped at a few hotels to pick up some Dutch and Turkish tourists and we were off.  First was a quick stop at a tea factory (the Black Sea region is famous for their tea, and indeed it was delicious) and small talk with the Dutch tourists (a family working in Ankara, and an older couple cycling their way through Greece and Turkey) before heading on.  Uzungol is famous for its natural beauty- the lake was created by a landslide and has recently become very popular with tourists, causing hotels and souvenir shops to pop up everywhere.  We hadn’t expected it to be so cold- the mist and overcast sky (eventually turning into rain in the afternoon) made for a beautiful atmosphere, but both Joe and I wish we had brought warmer clothes yet agreeing it was a nice change not to sweat.  We had lunch, and strolled pleasantly around the lake, popping in some shops and eventually having a nice warming cup of tea before the tour ended.

By the time we had driven back to Trabzon, the sun was shining and the temperature contrast was a pleasant shock.  We decided to go to the pub, but alas it was closed, so we went for a walk along the shoreline, picking up beer and lahmacun for the hotel room.

Friday shone beautifully again, and Joe and I grabbed breakfast and packed before playing backgammon and heading off to Sumela.  The Sumela Monastery is a Greek Orthodox monastery, first founded in AD386, but not gaining its present form until the 13^th century.  It is nestled in a steep cliff at an altitude of 1,200 metres facing the Altndere valley.  Even despite its fascinating history, it is a stunning sight and the most popular tourist destination near Trabzon.  

We picked up the rest of our tour group and headed into the mountains.  Once again it was quite cold, but fortunately we had come prepared this time.  We drove up a winding road (extremely thankful we weren’t walking) and got dropped off a short distance from the monastery.  We walked along with the throngs of tourists (this is really the first time we have travelled Turkey at the height of tourist season and it was a very different experience- not one we particularly enjoyed.  That being said- hoards of people aside- it was amazing to see, to try and think of how they managed to build it and get the supplies up there in the first place, or to think of how they decided that this would be the spot to build.  

Anyways, we wandered around for about an hour and then walked the 1.2km back down the mountain (again- extremely thankful we didn’t have to walk up, as we saw many people doing it and it looked tedious).  We stopped for lunch and then made small talk with the others on our tour- an Australian couple, a French girl and a girl from Hong Kong- all were pleasant enough although the French girl was pissed that she had to walk down- she has bad knees.

We rode back into town, picked up our stuff and made our way over to the bus station to catch our final long haul bus in Turkey back to Malatya.