Sunday, August 23, 2009

Tea picking in Hemshin


Tea picking in Hemshin, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

And this is the process of 'picking' the tea, which is cutting the young growth with shears, to form nicely rounded shrubs.

These women were at the level of the road (following the river along the valley floor), so we weer able to stop and 'meet' these women through our driver. However, the terrain in very steep and many of the houses and tea gardens are high up above the valley. As a result, there is a complex network of cables to transport the tea sacks (and provisions) from the high slopes down to the raod where they are picked up by van.
The sacks of young tea shoots are brought to one of the very many tea 'factories' to be sorted and dried and packed for consumption by the millions of people who drink tea (many times) every day.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Bringing in the hay (while the men sit down and drink tea)

I have for so long wanted to take a photo like this one... and finally I did!

And do the men sit down all day drinking tea? It certainly seems to be like that...



Of course, I don't really think that men sit around drinking tea all day, just most of it and they might move from one tea house to another, but the point is, that in many parts of Turkey, it really does seem that the women are left to do an awful lot of the manual work.

I know that Turkey is, in many ways, a modern country, with an ever increasing middle class, high level of female participation in higher education and all that, and it is not my place to criticise what goes on in Turkey. Having said that, I think it is fair to share an observation, which is also remarked upon by many of the people (mainly men) who we met on our travels through this great country.

Friday, August 21, 2009

At the Ottoman bridge


At the Ottoman bridge, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

Thank you, lads, for your comments (on flickr). I think this photo shows why it is often better to take a candid approach than a posed one and the subject himself is, of course, very near to perfection.

The Ottoman bridge referred to in the title is just one of many such bridges up this valley (the one going up from Caykeli to Ayder), crossing a white-water river, of cold mountain water rushing down from the mountains to the sea. I have done my best to place it on the map. No doubt I will upload a photo of it in the weeks to come.

There is a restaurant built next to the road catering for the many tourist buses running up to Ayder, underneath which there is this deep pool providing an ideal spot to swim and dive off the rocks. And this, in turn, makes it a perfect setting to take some photos...

Thursday, August 20, 2009

The Caykur house near Rize


The Caykur house near Rize, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

This is one of the most impressive old wooden houses we came across. This type of house is known as a konak. It was just of the motorway on the coast road from Trabzon to Rize and I can't quite find out in which town it was. we just stopped off to have a look. It has bene totally renovated and is open to the public. I think the house is sponsored by Caykur, which is the local tea producer, this part of Turkey growing all the tea for all those endless cups of tea one gets offered when wandering around this wonderful country. There ws a stall outside selling teh varipus types of tea, but not being tea drinkers and not being in the business of wasting our holiday time buying things, we ignored it and just enjoyed the free entrance!

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Mum on her way to Aden in 1960



Some explanation:

My Dad used to have a camera and used to take films when we were younger. We may have seen some of these films once or twice in the late 60's or early 70's. Since then they have been stored in their protective plastic boxes and kept in a cardboard box. My sister managed to get her hands on a folm one day and this was the film of my parent's wedding and this was made into a video sometime in the early 90's.

Well, on my last trip to England to se my Dad he offered to let me borow the films ot se if I could get them digitalised so that everyone could watch them.

Well, four weeks later, after Supersens in Amsterdam-Noord did their work, I now have the first two films in digital format! These films were labelled as being from 1960 to 1962 and sure enough, they cover the period from my parent's honeymoon on the Isle of Wight, the passenger ship voyage to Aden (the ship was on its way to Australiam, passing thriugh the Suez Canal - where we see the Gilly Gilly men trying to seel things from their small boats - and stopping at Aden, where Mum saud she was pleased she could get off!), the first glimpses of Hargeisa, Mum being pregnant, me suddenly appearing on the scene through to me learbning to walk to the arrival of my sister Diana and our first visit to England in the winter of 1962. Exciting stuff. This is just the first mini video made from the digital file.. Mum on the cruise ship in the Med, on her way to Aden, looking very beautiful.

Monday, August 17, 2009

The burkini makes it to Amasra

We believe this bikini for modest women was invented in Amsterdam a few years ago. They are just starting to make their way into Turkish beaches (pictured here in Amasra). Apparently the material used dries out in the sun very quickly. They are almst all to be found in the light blue, lilac and pink area of the colour spectrum, although you can get dark ones with floral prints as well/ I prefer these as they create such a colourful sight.

Some French mayor got very upset about this and banned a woman from a local public pool last week for wearing a burkini citing reasons of hygiene.

I think we, in the West are quite obsessed about the question of why so many Muslim women cover themselves up. Is it something forced upon them by their husbands? By the norms of their family/social group? By society as a whole? Or do they choose to do it themselves and, if so, why?

And, if it has been adopted by certain (growing strands) within Islam, why is this the case when by all accounts the call for women to dress modestly is little different to what is taught in the Torah and the Bible.

And back to the question of the burklini. Has it given women who might not otherwise been able to swim and play around in the sea comfortably the opportunity to do so now? Or, has it forced women who would swim anyway, the chance to cover themselves up better. Or, has it added to the pressure put upon women to cover themselves up?

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Blue, green and yellow in Ayancik

Ayancik was a one hour stop-over on our way from Inebolu to Sinop. We first had a pasrty/cake a coffee before I was let off the leash and was given 20 minutes by Fred to wander around and see what I could find in this modern town next to the sea. I found a sea wall, some grey-ish sand and then these lovely houses.. a row of four wooden houses painted in gay colours facing the sea. The surrounding flats were also painted in bright, pleasing colours which gave the town a happy air. Somehow, the Turkish people always manage to make their towns and cities beautiful.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

A brief stop in Cide


A brief stop in Cide, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

These yellow scarves particularly belong to Cide and, it being women's market day when we arrived there were many for sale.

To be honest, we had thought about stopping off and spending the night in Cide (which has a long grey sandy beach to the west), but having just come from the most beautiful Amasra and with it being grey when we arrived, we decided to catch the onward bus to Inebolu. This was a good decision as we had some of our best times in Inebolu, spending two nights there, meeting new friends such as Izzet and his family, Ates and his friends and Bayram, not to mention little Mehmet...

Monday, August 10, 2009

A very pleasant way to come home...

This is funny! After a holiday spent travelling around in public transport and so on, we now find ourselves sitting in first class on our Turkish Airlines flight back to Amsterdam.

Very nice and I think this explains why we ended up paying so much for our tickets in the end when it turned out that I had only made a reservation when booking thr flights (instead of actually buying the tickets).. It is a pity nobody told us before as we had to wait 40 minutes to check-in as pleb class instead of waltzing right through business class.

The question now, at 8 am with a day's work ahead, is whether to accept the champagne if/when it is offered. Nothing so far...

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In fact, Turkish Airlines is a bit of a dry airline, so it is unlikely we will hear corks popping.

As it is we are both quite tired after a short night and, in Fred's case,

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Landed now and waiting for bags. Whata superb flight, slept deeply most of the way in the horizontal. Only problem is that Fred wants to fly first/business class everytime now, ha ha!

Its overcast but bright back in Amsterdam and we are being picked up by our friend Peter who has been housesitting for us while we have been away.

Aziz and his amazing eyes


Aziz and his amazing eyes, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

It is a funny thing about travelling that you can arrive in a new place one day not knowing anyone, not knowing what you are going to come across and then you can be leaving a few days later with a lump in your throat as you wrench yourself from a place which has been your home for a few days and where you have met people and made new friends, where you have experienced the touristic sights for yourself and felt your own emotions towards what you have seen.

So it is now as we say gule gule to Trabzon and the Black Sea region as a whole. Both have provided us with a myriad of mainly good experiences, deepening the love we have for the country and its people.

And now it is boarding time. We have two days, three nights left in istanbul and then it is back home...

Ayder resort with the mist coming down

A great success our day up to Ayden and back, the journey every bit as interesting as the destination, well better really. Saleh was up to the task of dealing with two (well one actually) demanding customers, stopping whenever we wanted and suggesting possible vantage points himself. He also held people in conversation while I tried to photograph them and so on.

Up at the top it was warm and misty which added to the experience especially when looking across at a high waterfall on the steep slope opposite. Many women in traditional clothes although it is very much a tourist and spa resort. Quite a few Saudi Arabian tourists up there.

On the way up we came across some tea ladies. They worked very fast with their manual shears to chop off the young shoots, which was a bit surprising as we thought they plucked them by hand. Maybe just in indonesia. Oh well...

Now we are back on the coastal motorway with the mountains of Georgia about 40 kms to the east as we head towards a lowering sun, the sea as calm as it was in the morning.


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Thıs was about 4 pm once we had fınally arrıved up at Ayder which is about 5,000 feet up. We were stıll ın the mınıbus at the time so thıs was shot from the wındow. The other sıde was wonderful ... lots of famılıes pıcnıckıng wıth the mıst descendıng. Unfortunately by the tıme we got back down most of them had gone.. but there were plenty of other treasures to photograph.

Street life in Tonya


Street life in Tonya, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

An odd selection of photos today of our jolly jaunt to Tonya. Internet cafe computers tend to be a bit slow in reading the memory dticks, so not always easy to pick which photos to upload.

Anyway, like I mentioned in an earlier post, it was a bit like returning to Albania, with the cloud cover, a village of brightly coloured apartment blocks, funny stares from many of the inhabitants, not too used to seeing foreign tourists, women in local traditional costume (few on the streets, most in the fields, woods or inside the home).

This is a candid shot of these chaps, sitting on the street next to the main mosque. The one on the right is quite a character.

Oh yes! The reason why I managed to upload some pics this evening is that it is a Muslim holiday today (not sure which) so all bars closed for the day and most businesses too whilst the mosques were packed to overflowing at 20.30 prayers.

Managed to find.a can or two of cold Efes ina shop and we are drinking the contents in our tiny room on the fifth floor of the Nur Hotel. I would think that travelling in the Muslim world during Ramadan would be quite dull...

Özgür wıth his handmade stove

At the photo factory again, getting more photos printed, after a previous session in Tonya. In Tonya, we photographed a baker, a metal worker, a grocer, a marble worker and some chaps just sitting outside before doing the rounds.

Tonya was more like a step back into Albania but without the rain. Largeish blocks of flats of various bright colours set in a spectacular green mountain vallet. A worthwhile way to spend an afternoon.

Outsıde the baker's ın Tonya

Trying to persuade Fred to take a dolmus to Tonya later in the day...

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Having a cola here in the tea garden of the Aya Sofia museum (ex-Byzantine church with vwery well preserved frescoes). We have walked through the bazaar and market and got away with only being dragged into a baker's for a photo session. We also visited the miserabe Russian market and came to the conclusion that most of the Russians must have gone elsewhere.teriible lot of knick-knacks. Also seen that the fishing port is not worth much of a visit. So the way looks clear for a trip to Tonya in the hills to the south-west of Trabzon,

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At the back of the minibus to Tonya, travelling on the motorwat along the coast, first to Vakfikebir and then inland. To the right we have the sea with a series of seawalls and breakers laid out in T shapes of black rock. Every now and the a pretty harbour wall with fishing boats moored on the eastern side. As often as not there is a colourful beach on the western side.

On the left we have green hills of woods, gardens and orchards, with the odd house or block of flats built at just the right interval for them to anhance rather than crowd out the natural landscape. Looks a lot likt the hills around Cesena in Emilia-Romagna in Italy. Tonya should be about 20 kms into these hills and have few old wooden houses.

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Following a white water river up a geen valley up towards tonya. Such a pity we cannopt take any photos as it is very beautiful. We are surrounded by groves (or orchards) of hazelnut trees, as this is a majpr growing area for them. Houses are perched high above us, all surrounded by well tended gardens, whilst the clouds have come ovee to cover the tops of the mountains. Real Black Sea coutry vistas here.

Trabzon!

Trabzonspor country English speaking guide who pointed out many sights on the map. Mr Yahya. Full marks to Trabzon for employing the man!

The are many Byzantine churches which have been transformed into mosques after Fatih Sultan Mehmet conquered what was Trebizond in 1462, two years after he had taken Constaninople. In this respect, it is easy to see the continuation in architectural styles from churches to mosques, akthough they would lose their cross shapes, of course.

Further we were drawn into an area of old run-down brightly painted houses in a gorge underneath the remaining Roman Bridge, the Tabakhane, and there, inevitably we were drawn into taking photos of some of the children in the streets. This was how we met Hasan who would remain with us (and later with his frind Ozkur) for most of the rest of the day, after first providing us with tea and lunch...another free lunch...or is it really true that there is no such thing?
Posted 6 days ago. ( permalink | delete | edit )
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CharlesFred Pro User says:

Seem to be missing the text before last wjicj included my quip that going from Amasra and Sinop to Trabzon is like going from Lyme Regis or St Ives top Portsmouth or, in an Italian context, from Cinque Terre to Livorno. Trabzon is a big city, laid out on hills facing the sea, fronted not by nice beaches or pretty fishing ports but by a large industrial harbour and container terminal. Although, to be fair it does have a bit of a nice front with tea gardens and fish/beer reataurants, where we would end up later at night with Hasan and Ozkur...and no further. No vodka natasha bars for us!

So here we are a day further on wondering what the day will bring. The sun is shining again and the sky is blue and one cannot always reckon on that here, so far east..

Sunday, August 09, 2009

Charles in Eminönü


Charles in Eminönü, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

Planning has never been our main priority when travelling. We (at least I am and Fred goes along with it) are more into spontaeity and going with the flow and see where we end up. This is how we ended up spending two nights in our favourite spot of Inebolu, for example.

It also meant that by the time we finished breakfast yesterday, we still didn't have an exact idea of what we wanted to do.

Oh dear, we are moving now, better switch off.

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Arrived in Istanbul, still on course for those beers. Not such a nice flight with a big man next to me his body and hard clothing sticking out a quarter way into my seat and who did not smell too nice and kept staring at me... Not to mention the baby further up (in first class which was almost all taken up by Saudi/Gulf arabs which screamed virtually non-stop for at least half the journey.

And what"s mor we have to wait for our baggage rather than having it handed it to us by the charming bus boy...

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Tearing down the motorway towards the city now. The almost full moon is hidden behind a bank of cloud. The pleasent night air blows in through the open windows. Looks like we are not taking the coastal road in but we had a lovely view of the old city about half an hour before we landed, with the bridges over the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn clearly visible, as were the four Princes Islands floating out on the Sea o Marmara along with scores of ships waiting to dock. But now I see we ARE on the coast road, which is great when it passes the point at Topkapi to reveal the Galata Bridge and everything around it.

Saturday, August 08, 2009

Fred against a wall in Trabzon

We are at the airport, both fred and I with a change of tops. Fred's shirt was totally wet after this ten minute walk in the morning (followed by a chai session with the Kurds) and mine was wet after a day of scurrying around with photographs.

We could have gone to the touristic 'must' Sumela monastery today, as was the plan, but after the eexcitement of Tonya and Ayder, we decided on a relaxing last day in Trabzon. I was thinking of a trip to the hammam or at least a nice shave at the kuafor or berber, but time beat me. Fred was happy to spend his day in the shade of the tea garden next to some fountains and is, as a result, nicely relaxed and rested. Arriving at the airport an hour eraly also helps his demeanour.

Friday, August 07, 2009

Ayder - local woman


Ayder - local woman, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

We are being very naughty today, renting a whole (big) minibus to take us to the Ayden Plateau 100+ kms east of Trabzon.

Our driver is Saleh, a seemingly calm older gentlemen, which is good. He doesn't speak too much English (well none at all) but our Turkish is a little bit better than it was. He doesn't seem to be in any sort of hurry and will stop off at the photo opportunities as they arise. Let's hope it works out.

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Dolphins! We saw dolphins! A whole scholl of them jumping for fun in the calm waters just outside of Trabzon.

We are now just leaving Rize, the centre of tea production in Turkey. Just visited the tea and botanical gardens for a very local brew with views of the tea gardens surrounding as well as across the city below.

The nice thing about the tea platations here is that they are interspersed with trees and houses, making for a varied landscape.hope to find some tea pickers by the side of the road but I wonder if it isn't a bit late in the day for that.

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

A walk around Sinop - too shy to step forward

And now we are on the nightbus to Trabzon, at the eatern end of Turkey's Black Sea coast, up towards Georgia. The bus is mostly empty, which is nice and we have made contact with a couple of players or supporters of Trabzonspor, which is consistently one of the best football teams outside Istanbul.

Did I mention it before but I alays get a laugh when I say my fave Turkish team is Gaziantepspor.

Fred has finished the Angel's Game and is now well into Birds Without Wings, which is much more appropriate to this holiday, being an historical epos set in Turkey at the time of the country's creation. I must admit I have not got very far with Platero and me.


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What started off as a leisurely walk in the bright sunshine of a summer's day in Sinop ended up with frantic visits to the Fuji Image Center to get photos developed and then given out to their subjects, or at least people who knew the subjects. Must've spent a small fortune today but it is always nice to give something back. not to mention the fact that we were given both lunch (in the form of fresh fruits) and dinner (chicken and rice, pide and ayran) and beer in return!

The dinner was courtesy of the father of the groom whose weddingcebrations we stumbled upon, attracted by the local band which was palying, dancing and performing in the street. Wonderful colourful stuff with rlly energetic pipe and drum music

So, no time for a nice scrub down at the old hammam behind our hotel, requiring me to have a whore's wash at the sink in the hotel's toilet, followed by a change of shirt and the customary eau de cologne in the bus.

Driving through the streets of Gerze, as the Muezzin calls the faithful to the mosque next to the bus station. Wonderful! And Gerze looks to be a preety place too.

Monday, August 03, 2009

Our free lunch in Sinop


Our free lunch in Sinop, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

What started off as a leisurely walk in the bright sunshine of a summer's day in Sinop ended up with frantic visits to the Fuji Image Center to get photos developed and then given out to their subjects, or at least people who knew the subjects. Must've spent a small fortune today but it is always nice to give something back. not to mention the fact that we were given both lunch (in the form of fresh fruits) and dinner (chicken and rice, pide and ayran) and beer in return!

The dinner was courtesy of the father of the groom whose weddingcebrations we stumbled upon, attracted by the local band which was playing, dancing and performing in the street. Wonderful colourful stuff with rlly energetic pipe and drum music

So, no time for a nice scrub down at the old hammam behind our hotel, requiring me to have a whore's wash at the sink in the hotel's toilet, followed by a change of shirt and the customary eau de cologne in the bus.

Driving through the streets of Gerze, as the Muezzin calls the faithful to the mosque next to the bus station. Wonderful! And Gerze looks to be a pretty place too.

Sunday, August 02, 2009

Lightning strikes!


Lightning strikes!, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

We found a tunnel of blue, doubling up as balik restaurants. I am trying the barbunya (red mullet) while Fered has karisik Izgara (mixed grill).

Half the sky behind is grey, full of lighting and claps of thunder,whilst one corner is a golden colour reflcting pink towards the easterm sky. Can't be too long before it starts pouring down again. So dramatic!

The stuffed red peppers and the stuffed green peppers have arrived so we will start our meal.

Fishermen bringing in the nets

We made it to Sinop and it took less than five hours. An interesting detour inland through green valleys sided by old beech woods. At the end here it lloked like Malaysia yet again with buffalos at the side of the road backed by rice fields.

Found a beach front hotel with a spare room at the back, ha ha. Now sitting down at Kale restaurant and within five minutes I have a plate of delicious looking chicken legs cooked in vegetables, bulgur and white beans in tomato and chili sauce, served with ekmek and cola! Great!

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Lıfe ıs always enjoyable here. Time going by too quickly. Hope to load some more photos later today, just getting up from a short snooze here.

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Not an internet cafe to be seen, just lots of photo shops, kuafors and avukat offices. No Efes-serving bars either, ıt seems..

Managed to get caught up in a heavy thunderstorm at the harbour though and had to hide under a wide bowed wooden boat while it poured down.

Came across a wonderful seen of about twleve fishermen pulling their black and maroon nets. Took a couple of photos but camera was on wrong setting, which was a pity.

I did find a bus service which leaves tomorrow for Trabzon at 20.00, arriving at 05.30 the following day, so we will go and book that now, as we look for some enticing blue signs...

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Well, it turns out to be a green sign - for Tuborg at the Sinema Cafe. This immediately brings back memories to both fred and me of six years ago at the Halicarnas Disco in Bodrum. They enticed us in there with the offer of free beer. Very nice but when it is warmed up Tuborg, the last thing you want to drink on a sultry evening is beer...

Fred and Charles with a storm approaching...

On our way again, this time in a minibus (dolmus) from Inebolu to Abana and Turkeli, where we will change and catch another one onto Sinop, where we expect to spend a night or two before making the maraton journey to Trabzon, which may be an overnighter.

The road today, hugs the coastline, about 40 meters above where the grey rocks plunge into the calm blue-grey sea. It is a bit hazy today.

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This turns out to be the very lazy Sunday morning ride along the coast and up to some inland villages. Very relaxed and we are in no rush. Sundays tend to be very quiet in Turkey anyway.

It is nice and cool, the bus is quiet and we have good seats at the front.

We rented a taxi for two hours yesterday to get to see some of the places just outside Inebolu with our friend Izzet whose friend Mesafa did the driving. We got taken past many of the old wooden houses (calling them Ottoman houses does not seem to be the done thing) which we had just walked up to, we ascended the hill behind the town up to the old monastery. It is now a ruin, about two meters high of building stones, surrounded by a grassy pinic area. Not so amazing, but the views down to the town, across the harbour towards the deep blue sea were amazing, well woth the trip. Just one fir tree needs to be clipped as it is obstructing the view a little...
Back the other way were views towards grassy meadows and folds of hills and mountains clad in the greenest of forests, a little bit like our stereotyped image of Switzerland.

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Getting a bit frustrating now as a journey of 143 kms which normally takes just over two hours looks like it might take at least six, as the direct buses on from turkeli were fully booked. Oh well, if this is the price for having a nice relaxing afternnon and evening with our friends in Inebolu, then so be it. The views are pretty enough. And we have just passed two donkeys, so it's not so bad. A holiday always has a day or two like this one.

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We made it to Sinop and it took less than five hours. An interesting detour inland through green valleys sided by old beech woods. At the end here it looked like Malaysia yet again with bufFalos at the side of the road backed by rice fields.

Found a beach front hotel with a spare room at the back, ha ha. Now sitting down at Kale restaurant and within five minutes I have a plate of delicious looking chicken legs cooked in vegetables, bulgur and white beans in tomato and chili sauce, served with ekmek and cola! Great!

*****

Lıfe ıs always enjoyable here. Time going by too quickly. Hope to load some more photos later today, just getting up from a short snooze here.

*****

Saturday, August 01, 2009

Two hats amd two Fred Perrys in Bartın


Two hats ın Bartin, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

A quick couple of photos uploaded from our day trip to Bartin yesterday, passing over a couple of day in Safranbolu and the wonderful amasra on the coast. Internet connections are not always that quick and, moreover, when there is so much going on as well as allowing for some relxation time, there is not much time left for the internet cafe.

I uploaded thse two while we wait for a bus to take us eastwards along the coast towards gide where we may or may not spend the night depending on whether we like it or not and on the weather. After three days of bright sunshine and max temps of about 28, a storm has rolled in this morning, bringing thunder and light rain. This is what the Black Sea coast is famous for.

There is only one bus a day to gide and there are a small number of mainy Turkish backpackers waiting outside the PTT building with us. There are no buses going all the way to our next main destination which is Sinop, so we will have to change a few times and decide where to stop along the way, for a lunch or the night. We can expect the villages to be quite remote.

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The reasons why we went inland to Bartin yesterday were that we got ourselves a bit sunburnt the day before on the beach in Amasra, despite spending almost all the day under a parasol and because we had seen on the way over that Bartin had a lot od attractive Ottoman houses. Plus it is a pleasant twenty minute bus-ride over the mountains with views of Amasra's harbours and headland as well as othe beeches. Unlike in the south-west of turkey where the coastal ranges are covered in attractive pines, the moutains here are covered in dense and varied deciduous woods, with the odd eagle and buzzard flying overhead.

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Oh dear, we were the first to be waiting for the bus but were the last on which means I am sitting on the floor without a view but with a blackberry to pass the time. Not much elbow room and I suppose I can stand. But no, amazingly enough the young lady sitting nex to Fred just got off the bus, so we are sitting together both at the back!
Posted 23 hours ago. ( permalink | delete | edit )

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There are more trees here than in the jungles of Malaysia, although the roads there are better!

Lots of sweet chestnuts, wild cherries, oaks. Beech. Lime and polar in the valleys, pinesn ferns, ivy, silver birch, figs, blackberries, mountain ash and vines. A few clearings for whitewashed houses and some cows, maize or sunflowers.

Mist hangs around in some of the valleys, while the rain has stopped.

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The sun is shining again and we are stuffed into the back of a minibus next to all the baggage. A group of Germans took the best places in the bus while dumping their bags next to our seats, living up to the sterrotype many english people have/had of the Germans (certainl in the 1970's).

We were silly enough NOT to get out at Kurkucasile (which llokef so very pretty when the bus was ascending the hills after we left.

We stayed on to Gide, which had a long, rather forlorn grey shingle beach on the way in, not helped by the fact that the sun had just popped in behind. A new bank of cloud. The bus station sis not look very inviting so it wqs an easy decision to buy a ticket for the bus to Inebolu.


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So there we were with an hour to kill in Çıde and I left Fred at the bus station to see if I could get a photo printed of our bus boy Tufan who had just posed in front of the bus he had been working on.

No photo processing capabilities in town it seemed but instead I cam across a ladies market where many of the women from the surrounding villages come into town to sell their fruit, vegetables, yoghurt, honey and crafts. Very very colourful in their dresses and headscarves, a photographer's dream, at least it would have been until the sun came out and threw most of them into impenetrable shadow. Plus, I had to get back to Fred so came back with just a few shots, just in time to wave goodbye to Tufan in his Ozeminiyet bus, enough info to have the chance to send a print of the photo by post.

As a postscript to an earlier posting here, one of the Germans has been travel sick for the last half an hour or so, poor thing.

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Just made it to Inembolu. Oh dear, not the prettiest of places, under grey skies, hooded crows feeding off the carrion on the grey shingle beach.

There are two hotels. At Otel Ozlu Fred was shown into a room with three beds, one being occupied by a man smoking. This was for 7 euros a night. Fortunately, our budget stretches to the 20 euro a night hotel called Otel Altinoz, almost opposite. It'll do for a night before we go to Sinop.

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Oh well, another very nice surprise here ın İnebolu, Lıke so many places, ıt dıdn't look too ınvıtıng when we fıirst arrıved. However; before long we were makıng friends with the locals, the sun came out and we dıscovered a hilllsıde full of beautiful Ottoman houses. Some are decrepıt but many are being restored,

Hopefully, the raın will keep away tomorrow to give us the chance to see more of the town and its port, not too bothered about whether it will be swımmıng weather.

We have to be careful here about speaking Dutch to each other as ıt seems that many people from İnebolu have moved to or have conmnections wıth Holland (and maınly Zaandam).

In the meantime, we just had tea wıth a young chap waiting to go to unıversıty who spoke good English and hıs boss, a sporty young(ish) man called Ozdal, Now we have an appointment wıth Ates to drink beer at the local birhane!

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