Trabzon 2001 (Trabzon)

Member Name: maikli

Product:	Trabzon
Date:	01/08/02 (1030 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: lively interesting city, not touristy, good base for coast and mountains

Disadvantages: a bit seedy at times, ugly coastline nearby, very humid in summer

Trabzon, one of Turkey's largest cities, usually has two images among foreign tourists. The first is historical...many come to Trabzon expecting it to resemble the fabled city of Trebizond, and leave very disappointed with the modern-day port city. The second is Trabzon's seedy image as the centre for ex-Soviet prostitutes (called "natashas" by the Turks). True, Trabzon does have a lot of history under its belt, and yes, there are a lot of natashas too, but Trabzon is not just history and Russian girls!

First impressions of the city are not always good...this is a city that needs time to get to know, and unfortunately many visitors leave on the next bus out (on leaving the bus station, the first thing you come to is the red light district, so many just turn round and leave without seeing the rest of the city!). Stay a few days, and Trabzon grows on you. During my six weeks in Turkey, I visited the city four times, each time discovering something new...a busy street market, Georgian traders selling Russian dolls, and old Armenian church, a crumbling monastery, a seaside cafe...

The heart of Trabzon is Ataturk Alani, a huge and busy square filled with hotels, bars, cafes, restaurants, shops, travel agencies, and tens of taxis...a walk round here is never dull, and even in the dead of night, there are always people around here.

West from Ataturk Alani, you can either walk the long shopping streets with trendy clothes and music shops, or lose yourself in the twisting alleyways of the markets. After Istanbul and other cities frequented by tourists, it is quite refreshing to walk through a genuine bazaar without being hassled by anyone selling tacky souvenirs. Either way, you'll soon end up in the old part of Trabzon, Ortahisar (Middle Fortress). The most impressive old buildings are on a hill surrounded by ravines and connected to the rest of the city by two bridges. Many of the better-kept buildings are now owned by th
e local council, but are still worth a look if you can get a peek inside. A couple of old and picturesque mosques sit in the narrow area between the old city walls, and tourists can enter outside prayer times (dress appropriately, women of course need to cover their heads).

Don't expect an immaculate open-air museum-type old city...the area is definitely still lived in, slowly crumbling away, and it isn't really a huge old city, just a collection of old houses on a couple of streets. Far more interesting are the narrow sidestreets leading down to the poorer quarters in the ravine on either side of Ortahisar. A walk down here is not for everyone, but it is the real side of the city, a place where people live and shop and go about their daily business. It is not particularly risky (or at least, I never felt threatened in any way), but maybe not an area to wander in after dark (more because of the risks of getting hopelessly lost rather than for safety reasons).

Beyond Ortahisar are modern residential districts and the Stadium which is home to one of Turkey's more successful football teams, Trabzonspor. A couple of shops sell team shirts and other football-related souvenirs, but the real reason for trekking out here is to visit the Aya Sofya Muzesi. This former Armenian church was modelled on the much larger Aya Sofya in Istanbul, and like its bigger cousin it is now a museum. Surrounded by a park containing interesting headstones and odd artefacts dug up in the grounds, the church walls are covered in brightly coloured frescoes. Unfortunately, these are fading fast, and have been damaged quite a bit in the past...come here if you are not heading to Georgia or Armenia, but if you are going to those countries you'll find better examples there. Still, Trabzon's Aya Sofya makes an excellent place for a glass of chay (tea) in the outdoor cafe.

In another district lies Ataturk's summer house (Ataturk Kosku), an impressiv
e villa which is now a house museum. Apparently, the great man only ever stayed a couple of nights in the building, which used to belong to a Greek merchant, but it is still an impressive place.

At the back of Trabzon is a huge hillside park called Boztepe, concealing a couple of very run-down monasteries and a cafe with great views over the entire city. The walk back down to the centre takes you past a few old houses, although in the heat it might be better to take a taxi.

East from Ataturk Alani is the seedy end of town, but that doesn't mean you should not enter...by day, it is just a collection of innocent shopping streets. The main attraction is the long Russian Bazar (called Avrupali Pazari in Turkish, the "European Market"), where traders from the former Soviet republics sell all sorts of products, ranging from souvenir Russian dolls to copied music tapes, blonde hair dyes to leather belts. If you know some Russian or Georgian, you can have some interesting conversations with some of the traders (predominantly women), many of whom don't understand a word of Turkish. In the evening, the streets round here become a sea of flourescent lycra and peroxide blonde hair, as the natashas take over the hotels, pastry shops and cafes, offering themselves to the throngs of off-duty soldiers and sailors.

At night, a popular thing to do is stroll along the seafront promenade, sipping tea at the cafes or buying nuts, ice cream or popcorn. A particularly good cafe is located on split-level terraces over-looking the sea...get there early for the best tables. Down below, you can rent boats for an hour, although the water is far too polluted for swimming.

Trabzon is an excellent base for visiting this part of the Black Sea coast and the Kackar mountains inland. A popular day trip is to Sumela Manastiri, a former Greek Monastery set in an impossible position halfway up a cliffside surrounded by forests. Despite the remote
location, it is very popular with coach tours, so early morning trips are better as the monastery complex is only small and easily overcrowded. The inside is not nearly as impressive as the view from down below, as reconstruction work means that most of it is off-limits for visitors, but it is a nice walk to get there and the mountain climate is a welcome break from the humid climate of Trabzon. In summer, many travel agencies offer tours here from Trabzon, although out of season, only Ulusoy on Ataturk Alani seems to have a bus there.

Further afield are the Kackar mountains. The mountain resort of Ayder, once a traditional Hemsin village, can be visited in a day, but the best scenery begins higher up past the yayla (summer village) of Yukari Kavron. You can trek for several days here and not see another trekker, but the weather is unpredictable even in summer, and no good maps are available, so it might be best to hire a local guide. After trekking, the sulphur baths at Ayder are fantastic!

Erzurum, four hours away on the other side of the mountain range, is a world away from cosmopolitan Trabzon. It seems far more Middle Eastern, and actually reminded me a bit of Damascus, maybe due to the number of veiled women, or the impressive religious schools and mosques, or the abundance of sheep wandering along the highways. One day, I'll get round to writing a whole report about Erzurum as there is plenty to say...watch this space!

Accommodation....well, in Trabzon, there is certainly no shortage of hotels catering to all budgets, but in the cheaper price bracket it can be a challenge to find somewhere which doesn't rent rooms by the hour. A good natasha-free hotel just off Ataturk Alani is the friendly and cheap Hotel Nur, where a single room costs $9. The dawn wake-up call comes free, as the minaret of the nearby mosque is within spitting distance of most rooms! Another option is staying at the Sancta Maria Katolik Kilisesi, a chur
ch hostel run by very welcoming Romanians. You don't have to be Christian to stay here (I'm not!), and payment is by donation(do remember to give something though!). It is a pleasant place to stay, although after a couple of days I found it to be a bit much (10pm curfew, lots of travellers endlessly listing places they'd visited, the feeling that you had to be quiet all the time, etc...).

Ayder is full of pansiyons, all charging around $5 for a basic room (I stayed at the Pirikoglu Ev Pansiyon), and there is even a nice pansiyon in Yukari Kavron...but camping is better here, and you won't find anything else past Yukari Kavron.

There are several ways to get to Trabzon...by bus from most cities (4 hours to Erzurum, 3 to Samsun, 1 to Hopa and the Georgian border, 18 to Istanbul, 24 to Tbilisi (Tiflis) in Georgia), by sea in summer from Istanbul via Sinop and Samsun (this is marketed as a mini-cruise taking 2 days in either direction, and the views of the Black Sea are supposed to be very nice, but accommodation and food on board is by all accounts atrocious!), or by air from Istanbul and Tbilisi (look out for cheap deals from the Georgian Consulate...visa and flight for $89!...be warned that Georgian Airlines does in no way compete with airlines such as British Airways, which explains the prices!).

All in all, Trabzon has got a lot to offer the visitor, and for now it remains relatively undiscovered by tourism. Don't come expecting it to be filled with ancient monuments and exotic bazars, or you'll leave disappointed. If you come expecting it to be seedy and down at heel, then you'll leave with a positive view of the city.

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