UNITEAM TUR
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Blacksea coasts & Mountains
1. Travel
While many visitors flock south to the Mediterranean or west to the Aegean, the Black Sea (Karadeniz) is equally deserving, particularly because it is so different from the other coasts. After Amasra's seaside-holiday vibe and Trabzon's big-city buzz, you can relax in pint-size fishing villages or head inland and up to alpine yaylalar (mountain pastures). And the spectacular coastline makes for a scenic route across Turkey to other parts of Anatolia.
This is an historic region, scattered with the legacies of civilisations and empires that have ebbed and flowed like Black Sea waves. Castles, churches, monasteries and architecturally important mosques recall the days of the kings of Pontus, the Genoese and the Ottomans. Queen Hippolyte and her tribe of female Amazon warriors supposedly lived here, and the seafront chapel at Yason Burnu (Cape Jason) marks the spot where Jason and his Argonauts passed by.
3. Culture Vultures
As well as being an attraction in their own right (the hinterland is home to some of Turkey's most appealing and unspoilt villages), the mountains have had the effect of giving the locals a culture distinct from anywhere else in the country. Black Sea food, for instance, is arguably the best in Turkey and years of geographic isolation have even given the locals unique physical characteristics ... as well as a reputation for being country bumpkins.
Their big noses, pale skin, weird accents and alleged stupidity are the subject of many standard jokes in Turkey but what is most striking to the foreign visitor is how genuinely friendly and outgoing Black Sea people seem to be. A kind of easygoing cheerfulness pervades the region - their folk music is the most upbeat in the country and their dancing looks like a combination of Irish dancing and hip hop. Both are wildly infectious and in Turkey, not a nation where cheerful good humour is much prized, this can be something of a relief.
2. Colors of Green
Alpine forests Tea plantations? Billions of hazelnuts? World's oldest cherry orchards?
Turkey's Black Sea coast comes as asurprise.
The sky is often grey but the land is green from plentiful rain. Fat dairy cattle munch lush grass and produce the country's best milk and butter.
Fresh sardines are a delicacy.
The Black Sea coast is never crowded because cloud is more common than sun, the sea water is chilly, and most of the towns are sprawling masses of concrete with only scarce traces of ancient times.
But that's fine for the adventurous types who come here for a few days to get off the beaten track.
