Trabzon & the Black Sea

About — Trabzon & the Black Sea

Trabzon Airport (TZX) has direct flights from the Gulf in summer, and more than fifteen daily services from Istanbul taking 1 hour 50 minutes. The airport is 10 minutes from the city centre, 90 minutes from Uzungol and 2.5 hours from Ayder. For Gulf families the Black Sea is the escape from July and August heat: the highlands are 20–26°C, everything is green and the air is humid and cool. Three nights is the ideal length: two at Uzungol or in the city, one at Ayder.

Uzungol is a lake at 1,100 metres ringed by pine forest, with a village of wooden bungalows on its shore; breakfast is by the water and in the evening mist settles over the lake. The Haldizen and Demirkapi plateaus above are reached by 4x4. Sumela Monastery is a 1,600-year-old structure carved into a 300-metre cliff in the Altindere Valley, reached by shuttle minibus and a 15-minute uphill walk. Ayder plateau in Rize (1,350 m), with its hot springs, waterfalls and the stone bridges of the Firtina river, is the most photogenic spot on the Black Sea. In the city you see the 13th-century Hagia Sophia of Trabzon, the view from Boztepe and the Forum shopping centre.

Family tips: rain is possible in every season on the Black Sea; a raincoat and closed shoes are essential. Highland nights drop to 10°C even in summer. Uzungol and Ayder have mosques and restaurants with Arabic menus; muhlama, kuymak and trout are the local specialities. Bungalows have kitchens and one price for up to five people. A private vehicle with an Arabic-speaking driver is almost essential here; roads are mountainous and signage is sparse. ATV safaris, ziplines and lake bicycles are the children's favourites.

City Guide — Trabzon & the Black Sea

Trabzon is a city on the Black Sea coast of north-eastern Türkiye and the capital of Trabzon Province. Located on the historical Silk Road, Trabzon became a melting pot of religions, languages and cultures for centuries and a trade gateway to Iran in the south-east and the Caucasus to the north-east. Venetian and Genoese merchants paid visits to Trebizond during the medieval period and sold silk, linen and woollen fabric, with the Republic of Genoa having an important merchant colony in the city similar to Galata in Istanbul. Trabzon formed the basis of several states in its long history and was the capital city of the Empire of Trebizond between 1204 and 1461; during the Ottoman period, because of the importance of its port, it became a focal point of trade to Iran and the Caucasus. The city was founded as Trapezous by Milesian traders in 756 BC, one of about ten Milesian trading colonies along the shores of the Black Sea. When Xenophon and the Ten Thousand mercenaries were fighting their way out of Persia, the first Greek city they reached was Trebizond. The city was added to the Kingdom of Pontus by Mithridates VI and became home port for the Pontic fleet; under Roman rule it gained importance in the 1st century for its access to roads leading over the Zigana Pass to the Armenian frontier and the upper Euphrates valley, and Hadrian commissioned improvements to give the city a more structured harbour. In the 8th to 10th centuries the trade route regained importance and Trebizond was the main source transshipping Byzantine silks into eastern Muslim countries. Today the Sumela Monastery, Hagia Sophia, Boztepe, Uzungol and the Zigana highlands are the main stops for visitors.