Trabzon Travel

Trabzon, in Turkey's remote northeastern corner, may be a fascinating, vibrant city, but the sad truth is that for most visitors it's merely a stepping stone on the way to their real target: Sümela, an extraordinary monastery that clings to the mountainside, seemingly defying gravity, southeast of the small town of Maçka.

Even if you've never heard of Sümela you will almost certainly know what it looks like, because it's one of those images, like those of Pamukkale and Cappadocia, that tourist offices love to display as bait for their guests. Remember a picture of a crumbling ruin high up above the pine trees with no obvious means of access? Yes, that's Sümela.

You can hardly help but ask how it came to be there, and the answer lies in a story that tracks right back to the fourth century when Sts. Barnabas and Sophronius came to the area in search of an icon of Mary, the mother of Jesus (Meryamana in Turkish), supposedly painted by St. Luke. Unlikely as it may seem, they finally found the icon way up on the mountain, where they established a shelter to protect it. Over time, word of the discovery spread and the shelter swelled into a shrine, complete with beautiful frescoes on its rock-cut ceiling. By the time the Ottomans came roaring into Trabzon its fame was so great that they too took an interest in the shrine, paying for more frescoes to be painted on the outside walls of a monastic church that had been painstakingly built onto the rock face.

But of course, there was no happy ending to the story. As the centuries wore on, so the number of monks prepared to live in such a remote location dwindled to a handful. Then in 1924 came the Greek-Turkish population exchange at the end of the Turkish War of Independence, which meant that the few remaining Christian monks were required to leave the country.

One might have thought that the monastery's remote location would have protected it from damage once it had been abandoned, but unfortunately graffiti artists were unable to resist leaving their tags on the frescoes, while some "art-lovers" went so far as to chisel away whole sections of the paintwork for themselves. Finally, a decision was made to rebuild the entire complex on the mountainside, a process which is now virtually complete. Some purists will probably dislike the end result, with its distinctive new roofs, but it's far from being the worst restoration in Turkey, and certainly makes it easier for the average layperson to envisage how life might have been lived up here among the birds.

Although there are many organized tours to Sümela, it's perfectly easy to get there under your own steam, either by car or using a local minibus. The ride out there takes some time to break free of the ugly Trabzon overspill, but once you reach Maçka the scenery bucks up considerably, until finally you reach the Altındere National Park which protects the monastery and its surroundings. The zigzag walk up the rock face is a stiff one which requires sturdy footwear -- and coming down again can be especially treacherous, especially after rain when the wet leaves on the path are more slippery than banana skins.

Sümela may be the most obvious excursion destination from Trabzon, but its sheer popularity sometimes overshadows all the other possibilities. Local travel agents are usually most enthusiastic about Uzungöl, a popular picnic spot on the banks of the long lake from which it took its name. The trouble is that Westerners who go there probably anticipate finding the same sort of pristine scenery and inviting log chalets as seen in the Alps. But this is Turkey, and more specifically the eastern end of the Black Sea, which means that concrete structures have insinuated their way even onto the shores of the sea. Much better, perhaps, to get out of the eastward-heading bus as it leaves the small town of Sürmene where, on the inland side of the road, you will be able to visit the Kastell, one of the finest surviving examples of the sort of fortified house once favored by the "derebeys," the local lords who held sway around here during the late Ottoman period.

Not a great deal is definitely known about the Kastell (now signposted as Memiş Ağa Konağı), although it probably dates from the middle of the nineteenth century when it was built for a member of the Yakupoğlu family. Externally, it's an imposing building, its stone-built ground floor supporting a distinctively half-timbered upper storey, but really it's the lovely woodwork of the interior that you've come to see, along with the frescoes of local fruits that adorn the walls of the selamlık (the men's room), the fine stone-built fireplaces, and the curious private hamam that provided central heating for the house.

Across the road from the Kastell is another fine house, apparently also due for restoration. Hard though it is to believe it now, these two houses once looked straight out onto the sea. Now they have the newly completed (or almost completed) Black Sea highway in front of them. As you return to the center of Sürmene, look towards the inland side of the road to see a cluster of Ottoman houses with so many windows that the walls could almost be made of glass. These are thought to have been a later development from the architecture of the Kastell, designed at a time when life was more stable, and homes no longer needed to be semi-fortified.

One other day-trip destination from Trabzon is likely to be much less obvious. If you don't turn off the road towards Maçka but instead keep heading south you will come eventually to Gümüşhane, a small town whose name means "Silver House", a clue to a past far more illustrious than the dreary modern settlement might suggest. The secret here is to head inland immediately for what the locals call the Süleymaniye Mahallesi but which is also known as Eski Gümüşhane (Old Gümüşhane). It's a lovely drive up into the hills to a virtually abandoned settlement where just five or six families still hang on amid the ruins of a ghost town that grew rich on the proceeds of silver-mining, which kept going here until the nineteenth century. The authorities seem to have exhausted their enthusiasm for advertising the site with the huge pictures in the bus terminal, but if you pick the right taxi driver, he should be able to point out the ruins of the old Greek church, the old Armenian church, and the original school. A once magnificent Ottoman house with paintings on its facades is still just about standing, and you will be able to pick out many other anonymous ruins amid the rosehips and apple orchards.

Afterwards, you will feel more than justified in returning to modern Gümüşhane to stock up on pestil (fruit leather) and köme (fruit sausage), the two sweet delicacies stocked by every other local shop.

WHERE TO STAY: Most people will stay in Trabzon but the following accommodation is in Maçka.

Coşandere Pansiyon Tel: 0462-531 1190

Hotel Büyük Sümela Tel: 0462-512 3540

Maçkam Hotel Tel: 0462-512 3640

HOW TO GET THERE: There are daily flights from İstanbul and Ankara to Trabzon, and buses from all local towns including Erzurum and Iğdır. Minibuses for Sümela, Uzungöl and Sürmene leave from the minibus terminal facing the harbor, buses to Gümüşhane from the main bus terminal.