Sumela monastery & more

Sumela Monastery

Trabzon’s highlight for me was going to be the Sumela Monastery out of town.  In the late autumn season, I had read that public transport options are more difficult, so I booked a tour online with Sumelatur for TRY700 (NZD35) and came with a number of other sights.

I walked to their office nearby and paid up at 0930 and left shortly after by a plushly-fitted Mercedes van.  We stopped near the airport to change into a bigger but equally plush van.  With a total of six customers, we left in earnest around 1000.

After around 50 mins of driving uphill, partially hugging beautiful mountain streams, we parked the vehicle and paid TRY60 to hop into a shuttle for a 10 min ride up to Sumela Monastery.

Our tour-van driver indicated to me that I had to be back in an hour.  Then I clicked that he might have meant 1pm (1300) in which case it would be 2 hours.  I was none the wiser after checking with my tour-mates as they had different understandings too.

During the short shuttle ride, we caught a glimpse of the monastery stuck halfway on the cliff-side on the right (far) side of the vehicle but didn’t stop.  We were dropped near the dead end of a narrow road where we started a short hike uphill on tracks and wooden steps to the monastery.

It was a steep EUR20 entry for foreigners into the monastery, payable at a counter before ascending the narrow outdoor stairs.  Once through the small entry door, we could see the courtyard of the monastery that was between the cliff-face and some buildings on my right.

Briefly, the monastery was established in 386 AD but its current form is probably from the 13th Century.  It was abandoned in 1923 following the population exchange between Greece and Turkey.  Good ole Wikipedia has more information.

I explored the area and found the main church that was carved into the cliff-face.  The church was richly decorated with frescoes but part of the wall and ceiling was covered in plastic sheets for restoration.

The other areas carved into the cliff included a kitchen and priest’s room.  A tiny chapel stood in the courtyard.

As for the buildings that were away from the cliff-face, I hadn’t realised that these were the multi-storey buildings often seen in the tourism photos.  Upon exiting and looking at the photo on the ticket, I thought that I had missed a big part of the complex.  I only clicked upon returning for a second visit.

I left the complex very disappointed with the visit as there had been no lookout point where I could appreciate how the monastery was built into the cliff-face.

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Back down to where the shuttle van parked, I took a short detour to the Aya Varvara (St Barbara) church.  It was closed but fortunately I went close-up to it and found the only viewpoint so far of the monastery.

All of a sudden, the visit seemed more satisfying.  I’m guessing that to get a view that’s seen in the tourism photos, one must hike to some other spot or use a drone.

 

On the shuttle ride downhill, we caught a quick glimpse of the monastery but weren’t able to stop either.

We were back in our tour-van over an hour after leaving the carpark.  It was about 1230 when we continued our journey to the remaining sights and I ate the sandwich that I had made from the hotel buffet breakfast.

Karaca Cave

The ride to our next stop, Karaca Cave, took us through a very long highway tunnel.  I looked it up and found that it was the 14.5km New Zigara Tunnel.  Impressive!

We wound our way uphill to the top of a mountain where some stalls selling souvenirs and tea shops were located.  I paid the small fee to enter the caves and went through the turnstiles.

Despite having visited many caves, including one of the world’s largest cave systems back in Borneo, I was suitably impressed by the beauty of the formations.

I’ll let the photos do the talking.  Inside, the temperature is a constant 15 degC throughout the year.

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Snacks and glass terrace

Next up, we stopped at a shop for some traditional sweet treats in the form of pestil (fruit leather, made from dried fruit pulp) and köme (sweets made from nuts wrapped in fruit leather in various shapes).

I sampled a köme but bought some dried fruit instead.  Prices seemed a bit high compared so I was glad I didn’t overdo my purchase.  With the free tasting and the free cup of black tea, I suppose it wasn’t too bad.

We continued uphill to the Torul Glass Observation Terrace situated 240m above the town of Torul.  With no small change, I opted to enjoy the view from the high ground beside the glass terrace.  It couldn’t have been too different.

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Rice pudding village

Lastly, we drove to the village of Hamsiköy, famous for the Turkish rice pudding, Sütlaç.  Surprisingly, it was fractionally more expensive than in the city, despite being a touristy location.

At around 1615, I was more than ready for the treat as I’ve only had a small sandwich and nut bar since breakfast.  No one had pushed for the lunch break in a restaurant that was on the itinerary.

The top floor of café offered a scenic view of the homes, countryside and the light dusting of snow on the mountains.  The wood-burner also provided pleasant warmth.

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No one felt like lingering too long and we began our drive back towards Trabzon, with me being dropped off first up at 1800 near the tour office.

I returned to the hotel briefly before taking a dinner of a plated chicken shish.