Tour to Sumela monastery

Sümela Monastery (Turkish: Sümela Manastırı; Panagia Soumela, "Virgin Mary of Soumela" in Greek) is a spectacular rock-hewn monastery perched dramatically on the narrow ledge of a steep cliff in the forests south of Trabzon. It was built in the fourth century, just before the Roman Empire split into east and west, by two Athenian priests, Barnabas and Sophronius, who, according to legend, found a miraculous icon of the Virgin Mary in a cave. The monastery's location in this geopolitically tumultuous corner of the globe naturally saw times of trouble and fell into ruin numerous times throughout its history, with its most thriving times falling under Byzantine and Ottoman rule.

The twentieth century, however, was not kind to the monastery. It was abandoned following the chaos and inter-ethnic violence at the end of World War I, and the population transfer of Trabzon's (formerly Trebizond) Greek population back to Greece. Its remote location gave it some sanctuary, but its frescoes still attracted the occasional casually hurled rock by a bored shepherd. The beautiful frescoes today suffer from decades of heart-wrenchingly pointless vandalism by travelers—judging from the various alphabets and names scrawled across these impressive religious works of art, it appears that just about every culture in the world has taken part in the desecration. The buildings themselves have been fairly heavily restored in recent decades, as the Turkish government has stepped in to protect the monastery and to turn it into a museum.

Day tour to Ayder

Ayder is a resort town in Eastern Karadeniz region of Turkey, up in the lush Kaçkar Mountains, surrounded by waterfalls and about 2 hrs away from Trabzon. 

I joined a Chinese bacpacker for the tour and we walked through the beautiful mountain scenery towards the 12 km away trail head up to mount Kackar or to the three lakes. It is a popular one week hike in summer. 

We were lucky enough to hitchhike with a local family to the trail head to see the snow and then they kindly shared their outdoor cooked lunch with us.  It was a very pleasant trip.

Trabzon

Trabzon is in the Eastern Karadeniz region of Turkey. My overnight bus arrived 5 am which was 2 hrs ahead of schedule. The bus driver was concerned about my safety so he requested a free service shuttle to ship me to my hotel. 

Trabzon was a major trade centre since times immemorial, and visited by among many others. In medieval times, city served as the capital of Empire of Trebizond, which was ruled by Komnenos family—which also provided several emperors to the Byzantine throne inConstantinople. The longest surviving rump Byzantine state, Trabzon was captured by Ottoman Turks in 1461, almost a decade after the fall of Constantinople.

I walked around the city while waiting for my Iranian visa. 

Aya Sofya Museum. A beautiful and picturesque church converted into a mosque and later into a museum that still has stunning frescoes within—just like its namesake in Istanbul. There is a peaceful open-air tea garden on the grounds. 

There are good view from a top of mountain over the whole city. 

Trabzon is right next to the black sea and 

harvests a lot of fish. I trued fish soup and Hamsi Balik (Anchovies or sprat) which were delicious and very economical.

Diyarbakır Day 2

The French gentleman felt sick and bailed out and I told the guide that I do not want to do the tour just with him. I was glad that I was free to walk around on my own yet concerned about my safety. 

I first checked with the reception desk of a fancy hotel for tour info to see if I can find a city tour. I run into an US overseas female officer who speaks fluent Turkish and translate to the front desk my needs. While the desk staff looking online and flipping via business card, we were chatting about the US federal government furload. She thinks she will receive the impact soon. She told me they were busy this monday; otherwise she might be able to find me someone to walk around. I told her my robbery experience and the help from the TW enbassy. i have a US green card and i plan to visit Iran later with my Taiwanese passport.  I could not help but to compare her with the CIA female officer on the TV series Homeland Security. 

I then walked to the tourist info office in a hope to fond other tourists to walk together. An English speaking Turkish tourist police officer told me the tourist office is close on Mondsy, but he showed places on my map that were safe to visit, and he also entered his cell phone number in my phone in case of emergency. My experience in Kusadasi taught me to be prepared for English emergency support.

I then made friends with tourists along the way and ended up toured around with three different groups of people at different locations and times, such as Ulu Camii (The Great Mosque), Gazi Cd(In the centre of the Old Town, near the main crossroad). The oldest mosque in Anatolia, built in the 11th century by Malikh Shah,the Emir of the Seljuk Turks. 

The last couple i met actually stayed at my hotel and they escaped the harassment of the guide as well. We had great time climbing up the city walls a few times and had a big brunch together at Kervanseray, Gazi Cd (Opposite the Great Mosque). Old caravanserai, now used as a place for cafes, bookstores, and souvenir shops. They are heading Mardin so I have them my fancy map and tips, and they have me their trabzon Map and tips.

The old city containing many mosques and churches, is a little run down but enclosed in magnificent walls. The city walls are very old and certainly worth a walk around. Some of towers are restored by the municipality and are easy to reach from the center of the old city. One such is Kechi Burcu, which offers a nice view of Tigris river below the city, and a great look over the city walls—a teahouse offering traditional tea is nearby as well. 

I could not walk on the city wall by myself because the walls serve as home to drug addicts, criminals and poor children. I was very happy to walk on the old city wall with my new friends. We got onto it at one spoky gate and then walked anticlockwise. Great views of the surrounding area and the city.

The old city is like a village in the middle of the city with village mentality; goose running around, women having cay in front of their houses and kids shouting to foreigners the few English words they know.

Diyarbakir day 1

Diyarbakır is the largest city in Southeastern Anatolia, on the banks of Tigris (Dicle), one of the greatest rivers of Middle East.

Diyarbakır is rough. Lıfe in this city is hard for so many people. It is not advisable at all to walk alone during the night time, especially in the old quarter. My new college friend warned me not to hang around in dark areas; try not to look like the typical tourist, etc. She is studying at the major college to become a teacher and got in town to shop and walk around with friends. I ran into them at a bus company and she kindly translated my need for a ticket and later showed me around the new town. The new town is no different from other new towns in developing countries. But I enjoyed their warmness and friendship which were very comforting in a strange and tough city like this one. 

One backpacker told me there are kids on the old city walls robbing tourists with knife, and wants me to find companies or tours. A boy near my hotel was very aggressive to me three times today. I was so annoyed and stared him back and some standing by adults also warned him at the last time. I will be very careful with him who may threat me with a knife tomorrow. 

The weather was under cast when i arrived so everything looked gray. Hope the weather gets better tomorrow.

People in east turkey are more friendly than those in the west side, although they do not speak as much English. As mentioned, i run into some college students this afternoon and walked around the city (but not the walls) with them. They were concerned about my safety and sent me back very close to my hotel after the walk.

I will use the guide with another French gentleman tomorrow, and then take an overnight bus to Trabzon.

Mardin

Mardin is a historical city in Southeastern Anatolia, Turkey. A city situated on the top of a hill, it is known for its fascinating architecture consisting of heavily decorated stonework cascading from the hilltop, although occasionally pierced by new, ugly construction.

While the Syriac population in Mardin dwindled due to emigration (nowadays Assyrians are more numerous in Sweden than in all of Turkey), they are still very much present in the city, along with more or less all other regional cultures, including Turks, Kurds, and Arabs.

Mardin served as the capital of Turkic Artuqid dynasty between 12th and 15th centuries, which resulted in much of the Islamic heritage (madrasahs and mosques) visible in the city today.

Old city is small enough to be negotiated on foot, with the distance between one end to another not exceeding half an hour on the main street. And you will certainly not find any vehicle of any kind on twisty and staired narrow alleys.

• Church of Forties (Kırklar Kilisesi), (in a side alley; look for the small sign on the main street). A Syriac Orthodox church dating back to 10th century.  

• Citadel (Kale), (on the hill overlooking the old city). While the citadel itself is located inside military zone and thus is closed for visitors, ascent the alleys of the old city to get to as near as possible to have the fascinating view of the Mesopotamian plains lying below. 

East Turkey

I am traveling in east turkey, and plan to visit Georgia, Armenia, and Iran. 

I am just finishing a tour and starting traveling in east turkey by myself. The big challenge here is fewer people speak English, not even most people in the bus terminal. I am leaving urfa to mardin today. Hope to get there as planned safely.

There are much fewer foreigners visit east Turkey so I was asked to be photoed with locals all the time. People are very friendly and want me to felt welcome. 

While I am waiting for my bus 3-hr later and looking for free wifi, the bus ticket booth people all tried to help and passed me to one another. I finally got it via a restaurant on the 2nd floor of the terminal and blogging as of now. This bus terminal is clean spacy and safe (on site police officers), so I was quite relaxed when waiting for my bus. 

I could have used minibus to get to Mardin earlier, but not as comfortable as a big bus. 

People here are helpful. I showed the hostel address to one person at the Mardin bus station and he pointed me to the minibus stop to downtown. The minibus driver then dropped close to the hostel although no one speaks English. 

Most of the budget hostels in east turkey has no map, so I got maps from the expensive fancy hotels and asked their English speaking staffs for tourist info.