The Black Sea

These verdant shores, where densely pine forested mountains give way to tea terraces, hazel nut groves and tobacco plantations, confound those who envisage Turkey as a sunbaked steppeland. The rugged Black Sea Mountains plunge steeply down towards the sea, making this coastline one of craggy cliffs and headlands interspersed with sandy beaches. Owing to the mountainous character of the region, much of the settlement is scattered over hill slopes, and the only agglomerated settlements are the towns and fishing villages on the narrow coastal belt.
Cut off from the rest of Turkey by the Black Sea chain, this coast has pursued a somewhat independent history. According to legend, these shores were the land of the Amazons, and an Amazon queen is said to have founded Sinop. In the later Middle Ages the coast once again became the centre of an independent empire, the Comnene Empire of Trebizond. In fact Trebizond was the last Byzantine city to hold out against the Ottoman Turks, and it was only eight years after the fall of Constantinople that the last Comnene Emperor surrendered to  Sultan Mehmet ll, the Conqueror.
Along the western part of the Black Sea coast are several small resort with sandy beaches, such as Kilyos. Şile and Akçakoca. The succession of resort is interrupted by Ereğli and Zonguldak, Turkey's largest coal and steel centres. Beyond Zonguldak is the picturesque town of Amasra, clustered around a Byzantine citadel on a promontory between two bays.
Following the eastern Black Sea coast from Sinop to Hopa is a good asphalt road, which greatly facilitates sightseeing. Sinop is famous as the birthplace of the great Cynic philosopher, Diogenes, and there are several interesting Seljuk buildings. From Sinop to Samsun the road passes through maize ad tobacco plantations, for which the regions is famous. Though the settlement of Samsun is ancient, little remains to testify to its past. Nevertheless, the town has an important place in modern Turkish history since it was here that Atatürk landed to organize the national resistance that libatated Turkish territory from foreign powers.
Covering the hill slopes from Samsun to Trabzon are hazel nut groves, which make Turkey the world's largest exporter of this crop. Ünye, the ancient Oinoe, is an attractive resort surrounded by sandy beaches. Giresun is beautifully set around a high rocky peninsula, crowned by a Byzantine fortress. The town is surrounded by lush cherry orchards and it was from here that the Roman general and gourmet, Lucullus, brought back the first cherry trees to Europe.
Trabzon was a well fortified city on a sloping table of ground between two ravines, and it was oneof few Byzantine cities to resist attacks by the Seljuk Tuks and Mongols. Remains of Tranzon's Byzantine fortress can still be seen, and also in the city there are many buildings reflectings the two hundred year Comnene rule, such as the Church of St. Sophia with its interesting frescoes and reliefs.
Outside Tranzon is tea Monastery of Sumela, set like a swallow's nest in a sheer rockface. Most of the monastery was built in the 14th century during the reign of Alexius lll Comnene, and it contains many fine frescoes.
After Trabzon the land of the terraces, another plant that covering the uncultivated slopes are purple wild rhododendrons, another plant that originated in this fertile region. Rize is the centre of this tea producing region, which now supplies the whole of Turkey with tea.