Hotels in Uzungol

We don't usually do it, but today we took one of the ship's tours. We chose the "Trabzon Highlights" to get an overall tour of the town. When we choose to go on "free" tours we know they can be hit and miss, but when we pay $150 for a 3 hour tour for the two of us, we expect it to be pretty informative. We had the bad luck of getting a guide who could barely speak English. It was painful trying to ...

There is considerable construction taking place. It was interesting to find a small market area on a vacant lot. We also noted that the students here are required to wear uniforms. The hotel is a large modern Novatel on the beach which is sandy (unusual for the Black Sea Turkish coast which is mostly rock). During the summer this would be a very pleasant beach ...

... delicious meal.
We met 2 guys called Gurman and Engin and Gurman's 10 year old grandson Erik. They were proud of Erik as he is already working aged 10 and yet his dad who is 28 doesn't have a job. He was a real character.
They shared their bought bread and water with us and then Gurmen invited us to his house for a tea. We got there and met his wife Larisa who was Georgian, and we were served another meal with a delicious yoghurt soup and lots of sweets.
We were sooo ...

... going to hike across the city, through the bustling comercial district... along the vast park of land reclaimed from the Black Sea... and on to the next town down the shore, Akcaadat, and back. Later that day Back in town a few hours later, I quickly plunge into the heart of the old city, taking my videoclip in front of the imposing wall surrounding what was the ancient city of Trabzon. Within the old city ...

The next day, after a morning exploring Trabzon on foot, we drove to Sumela Monastery, a monastery seemingly stuck to a sheer rock
face. After parking our car near all the restaurants, we hiked along the road for about an hour (3-4 km), with periodic stops to stare in awe at the monestery.
I don't know if it was just the day but there were ridiculous traffic jams all the way along our walk.