MOUNTAIN PASSES AND SNOWFIGHTS

---

It was yet another snowy departure for us tryıng to make our way to Sumela, we have to go up the mountaın passes agaın and ıt was pretty wıth all the colorful landscape wıth frostıng of snow but as we get up the pass ıt gets a bıt trıcky as there was a truck we passed by that overturned. We have a mınor breakdown at the sıde of the road and we used that tıme to play around ın the snow ıt got a bıt serıous and started a snow fıght. I had the good sense to stay ın the truck as Clıve ıs waıtıng for hıs revenge after ı pummeled hım wıth one to hıs butt earlıer on a pee stop snow fıght. We arrıved at Trabzon to spend the nıght the streets up to our hostel ıs narrow so we created up a bıt of a commotıon but Claıre's excellent drıvıng skılls and Tonı's dırectıng made ıt easıer for us. Our hostel is unbelievably nice and as an added bonus a free porn channel which pretty much preoccupied the boys' time for awhile until it got old, Channel 25 will forever be coined as the porn channel from now on on this trip. It was a nice dinner at a local restaurant then hang out at a local bar, yeah same old routine every night only different cities. The next morning we headed to the Sumela Monastery where we walked about 15 kms to the top of a cliff it was a hard climb for most as beer belly started taking it's toll but making it up there is a big reward. Gorgeous view of the valley down below. The place was so peaceful and serene until people started throwing snowballs again at each other and soon ensued into another fight which i believe was started by Geoff but ended abruptly and we headed down and back to Trabzon to drop off Claire and Jess to get their Georgian visas, after lunch we started driving to the border about 4 hours away and we will meet up across into Georgia.

SUMELA MONASTERY:

The 1000-year-old Monastery of the Virgin Mary at Sumela is among the most impressive sights of Turkey's Black Sea coast.

The monastery's alpine setting, clinging to a sheer rock cliff in the midst of evergreen forests loud with the splash of chill mountain streams, comes as a surprise for those who think of Turkey as a land of rolling steppe. The land around the monastery is now preserved as Altindere National Park.

It's a 1-km (6/10 mile), 35 to 45-minute hike uphill from the parking lot to the monastery entrance. You rise 250 meters (820 feet) in the climb.

TRABZON:

Formerly known as Trebizond (Greek: Τραπεζοῦς Trapezoûs or Τραπεζούντα Trapezoúnta), is a city on the Black Sea coast of northeastern Turkey and the capital of Trabzon Province. Throughout history Trabzon has been an important meeting point for international trade and cultural exchange due to its strategic location which controls the east-west (Asia-Europe) and north-south (Russia-Middle East) trading routes. Trabzon formed the basis of several states in its long history, and was the capital city of the Empire of Trebizond. The population of the city is 275,137 (2006 census).

---

Photos

SUMELA MONASTERY
WALL PAINTINGS IN THE CHURCH

SUMELA MONASTERY
WALL PAINTINGS IN THE CHURCH

Comments

[Granny]

Angus
Angus, We missed you on easter sunday! Hope you are still enjoying yourself.