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Bacon excluded, I've never been a fan of the other white meat® which is pork in case you don't remember the ridiculous advertising campaign from many years ago. After traveling in Russia for almost 2 months where pork features prominently and in Armenia where it is practically unavoidable, it was a pleasure to arrive in Turkey where the other white meat® is thankfully nowhere to be found. The alternate title for this blog is "Where There Is No Atkins Diet" owing to the piles of bread served with every meal. No problem for me as I was never a proponent of the Atkins Diet and Turkey arguably bakes the best bread in the world.

$US ≈ 1.78 Turkish lira (TL)

Accommodation and food On the bus from Batumi, Georgia I met Kash from Japan and we split a room at Hotel Can at the northeast corner of Atatürk Alanı. Twin with AC (almost a necessity in Trabzon's 80% humidity), bathroom with awesome pressure and hot water, breakfast, and WiFi was 60TL without bargaining. 15-20TL singles can be found at Hotel Benli with with only WiFi. There is no shortage of places to eat in Trabzon and during Ramadan many are serving iftar, the fast breaking meal which includes several courses and can be quite a bargain. A couple of places would not let us partake seeing as we were not fasting but only trying to scam a good deal. I was spoiled in Kuşadası last year as several nights I went out for iftar for only 9TL with no questions asked. During the day there was no problem finding places to eat. Os-Kar Kebap just west of the square on Uzun Sokak served dirt cheap, delicious plates of tavuk (grilled chicken, beef or lamb, rice, bread, and salad) for 8-10TL. There are countless places for ice cream and pastries such as baklava. Coffee, on the other hand, was a bit difficult to find. McDonald's actually had a good cup for ~2TL.

Transport See the previous entry for information on crossing from Georgia to Turkey at Sarp. Leaving Trabzon, Kash and I headed to Malatya for a Nemrut Dağı tour. There are two direct buses a day - one with Tokat Yıldızı for 70TL departing at 5:30 pm and arriving in Malatya at 9:00 am and the other on Adıyaman Ünal departing and arriving 3½ hours earlier which wasn't so convenient for the 12:00 pm Nemrut tour departure time from Malatya. The earlier bus was 10TL cheaper but the savings might be diminished by having to go to and from the otogar to purchase the ticket and again at departure. Tickets for the Tokat Yıldızı bus can be purchased commission free from Prenskale Turizm near the square and the price includes a servis shuttle to the otogar 30 minutes before the bus departs. These buses both went via Samsun and Sivas, kind of a roundabout way. Now I am backtracking en route to the Black Sea coast. A much more direct route, probably cheaper and faster too, may be to head from Trabzon to Erzincan or Elazığ then connect to Malatya.

Meydan Hamamı Bath in the center of town costs 31TL for entry, scrub, massage, and wash.

Sumela Monastery 25TL tours (no guide, transport only) leave from the bus offices at 10 am daily. We paid 20TL each by showing up at Eyce Tour's office a little before departure time. Tour returns to Trabzon just before 3:00 pm. 8TL entry fee. I thought the "tour" was underwhelming as most of the monastery is closed to the public. Also, there is way too much time devoted to this tour which makes it difficult to do much of anything else that day. My cynical nature tells me that this is a deliberate attempt to force the passengers to a) have lunch at the restaurants and b) peruse the schlock being peddled at the gift shop. Better may be to take a dolmuş from Trabzon towards Maçka for 3TL and get off at the junction for Sumela. There may be another dolmuş headed to the monastery (I noticed a couple there) or you could try to hitch. Detailed info on this more economical strategy available at the helpful Trabzon tourist information office.

Atatürk Köşkü Atatürk's villa high up on Trabzon's slopes in a cool pine forest. 2TL entry fee, bus #4 runs directly from just south of Atatürk Alanı but there is a transport card required for passage. Better to take the dolmuş from under the bridge near the square for 1.50TL, walk uphill ~15 minutes following the signs, then board the bus downhill pleading igorance as you try to pay the fare with straight cash homey.

Aya Sofya Museum Byzantine church converted to a mosque (I wrote the exact phrase after last year's visit to Aya Sofya in Istanbul). 5TL entry fee, can walk from Trabzon's center in 35-40 minutes but there are buses too. Maybe the kale (tower) will be open presumably affording fine views of Trabzon.

Boztepe Tranquil park and çay bahçesi (tea garden) with a view looking down to Trabzon. Dolmuş from the square runs the steep 2 km uphill.

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