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Published: July 28th 2008
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It has been over two years I have not been to my fathers home town. As Turkish Airlines started flights between Istanbul and Sinop now there is an alternative for the hectic 12 hours bus journey. Also another good reason I have was to see my fathers boat in the sea, which he has been struggling to build for three years.
Sinop is a very old port city of Anatolia whose history dates back to the Hitite times, the first civilization founded in Anatolia. As having a good natural port and located on a peninsula which can easily be protected, it was always an important trading town. Its name comes from the daughter of the river god in Greek mythology, whose name was Sinope. The town was also an important colony of Roman Empire and home town of famous Greek philosopher Diogenes of Sinope, who considered living like a dog in the streets independent from property and all artificial social norms as a virtue. His famous anecdote was strolling in the streets of Athens with a lantern in his hand in day time and when he was asked what he was doing, he replied "I am looking for a honest
Sinop from the castle
The avenue paralel to the sea is called "Asiklar" which meaning "Avenue of Lovers" man". Diogenes was not the last crazy men Sinop raised, the town has many famous wise, insane figures whom can still be seen in the streets. One I can remember clearly in my childhood was "Tarzan", who lived in the streets with his dogs wearing only a short and playing his drum while walking in the streets with his dogs. He was a strict environmentalist and actually a bright engineer in his youth, his famous wall writing was "Lambs are babies, they can't be slaughtered".
It is hard to summarize the rich history of the town and its insanes. Because of the geographical factors, the high Black Sea mountains which isolate the town with the rest of the country, and the towns political choice for the left parties which almost never got the political power in Turkey, the town left small with a population around 25,000 people and a big number of locals immigrated to the big cities for better opportunities. Also a big Greek population (Pontians) immigrated from the town in 1920's during the population exchange between Turkey and Greece.
The plane landed to the airport which was close to the "Hamsilos", the only fjord of Turkey,
located in Inceburun peinisula, the northernmost tip of Turkey. Sea is visible and I smelled the beautful scent from the trees around, mostly coming from daphne trees. Like everywhere in Black Sea coast you can see green whereever you turn your head.
I spent the first two days in the beach and sometimes helping my father with his boat. The sea was beautiful and clean, and there was a sunny good weather. A point to note unlike the many places in Black Sea coast society structure is quite liberal. Girls can go to beach with their bikinis and can stay in streets till late at night. Many times I thought the freedom of the women of this city comes from the Amazones, the women warrior tribe in the history whose home town was also Sinop.
In our third day with 3 other friends, we decieded to head to the Erfelek water falls. A master piece of nature around 40 kms from Sinop. It was not known before 1990's even by the people of Sinop then as bush walking became a popular activity in the big metropols of Turkey it became a popular spot for weekend tours. The way
to the falls is spectacular, you pass by typical Black Sea villages and Erfelek, a little town of Sinop province. Then we met a pleasent suprise, the Erfelek dam. Actually we were not expecting to see such a big lake on our way. Forest of beech and oak trees surround the whole way and dam. The Erfelek water falls is a national park now and you pay a 5 ytl entrance fee for a car. One asks why that money is not spent at least to modify the terrible way to the falls.
There are totally 29 water falls. The spot is also a good camping area and there is a restaurant and also a few modest cafes run by the villagers who live around. Don't imagine something like a starbucks from the word cafe but they will serve you enough to have a break during the route; tea, ayran (a drink from yogurt) and baked potatos. You can reach the source of the water falls from two ways, one from the river bed and in many places you will have to climb the water falls, which is challenging but at the same time something you feel like you
are in a camel trophy. The other easier way is to walk from the path which goes through the hills around the water falls. This is a short and easier way but of course you miss the beauties of the falls.
In my last day in Sinop a group of University students came from Ankara to distribute leaflets and protest against the nuclear plant project planned for the town. The people of the town are well aware of building such a bomb ready to explode in the middle of this beautiful nature is a murder but at the same time they are living a dilemma between the unemployment problem, almost stopped economy of the town and this plant.
My fathers cousine gave us a ride with his boat and we dived to the blue waters while the beaches and green hills of the Sinop was in front of us. A good final for this journey. Sinop this time looked beautiful to my eyes more than ever. Probably I am getting old.
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