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Published: August 24th 2009
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Sinop is a beautiful small town on a peninsula jutting out onto the Black Sea. It is Turkey's northernmost town, but not quite it's most northerly point. Getting there involved a 2 hour bus ride from Sivas to Samsun followed by 3 hours or so more along twisting coastal roads with incredible views.
We stayed at
Otel 57 which has been most comfortable. At 60 Lira per night we've been more than happy. In the evenings we've strolled around the pretty harbourside area, drank tea in the gardens and feasted on fish sat on pontoons floating in the sea. Once the Iftar cannons have fired to signal the end of fasting for the day, the restaurants have been quite busy and the streets deserted for a while, but later on everyone is out to stretch their legs.
The old city walls are quite nice to clamber around and the parts which look out over the sea are particularly attractive. We didn't manage to find the entrance into the old prison though. It is apparently a museum nowadays but there didn't seem to be much inside once we found the outside wall. The beaches are a few kilometres out of town
and not the cleanest you will ever see. It was nice to lay out in the sun and to take a dip in the Black Sea which was colder than refreshing and we certainly didn't stay in the water for long!!
There are a couple of excursions you can take. Whilst it would have been nice to visit Turkey's only fjord, we decided to climb the 28 waterfalls. Our guide, Adem, was excellent and we can wholeheartedly recommend
Sinope Tours for your trip. We tacked onto a reunion of 12 Turkish women who have been meeting up once a year in different places around Turkey for the last 30 years. They were an interesting group and some of them spoke good enough English to have a proper conversation.
Some, however, were not exactly appropriately dressed for such an adventure. Imagine trying to scale the slippery slopes of a waterfall in Crocs! One woman did that and gave up at the first cascade! Of the 12, only 6 were still with us when we successfully negotiated the last climb to be rewarded with tea, ayran and baked potatoes at the top. An old man has a shack there providing all
the refreshments. Luckily for him there is a path leading all the way up so he doesn't have to carry his wares up the waterfalls too! Climbing was easy most of the time but there were some more challenging sections. Adem proved to be very patient and caring in getting everyone as far as they could manage. Ropes were needed on some of the climbs but there was nothing too strenuous really. The views were constantly amazing and later when we broke through the tree line we got a marvellous view of the green valley below us.
It's incredible to think that these waterfalls were only discovered when a new reservoir was constructed less than 10 years ago! It was a privilege to visit.
So now we are on the move again. Off to visit the Ottoman houses of Safronbolu before moving on to Istanbul.
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Excellent description....very well explained...thanks!!