Trabzon and the Black Sea

Uzungol, the long lake, is the postcard image of the Black Sea highlands: a slender sheet of water cradled at around 1,090 metres in a bowl of steep, forested mountains, roughly a hundred kilometres inland from Trabzon in the Caykara district. The lake formed when a landslide dammed a mountain stream, and the classic view, with a slim-minareted mosque reflected in still water below dark green slopes, is one of the most photographed scenes in Turkey. Mornings are the magic hour, when mist hangs over the surface and the reflections are sharpest before the day-trippers arrive. Around the shore you will find trout restaurants (the local speciality, farmed in the cold water), wooden guesthouses and tea gardens, and the option to drive or hike higher to the summer pastures above. It has grown busy and built-up in recent years, so an overnight stay lets you enjoy the quiet early and late, when the coaches have gone.

Sumela is one of the most dramatic sights in Turkey: a Greek Orthodox monastery seemingly glued to a sheer cliff, 300 metres above the forested Altindere valley in the Macka district south of Trabzon. Tradition dates its founding to 386, under the Byzantine emperor Theodosius I, and for centuries it was a major pilgrimage site dedicated to the Virgin Mary, growing into the cluster of chapels, cells and aqueduct arches you see today. Its heart is the Rock Church, its walls and the cliff face above it covered in layers of frescoes spanning centuries. The monastery was abandoned in 1923 during the population exchange, then reopened after years of painstaking restoration and rockfall-safety work. Reaching it means a climb on foot through cool, dripping forest, with the building revealing itself through the trees. Come on a clear morning, as cloud often rolls into the valley later in the day and can swallow the view entirely.

Ayder is the most famous of all the Black Sea yaylas, a highland resort of wooden chalets scattered across steep green pastures at around 1,300 metres, in the Camlihemsin district of Rize, an easy add-on from Trabzon. The drive in is half the experience, following a rushing river up a gorge past waterfalls and tea terraces into the foothills of the Kackar Mountains, the highest range on the Black Sea. Ayder itself is known for its thermal hot springs, where you can soak in mineral water after a day in the hills, and for the sweeping meadows above the village that turn a vivid green in summer and fill with wildflowers and grazing cattle. It is the main base for trekking deeper into the Kackars, visiting higher pastures like Pokut and Sal, and tasting the region's Hemsin culture and its famous muhlama (a molten cheese-and-cornmeal fondue). Mornings are often misty; by midday the clouds usually lift over the peaks.

The Hagia Sophia of Trabzon is a jewel of late Byzantine art, built in the thirteenth century by Manuel I, one of the emperors of Trebizond, on a low rise overlooking the Black Sea just west of the modern centre. Far smaller than its famous namesake in Istanbul, it makes up for size with the quality of its decoration: the interior and porches preserve some of the finest medieval frescoes in all Anatolia, vivid scenes from the Gospels rendered by masters who blended Byzantine tradition with Eastern influences. A separate bell tower stands nearby. After the Ottoman conquest the church became a mosque, served for a time in the twentieth century as a museum, and has since returned to use as a working mosque, so some of the frescoes are now screened during prayers. The setting, with lawns running down toward the sea, makes it a peaceful stop away from the traffic of the city centre.

Boztepe is the balcony of Trabzon, a green hill rising directly behind the city where locals have come to drink tea and take in the view for generations. From its terraces the whole of Trabzon spreads out below, tumbling down to the harbour and the Black Sea beyond, and on a clear evening the light on the water is beautiful. The hill is dotted with tea gardens and simple cafes where a glass of Rize tea costs almost nothing and buys you an hour of one of the best panoramas in the region. It is an unhurried, local sort of place, more about atmosphere than sights, and it pairs naturally with a visit to the nearby Ataturk Pavilion (Ataturk Kosku), a graceful white mansion set in gardens on the same slopes where the founder of the republic once stayed. Late afternoon into sunset is the time to come, when the city lights begin to flicker on.