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.
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