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.
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