Turkey - Trabzon

 1974

Friday, 5th April

The weather was very mixed all day. Went through a pass and it snowed all the time to Erzurum. The bad road then deteriorated into a track 70 kms. long, although it is called an international highway, and a lorry flicked a stone and smashed my side of the wind-screen. We rigged up the temporary one and drove on. The road got better at Eleskirt. In Agri we stopped buy some food and were told that it was likely we could get a new windscreen in Tabriz. Somewhere we lost a knave plate. We drove on, on a very pot-hole filled road to the border. It only took about an hour to go through the border but we had to put our watches forward half an hour. It started raining, we gave a lift to a customs man and he got soaked with the water coming through the windscreen. We stayed the night by the road 1 km. from the border.

2025

Wednesday 18th June

We had a private transfer to Trabzon and I’m so glad we did because when we reached the hotel it was locked up with a padlock.  There was a phone number on the door and our driver phoned and it seemed that we had been transferred to another hotel.  He eventually found it.  Definitely not to the standard we are used to but it has a couple of pluses, it is central and we have a balcony overlooking the harbour.  As I don’t have phone coverage here, I got Lucy to phone Fred. Holidays to let them know about the locked hotel.  Trabzon is definitely a work in progress, there are some lovely landscaped areas near the sea but there are lots of building sites too as well as very run down areas and very modern areas.  It is very hilly with vibrant narrow streets full of shops and restaurants.

Thursday 19th June

We went on a tour today.  First we visited Sumela Monastery which was just breathtaking.  I was sad to see that the Christian monks who left in 1923 took all the Christianity with them.  There were no stalls selling icons and crosses as there often are at other ancient Christian sites.  We went high up into the mountains and could see the snow still lying near the peaks.  We had lunch in a mountain restaurant.  During the day I heard from Fred. Holidays to say that our transfer driver will come to our present hotel tomorrow to pick us up which is good news.  I must admit they sort out problems quickly and efficiently.  The highlight of the day was realising that we were travelling along the same bit of road as we did in 1974 (part of the Silk Road).  Of course the road surface had vastly improved and today we were not travelling on snow and ice!