A holiday town

Amasra is the first holiday town we have visited, and this is the start of the interesting/historic places we're stopping at. We've stopped at some fairly industrial towns with commercial ports, but today we're surrounded by holiday makers and a decent size beach, even though the guidebook says not to swim there because of the water quality.



Last night we were moored alongside a German yacht in Zonguldak, whose owners seemed to have gone away and left her. The port didn't have much going for it, but it was a useful stop en route.

The night before we were in Eregli, where, as with many other places, they take their fondness of Kemal Ataturk very seriously.

Many of the towns have huge pictures of him at various stages of his life, here's just one example. Of course there is also the ever present Turkish flag which is at the top of every coastal hill and in every port (just in case you forget where you are).

People have been very friendly, shouting 'welcome' to us as we enter ports, and sometimes even arranging dolphins at the entrance!

Although we have seen two other foreign boats we haven't heard any English spoken. We're getting by using some numbers, although when buying baklava yesterday I think the guy behind the counter was bemused by me wanting 4 pieces and not 400 - I then found out they were sold by the gram.

Below is a view of Amasra where we plan to anchor for a couple of nights. It's a bit rolly, but the town is pretty and historic, so I'm sure we'll be here tomorrow night as well.

 

 

Ron's bit . . .

As we had a half-decent breeze we actually managed to sail almost all the way here from Zonguldak but coping with the usual Black Sea swell topped off with a wind-blown popple and with a bit of reflected swell from the cliffs it was bit like sailing through a giant washing machine much of the time. Sue's stomach coped miraculously well and I had no diced carrot to clear up on arrival.

 

Amasra is an interesting place having originally been two fortified islands later joined together by a bridge courtesy of the Romans who were succeeded by the Byzantines then the Ottomans and finally by the Genoese who were very big in these parts for quite a while.

This is where we are!