Further exploration

We have spent yet another weekend talking to people!
On Thursday we arrived in Samsun, which has the only marina we'll see in the Black Sea. We were expecting to pay $50, as described in the pilot and so were planning to stay one night, get the water tanks filled and do a few jobs on the boat. Instead we found ourselves berthed next to a German couple who asked us if we wanted to go with them on a two day trip to Corum, Hatusa and Amasya, which are about 150 miles inland. This was being organised for them by a local person who is a representative for a German Cruising organisation. As the cost for the marina turned out to be 50 lira per night not $50 we decided to go.

So on Friday morning we were taken to the local bus station, and got a local bus (2 hours - £8) and were met at the other end by a car and driver to take us to Corum and Hatusa. In Corum we visited a museum which told the local history, including the Hittites who lived around here about 4000 years ago. Next we went onto visit Hatusa, a massive site which had been their capital which few people walk around. It had an 8km perimeter wall and there is a one way road around the site for tourists to get on/off buses and see the main sites then on to another museum and finally a holy grotto cut into the rock over 3000 years ago.


Reconstruction of 1% of the wall



Part of Hatusa



 

At the end of the day the driver dropped us at the bus station for our journey to Amasya and there we carried on with the adventure. We asked a taxi driver to drop us at a cheap but reasonable hotel, but the room we had taken turned out to have a hot water pipe that heated the whole room to about 40 degrees even with the window open so at 11pm Ron and I were wandering around town looking for a better hotel. We found one which was better, but as you'd expect, pricier!

Hotel breakfast room



Amasya, showing castle, right at the top of the mountain

After breakfast we met our friends at the original hotel and walked up to a castle, and as with most mad English people, did this around midday! The views were worth it. The castle is right at the top of this hill.
Apart from being in a spectacular setting, spanning a river in a steep valley Amasya is famous for its numerous Ottoman houses with their overhanging top storeys, now mostly turned into small hotels like the one we stayed at.

Following a terrible lunch and a visit to a mosque we caught yet another bus back to Samsun.

We spent Sunday doing work on the boat and today we've motored 55 miles, in some rough seas. My stomach likes being on land much more than being at sea!





 

 

 

Amasya by day and night