Vacation, Part 7: Amasra

Leaving Safranbolu, we took a bus 2 hours north to the Black Sea coast. We visited the town of Amasra, which a friend had recommended as having a great beach. She was right!!!

Our first view of the Black Sea out the bus window

Amasra is such a beautiful place! I've never seen anything like it! Justin said it reminded him a little of Venice.

The Black Sea coast is famous for its fishing, so we saw lots of these fishing boats in action

Amazing cliffs and rock formations right on the coast

 

View from our hotel room. We stayed at the Mızıka Pansiyon, and recommend it. Tell the owner we sent you!

The pictures don't do it justice - the water was so clear and blue!

Amasra is definitely a tourist town, though. Everything was quite expensive, and they kept much later hours than usual. Places didn't open until 10am, and we could hear people out partying on the street below us LONG after we went to bed! This is why we chose to only spend one day there instead of our whole vacation!

A tourist market, selling souvenirs and toys

Elias enjoying corn on the cob from a street vendor

Amasra is also full of amazing history. Just like we've seen in the rest of Turkey, the historical sites just blend right into daily life. The historic Amasra was an important port used by Phoenicians, Greeks (it's mentioned in the Iliad), Romans, and of course the Ottomans. The fortress ruins in the picture below date from the Byzantine era. Pedestrians and cars squeezing through fortress walls and cobblestone streets.

The fortress ruins in the above picture were built by the Byzantines and Genoese.

 

This is the museum's courtyard. The museum contains marble statues of Roman emperors and Ottoman artifacts.

People swimming and sunbathing off the ruins. The pictures don't do justice to the clear blue water.