Wed March 14 2018  —  e-mail Manfred

The flu of the Black Sea Coast.

Flag turkey Mustapha Kemal Ataturk, Turkey.

Friday, September 25 2009

5 years, 2 months, 3 days

Trabzon, Turkey

About Travel Photography,
Colors of the World.

Manfred is creator of ThisFabTrek.com, travel photography, a travel blog and a photography blog (a journey from 2004 to 2013). 'I set out to see the colors of the world, always I try to capture the colors'.

Seeing, is understanding, so I report and photograph, but formost enjoy and live those different conceptions of life (all that TV [and the web] cannot give). I reject jealousy, animosity, bigotry. Be free!

Manfred in the desert of the Western Sahara

The mind, when pondering at night and always asked those questions. What am I doing in corporate wonderland of bank, university, office or church? Who is the other animal asleep deep inside, the thinker, punk, creative, or Indian, vagabond and healer, maybe artist, writer, photographer, traveler, globetrotter? Oh God, dare you to think. When I saw the lies, gambles and manipulations I follow the old dream and set out for the journey of life lived, the journey to see the colors of the world.

During years on the road I have taken the turns as they came along, and realized one thing: Only such a small part of the planet can be explored and such a vast land and sea mass will always remain unknown, to me; many swamps, jungles, deserts and oceans will never be traveled. But then I am father of twin boys, Daniel and David, my most important, and I show them some of the wonders and colors out there.

ThisFabTrek, Photography and Journey, the Stories from the Road and Life around the World, stopped in August 2013 after more than 9 years, Love and Peace.

Last vehicle.

G20, Chevy Gladiator.

Chevrolet Gladiator G20, The boys in Cordillera Blanca, Peru.
The boys and Chevy van, Peru.

The G20, the vehicle that came to me for the Americas adventures.

6 wheeled Land Rover.

Land Rover Defender 6x6
Link to Foley

The vehicle of the Africa adventures, a Foley 6-Wheeled Land Rover Defender.

Before, the MB307.

Manfred and MB307
Journey, Middle East.

The vehicle of the Middle-East and North-Cape Journeys. See all vehicles.

Daniel and David with nanny Aisha, the best we ever had, black African Woman carrying white twin babies, in Bamako, Mali.

current MB307 8,644km

Trekking 442km

Ferry 1,668km

Train 3,938km

Land Rover 73,588km

Other cars 78,702km

Travel Blog

contains Festival/Fiesta/Art photography.

"There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come." - Victor Hugo.

"What matters in life is not what happens to you but what you remember and how you remember it, to tell the tale." Living to Tell the Tale - Gabriel García Márquez.

"They never taught wandering in any school I attended. ... they never taught the art of writing a book, either. It's all so mysterious."
"Wandering is an art in itself. Wandering and writing don't mix"
"Writing demands commitment and if one thing your wanderer is allergic to is that very quality of commitment, for once one is committed he runs that very risk of failure ..." Wanderer - Sterling Hayden.

"Photography enables you to grasp a place first time round. ... Photography is a means of exploration, it's a vital part of travel, almost as essential as a car or a plane. " - Wim Wenders.

"The worst prejudice we acquire during our youth is the idea that life is serious. Children have the right instincts: they know that life is not serious, and treat it as a game..." , Egon Friedell.

"How far you gonna go. Before you lose your way back home" - Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World, Achtung Baby, U2.

"If you want to be a hero well just follow me." - Working Class Hero, John Lennon.

"When I think of all the things I have done, I know that it's only just begun." - I love you, Lou Reed.

"One does not escape the Sahara - the Sahara let's you go or not" - Touareg.

"Planet earth is blue and there`s nothing I can do" - This is Ground Control to Major Tom, David Bowie.

"Glory for the crazy people/in this stupid world" - Ahmed Fouad Negm.

www.thisfabtrek.com > journey > asia > turkey > 20090925-trabzon

Leaving Istanbul, the coast, Safranbolu.

Map, Turkeys Black Sea coast.

Download GPS (KML) track/waypoints.

I leave Istanbul late afternoon, Friday 18th, north along the Bosporus, hit the Black Sea coast at Riva, not far at all, a beach, a fortress in ruins, Byzantine, Ottoman? Night falls early, sees some drops of rain, I am sick with the flu, sleep long hours, days are getting shorter, no good to be wasting my daylight time.

Along the coast all day driving, curvy, hilly, slowly is my path. Bleak and trashy the scenery, industrial, wearying, no reward, Alapli, Atatürk, the sun’s out, Eregli with its shipyards, Camp 2nd night, a fishing port near Kilimli, distance covered 220km, on road 350. Cook, a thunderstorm then a second one, lightning and thunder a second in between, torrential rains all night, never stops raining but not cold. Just I have the flu.

Ataturk, memorial Alapli, Black sea coast Turkey.
Alapli, Atatürk.
Eregli, Turkey, 2 ships, drydocks, shipyard.
Eregli, shipyard.
Black Sea coastal road.
Zonguldak to Filyos.

Wake up, throat is miserable, vitamins, Nescafe, a litre of Earl Grey’s sweetened with Bulgarian Rila honey; hit the ever winding coastal road, Zonguldak, Filyos, think rather go inland. Safranbolu first stop with its old preserved Ottoman houses, baths, mosques, a UNESCO heritage, a museum not yet, tourists, many Turkish, electric golf carts tour them round town, MP3 players do the guide talk. A restaurant for me, food is nice; I need to eat well to recover.

Ottoman house, Turlish tourists, Safranbolu street.
Ottoman houses.
Sheds, Turkey, Safranbolu.
UNESCO, preserved .
Alley Safranbolu, Ottoman preserved houses, Turkey.
Safranbolu riches through...
Safranbolu.
...saffron trade.
Children on bike play, cobblestone alley Safranbolu.
Children.
Turkish female tourists, Safranbolu, wearing headscarves.
I don't show souvenir shops.
Chief Turkish restaurant.
Köfte, Lentil soup.
Cafe, vines, Safranbolu.
Cafes, cobblestones, vines.
Safranbolu, village, Turkey.
View on village.

back to top

Kastamonu back to coast, Inebolu and Sinop.

Carry on to Kastamonu, sleep in for an hour, so sick, when I wake up discover all is dead, end of Ramadan festivities, all is closed, all is decorated with huge Atatürk posters and Turkish flags. A Atatürk war of independence memorial shows the famous peasant women delivering artillery shells for the battle front in carts pulled by oxen. Kastamonu lies on rout from the Black Sea port of Inebolu where the smuggled Russian weapons arrived to where the decisive all out or nothing battle of Dumlupınar (wiki) in the Greco-Turkish war was fought. After the war it was in Kastamonu 1925 where Mustafa Kemal made the first speeches pushing western head wear and dress, abolishing turban, fez and veil.

Kastamonu, two old turkish muslims in front of Ataturk posters and Turkish flags on end of Ramadan.
Kastamonu, end of Ramadan.
Shops closed in Kastamonu.
All dead.
Ottoman mosque.
Ottoman mosque.
Old, Ottoman house, nearly falling over. Kastamonu, Turkey.
Falling, bending.

Sun's out, briefly, me driving.
Sun before more rain.
Inebulo, strong winds and waves pounding pier. Turkey, Black Sea coast.
Inebulo, pounding waves.

Getting out, direction back to the coast, sun breaks through, for this is short lived, it sets behind those thundery black towers, my path takes me over 3 passes, one higher than 1200m, a foretaste of the rough, moulded Anatolian landscape and I realise those snow poles; they’re there for a purpose. I need to move, 20th of Sep already, winter will come soon.

The coast, Inebulo, the rains have me back, all night, wind and rain, waves pounding, but I cannot hear them, my ears are plugged by the cold, or the flu.

Morning, cough sounds like pneumonia, spit green and yellow, the Black Sea calm two days ago now a monster, I still can’t hear her, sinuses still blocked. have my vitamin C dose, coffee, Earl Grey’s and honey. Why do I have such strong believe in the power of real honey?

Cute little red bus in Sinop, Turkey.
Cute little bus.

I stop using the heater, seems this dries out my nostrils, in Ayancik I stock up on more honey, 1 kilo of expensive Turkish original. Sweeten my tea after Bulgarian now Turkish, both pretty much organic from where they're from. I believe pure quality honey is medicine, contains natural antibiotics.

Sinop has Turkey's northern most port, a Byzantine castle, in ruins, some of which washed away by the sea. The friendly internet cafe, a walk on pier, I like it. It rains. Work on computer in car, an Efes beer. Sleep my great sleep.

back to top

Samsun.

Mustapha Kemal arrived by ship in Samsun in 1919, escaping Istanbul and the British, Samsun is where he started his conspiracy/revolution, after he tricked the Sultan to make him inspector of the Eastern Armies, when in fact he went organising the nationalists.

I arrive, a big city, find a parking, central, spend afternoon on the internet, outside is drizzel all day, the flu seems in check, evening a fish sandwich, then drizzle turns back to rain. Head between my sholders, wander through town, buy an umbrella, now realise how wet I am. Back to the car, write the back stories. Not much I can do but have some Jameson Irish Whiskey. At least the mind thinks this is good for the cold. Always tea and honey sucks.

Morning no rain, buy a liter of Ayran, visit the Gazi (Atatürk) Museum, feel like half an expert on him since reading the Mango (wiki) biography, have some fried anchovis or mackerels, for what it is, istavrit at my favorit place and wonder why I still not even manage say teşekkür ederim, thank you in Turkish? At least I can read it, they changed from Perso-Arab to Latin letters in the 30s, another of Atatürk's reforms.

Samasun, peole, bus. Turkey.
People, bus, rain.
Plenty of fish in Samsun, Turkey.
Plenty of Fish.
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, 1922.
Mustapha Kemal Atatük.
Statue by Austrian Heinrich Krippel of Ataturk on horse.
by Heinrich Krippel.

back to top

Samsun to Trabzon, Jason's Cape.

2 nights in Samsun further on coast east on 24th, it is SUNNY, yeah. Somewhere I leave the 2 lane highway that followed the coast since Sinop. A mountain, a peninsula, a smaller cape, Jason’s cape with Jason church; Jason/Yasun leader of the Argonauts, figure in Greek mythology 8c B.C. travelled in a ship with his band of heroes the coast in search for some golden fleece. Whether Jason actually was here, we don't know for sure.

Beach and bay, Black Sea Coast, Turkey.
Beach and bay.
Cow on Jason's Cape, Turkey, Black Sea.
Cow on Jason's Cape.
Jason Church, on Jason Cape.
Jason Church.
Jason Church Gate.
Gate.
Islet, Black Sea coast, near Jason's Cape, Turkey.
Islet, blue sea.
Man reading paper in front of shop. Giresun, Trabzon.
Giresun, sunny day.

Spend my afternoon in Giresun, reading more about Atatürk in a bar, reach Trabzon after sundown.

Since Sinop I have been following the 2 lane speedway, no where to park, always glued to the Black Sea, beaches are plenty, but due to the proximity of the freeway inaccessible/polluted by whatever garbage motorists throw out/dangerous to stop/unpleasant to walk for the trucks go by at high speeds. When sun sets I stop anyway. Is nothing to take a picture but the scrubs by the road.

Weeds dangling in sunset, Black Sea coast.
Herbs.
Night, Gren lit mosque 4 minarettes, before Trabzon.
Before Trabzon.
Sunset, Ocean.
Sea, sunset.
Thistle, Black Sea Coast, Sunset and Sea.
Thistle.

back to top

Trabzon/old Trebizond.

Woman buying bread at bakery. Trabzon, Turkey.
Bakery.
Me walking in front of yellow Ottoman building in Trabzon.
Ottoman building.
Another yellow Ottoman building looking down the ravine in Trabzon, Turkey.
Down the ravine.
Carsi Camii, Bazar, Trabzon . Women head scarves.
Carsi Camii, Bazar, Trabzon .
Uzun Sokak, Trabzon, Turkey, pedestrian zone.
Uzun Sokak, pedestrian.

At night the town is completely taken over by the young, walking up and down the pedestrian zone. I cannot hide my smile, the further east I get the better it seems. Trabzon a McDonald, a Burger King, an Efes Beer Pub that is not a brothel. What more do I want?

Most towns on the Eastern coast stretch over a number of hills with many steeply sloped alleys, nice congested, busy adults seeing after their businesses, roaming kids in their teens and twenties, many after school still in school uniform, women pushing prams over cobblestones up and down, get the shopping done.

Hazelnut business is good business on Eastern Black Sea coasts
Hazelnut business.
Straw in bushels, trabzon, Turkey
Bushels of straw?
Efes Bier, Pub/Restaurant, Trabzon, Turkey.
My Pub in Trabzon.
Kiosk in rainy Trabzon, Turkey.
Rainy kiosk.
Trabzon, Turkey, honey shop, car, street sweeper.
Streets are clean.

Trabzon, Stress Cafe, free wifi, every afternoon for me, a Turkish coffee, kahve, followed by a tea, çay. There’s a coming and going of young people after school, they play back gammon or smoke Shisha on the terrace, or Narghilè as it is called here, new smoking laws forbid smoking inside, for a tobacco cultivating and smoking nation like Turkey, a revolution. But Turkey is used to revolutions and authorities that interfere in ones private conducts.

Evening Friday I think of having a quiet beer in some local pub I have seen. Strict laws give one floor to men with women, no smoking, the other floor, actually the terrace to the poor suckers without a woman, so it seems to me, I cannot just sit anywhere, terrace on top means smoking allowed, so I am stuck with all the men and it is really, really crammed, the waiter seats me on a table with 3 other nice guys, though no one speaks a word of English, brings a beer, and in a minute I know why it is so full. The more than 100 men have come after work to watch Trabzonspor play some Ankara club in Ankara, on overhead TVs. Ok so this won’t be a short and quick beer. 2:2, very civilized drinking, 6 beers later, we all go our ways.

That was not such a great move for my cold, lie in all Saturday, is raining anyway.

Sunday afternoon after rain all morning I visit Ayasofya, Hagia Sophia (wiki) here in Trabzon, 13th century, late Byzantine.

Hagia Sophia, church, Trabzon, 13th century. Late Byzanthin. Frescos.
Hagia Sophia in Trabzon.
Ayasofya, Trabzon, Turkey.
or Ayasofya.
Cupola frescos, interior of Hagia Sophia, Trabzon.
13c. A.D.
Arches inside Ayasofya, Trabizond, Trabzon.
Late Byzantine.
Portal of Hagia Sophia, Trabzon.
Gate. Olive tree.
Hagia Sophia, Trabzon.
Restored.
Main ship, Trabzon, Ayasofya.
Like a cathedral.

Clouds buid-uo to the west of Trabzon, Turkey.
More bad weather.

There is more bad weather in the making as I leave the church. From central Trabzon it takes a good hour walking all the way west, is nice in afternoon sun. But it daunts me and I wisely catch a minibus back/I arrive and it rains/crawl in the back of my truck/work the back pages/tea and honey and whiskey (as Nick suggested).

The honey it seems has done its job. When at other occasions I would have gone for serious antibiotics I stuck it out in the cold of my van, convalesce by self medication of tea and honey in large quantities.

www.thisfabtrek.com > journey > asia > turkey > 20090925-trabzon

back to top