24 August, Maçka
Vazelon Pansiyon 100TL
Two mountain streams meet in Maçka: one
brown, the other dark blue. As with the confluence of the Blue and White
Niles, they run side by side, though less dramatically and for 50m or so only
before mingling. Having found that the first dolmuş to
Sumela Monastery was only due in from Trabzon at 10:30, we decided to spend an
extra night in town and hitch a ride back up to the Zigana tunnel and spend a
little more time admiring the scenery we had caught only brief glimpses of
during our cloudy descent yesterday. We made this decision over Nescafe at a sidewalk
çay evi. Nearby were hazelnuts spread on a blue tarpaulin. An adolescent cat entertained
us with his antics. He would pretend the nuts were not there, then catch sight
of a stray nut and leap sideways as if escaping from a deadly enemy. He would
then grab at the nut, juggling it between his front paws. For variety, he would
push his paws under the tarpaulin and watch the nuts roll this way and that. Later
in the day we saw him curled asleep in a sidewalk potplant. In the afternoon we
took the last dolmuş 17km into the hills to walk the steep 1200m to the Sumela
Monastery. The Greek Orthodox monastery was founded in 386AD in Byzantine times
and abandoned in 1923 after the creation of the Turkish Republic. It’s a
beauty.
Between Zigana Pass and Maçka
Between Zigana Pass and Maçka
Between Zigana Pass and Maçka
Sumela Monastery
Sumela Monastery
Sumela Monastery
Sumela Monastery
Sumela Monastery