3 September, Çarşamba
to Samsun, 36km
Gold Hotel 70TL (breakfast included)
Samsun is a modern city on the sea, home
to over 600,000 souls; a likeable city, growing fast. Ataturk began Turkey’s
War of Independence in Samsun on 19 May 1919. We have been dithering for
several days about which route to take to Istanbul, our choices being to stick
to the coast road or to take an inland route to the south. Both have pros and cons;
both would require a side-trip using public transport. Yesterday we finally
decided we would stick to the coast road and take a lengthy sabbatical from the
bikes to visit two inland cities and two ancient sites: the cities of Amasya
and Ankara; the site of the Hittite capital at Hattuşa, and Gordion where
Alexander the Great cut the Gordion knot. The Gold Hotel has generously agreed
to store our bikes and bags for ten days or so, and we have booked tickets on
tomorrow’s slow train to Amasya.
Samsun
Samsun