Trabzon is one of the most important cities of the Black Sea Region. It would not be possible not to include Trazbon while drawing the Eastern Black Sea travel route. The reason why I wanted to add Trabzon to my route was to visit Trabzon monasteries such as Sümela, Kuştul Monastery and Vazelon Monastery.
Trabzon Monasteries
Trabzon was one of the main settlements of the Pontus Greeks. For this reason, it is possible to see works of Orthodox Christians in this region. The Hagia Sophia Church in Trabzon is one of them.
The region where monasteries are concentrated in Trabzon is Maçka district, where Sümela Monastery is located. Macka's monasteries are worth seeing, as are the streams flowing upstream. When my plans crossed with my traveler friend Hanife, who was traveling in this region on the days I came to Trabzon, we decided to meet and go towards the monasteries.
Apart from monasteries in Trabzon; There are also places to visit such as Hıdırnebi Plateau, Çal Cave, Uzungöl (though there is nothing left to see anymore), Karester Plateau, Şahinli Plateau, Şolma Plateau, Hamsiköy. In order to make the most of my time, I made a plan to see only the monasteries.
SUMELA Monastery
It is estimated that the Sumela Monastery was built in 375 AD, and continued to be used actively until 1923. The frescoes on the walls of the monastery, which has sections such as a library, place of worship and guest house, are also remarkable, but they have not escaped the vandalism.
Since I had seen the Sumela Monastery a few times before, we did not add it to our route, since the monastery was under restoration in 2018, we would not be able to enter it, so we turned our route towards lesser known monasteries.
If you haven't seen the Sumela Monastery, I recommend you to see it from the outside, even if it is under restoration. If you go on a sunny day, this monastery carved into a steep rock through pine forests is one of the most impressive structures I have ever seen. I think Tibet would be a more suitable place for seclusion 🙂
Kustul Monastery
The first monastery on our route was the Kushtul Monastery. The monastery was built in 752 AD and was abandoned again in 1923 with the population exchange. There were more than 187 works in the library of the 7000-room monastery.
There is not much signage for monasteries in this region, and we think that we went towards the monastery from the road we found by looking at the navigation. We had climbed quite a bit when we realized that the place we had been relying on the navigation was on the opposite hill of the monastery. In the meantime, I never got tired of getting lost on the mountain road we climbed because the lush forest, flowers, butterflies and fresh air were our companions. The wooden bridge we saw and stopped by chance on the way was the most beautiful sight of this journey. This is a place close to Şimşirli Village, I don't know the exact location because there was no phone reception 🙂 Keep in mind, Vodafone failed in the Black Sea Region, especially in the highlands.
We managed to see the monastery from the opposite hill by asking directions to whomever we saw in the villages on the way. There was a path leading to the monastery, but the path was closed because no one was using it. When the villagers said "you can't go to the monastery", we were content to see the monastery from afar.
Unfortunately, the monastery, which had 4 floors at the time, was about to collapse due to neglect. If we can bring these structures, which are only a few piles of stones for the people of these places, to tourism as cultural assets, it will be very beneficial for the local people, but no one seems to be aware of this.
After looking at the view of Kuştul Monastery from afar, we found a restaurant by the creek in Şimşirli Village. Red-spotted trout is a protected species around here, but for some reason it is found in almost all fishing places. On this occasion, we tasted the red-spotted trout.
If I'm not mistaken for this table (I take note of everything:)) we paid 25TL per person, the table you see in the photo is for 2 people.
Our Search for Vazelon Monastery and Child Martyr Eren Bülbül
With the happiness of seeing the Kustul Monastery from afar, we set out for our next stop, the Vazelon Monastery. The oldest monastery in this region is Vazelon, built in 270 AD. It is said that the Sumela Monastery was built with the revenues of Vazelon. This place was also emptied by the exchange.
Again, we stopped by the saints of navigation and found ourselves on a hill far from the monastery. This time, the hill we found ourselves on was a burning and hurting hill. In August 2017, a 13-year-old boy was killed in a clash with terrorists in the Trabzon Highlands, do you remember? Eren Bülbül was that boy's name. The 13-year-old boy was given the title of martyr and a huge house was built for his family. His mother is still sitting in his grave and lamenting, "He was half hungry, half full, my child, no one knew, will a 13-year-old child be a martyr?" We tried to sit down with Eren's mother and share in her pain, but is it possible… Even though this moment we found by chance caused great pain in our hearts, we continued on our way.
When we came down from this hill, we saw that there was actually a "Vazelon Monastery" sign on the way, we went up quite a bit. But it is not possible to see the sign from the direction of arrival, when you find people in the village, make sure to ask.
After the main road, there was only 3 kilometers left to the monastery, we entered the road, but due to the effect of the fresh rain, the road was very wet and rough, so we went for 1 kilometer, we did not go back. As a matter of fact, we couldn't even see the Vazelon Monastery from the front 🙂
Let me give you good news; Vazelon Monastery, also known as the Monastery of Girls, is among the cultural assets whose restoration will begin in 2020. The Vazelon Monastery, which is thought to be one of the first monasteries in Turkey, was also visited by the Fener Greek Patriarch Bartholomew.
Even though we couldn't see the Monasteries closely, it was a very nice experience to make roads in that area and to witness people build monasteries in places where we are forced to go even with modern vehicles.
If you come to Trabzon, do not neglect to visit these places.
You can find other notes of my Black Sea trip from the links below:
- Caucasus Travel Preparations
- Giresun, the City Named after Cherry, Places to visit in Giresun
- Hidden Gem Santa Ruins
- Mysterious Trabzon Monasteries
- The Most Beautiful Rize Plateaus
- Artvin Highlands
Stay on the road…