Amasya

Leaving Sinop, we took the coastal road towards Samsun, where we turned south towards Amasya. The Black Sea coast is amazing and although the roads were at times under heavy construction, the views were worth the hassle.

Amasya ranks right at the top in terms of places to visit in Turkey. I took so many pictures I had a hard time deleting the near-perfect ones to end up with a modest set. Amasya is the burial place of the Pontic Kings, their mountainside crypts clearly visible from all over town. The picture below was taken from the Ali Kaya restaurant. I purposely cut out the surrounding sprawl and focused on the old town, on the north bank of the river.

At night, the crypts are lit up, basking in an at first strange hue. It does work with the yellowish mountain lights, but it does take getting used to.

The north bank of the river is lined with Ottoman-styled houses, much like we encountered in Safranbolu, but in this case overhanging the river.

On the south side of the river is a new and well-designed boulevard. It's an odd mix, but it works.

As you walk further along the river, the views begs for more photographic attention.

Much like other areas focused on tourism, Amasya catered strictly to Turkish people, although we did see two "real" tourists. A Czech woman showed up at our table pretty much right after we arrived. Her husband was a diplomat in Ankara and they were touring around as well. Later that night we talked to them some more. We found out from them that the rest of the coastal road was also under construction. As such we decided to stay inland and go to Erzurum, on the way to Yusufeli and Kars.