More about Trabzon...

As you know, the first day of Trabzon was a success. Day 2 began with a lovely Marshutka ride into Meydan (a.k.a. the city center).  As soon as our feet stepped out of the Marshutka, we did the typical “tourist-in-a-new-city” thing and busted out the city map. Kas had circled everything that we wanted to see in Trabzon.  Normally it doesn’t take me that long to navigate my way around a map, except it was so unbelievably windy! The map was flying every which way. You know that cartoon where someone gets hit in the face with a piece of paper ball and then it forms to their face? That’s probably how we looked to those who passed us by.  Another element that slowed down our map reading abilities was that there are NO street signs in Trabzon. None.  Well none that we could see anywhere.  The locals were probably playing tricks on us.  In that moment, this is what we knew; we’re in Meydan, we want to find the Ataturk Pavilion.  The problem was getting from Point A to Point B.  Always tricky.  After a certain amount of time, that felt like an eternity, a Turkish man whisked us into the closest tourist office. We spent the next 20 minutes trying to explain to them that we didn’t want to go on their tours, we just wanted to know where we were! Is that too much to ask?  Then we left that office and wandered down the street to the Tourist Information Office.  The man that worked there spoke English significantly better than those in the previous office.  He helped us get our bearings and map out a plan for the rest of the weekend.  Over the next two days, we were able to hit up everything that we wanted to see.  Success!

One of the funniest parts of the weekend is how we got too and from the city. The hotel we were staying at was slightly outside the city center.  That meant we just had to Marshutka around. Since neither of us spoke a single word of Turkish and the drivers had no idea where "Novotel Hotel" was when we said it, I developed a different strategy to communicate to them.  I took a picture of the Outlet Mall next to our hotel and that is what I used to convey our destination.  When whenever we were trying to head back in the evenings, we would stand on the big street parallel to the Sea and flag down every, and I mean every, Marshutka that would be driving along.  When they stopped we would open the door and show them this picture:

Their answer would be a simple shake of the noggin.  Yes or no.  It should really silly, but it was really effective.

On Tuesday, we checked out of the hotel and took a quick detour to the bus station to check bus times before one last day in the city.  We located the stand of the bus company that went to and from Batumi, got the time schedule, and were then searching for lockers to put our bags. Well… they didn’t have lockers.  Oh silly Turkey!  Luckily, we left them with the charming secretary in the Prenskale office.  I’m happy that I brought my combo locks with me.  For the most part, she looked trustworthy but it was comforting to know that my bag was locked.  When we returned from our exploration, I checked my bag and everything was in its proper place. J

Here's some pictures of the local sites!

Meydan!

Kas and I with the Sumela Monastery in the background.

Inside the Sumela Monastery

Overlooking Trabzon!

Hagia Sophia

Atatürk Köşkü

Behind all the trees is the Trabzon Museum.

The bus ride back was nothing out of the ordinary. The best part was just after we crossed the border back into Georgia.  At this point we were the only ones on the bus, except for the driver of course.  Since it was nearing evening, Kas felt a little chillier and decided she wanted to add some layers and change from sandals to tennis shoes.  My bus driver was simply transfixed!  Maybe he’s never seen bare feet before or maybe it was that Kas’s hair kept sweeping into his face… I thought we were going to hit something because he was hardly looking at the road, just her feet.  Pretty hilarious moment.  

Part 2 of Spring Break is coming soon!

Until next time. Adventure is out there!