Saturday, July 09, 2011

Sumela monastery

 There are numerous mini buses that go to Sumela everyday morning at 10am and return at 2pm. Sumela monastery is an hour outside of Trabzon in the mountains. Until I came I didn't know that this part of Turkey looked and felt like the Alps.
High above, shrouded in the mist is Sumela monastery perched precariously on a rock. The bus takes you as close to it as possible but you will have to walk down quite a distance to where they are parked for the return trip to Trabzon.
 There were rhododendron of every color along the way.

 Even with the bus getting you to as close as possible, there was a considerable walk and climb to the monastery.



 Here, near the entrance, was a Laz musician.
 Some of the visitors started dancing.


It was a good crowd visiting Sumela that day. It was wet and slippery but we all braved it and got up there. It was in an incredible setting, most of it was closed for renovations. What we were allowed to see was worth the effort getting there.

No comments: