This book is a photographic record of the trip made by Fred Oosting and Charles Roffey to Turkey in from 24th July to 10th August 2009. The main part of the journey took us to Karadeniz, the Black Sea Region of Turkey, from Istanbul to Trabzon, where where we were to fly back to Istanbul. Nothing had been planned in advance but with the help of a guide book, some recommendations from friends and some investigations on flickr, we had an idea of where we wanted to go in general.



As it happened, we spent our time as follows:



24-27 July Istanbul (pages 6 to 10), with Princes' Islands (11 to 14)

28 July Safranbolu (16 to 20)

29-31 July Amasra (21 to 32), with a trip to Bartin (28 and 29)

1-2 August Inebolu (35 to 51)

3 August Sinop (55 to 75)

4-7 August Trabzon (76 to 140), with a visit to Tonya (92 to 97) and Ayder (100 to 128)

8-10 August Istanbul (141 to 158)





We were lucky with the weather and when it did rain it was always when we were travelling by bus, except the one evening we had in Sinop, where we could enjoy a massive electrical storm which followed the heavy rain. This storm gave us some great pictures as well as my first lightning photo (page 60). We had to skip the eastern part of the coast with our overnight bus journey from Sinop to Trabzon, leaving that area for another trip. Our biggest surprise was the town of Inebolu, about which we had no expectations, and after a grey start and having to make a choice between two not-so-good hotels, we had a wonderful stay, getting to know quite a few people around town and greatly enjoying the colourful women's market and the splendid wooden houses (with fabulous sea views!). Amasra was a real beauty, but that was to be expected. Trabzon was gritty but contained its own beauty, in the backstrets and the friendliness of the people living there. We'd recommend the Black Sea coast to anyone with a sense of adventure and an open mind.