Tranquil Northern Turkey travel

I just mentioned in my previous post that I had 3 friends coming from Romania visiting and that I took a week off for vacation and we almost made a plan about it :)


well ... screw the plan!!! :)


We ended up going to Nort-Western Turkey only but that cool enough. Started in Safranbolu, a UNESCO world heritage city from there on went to Amasra just for a few hours and had dinner there. On the way to Amasra we heard about this place Cakraz which has much better beaches than Amasra and it is more quiet so we went there ... it was great!!! I loved the place!


After, for almost one full day we travelled from Cakraz to Sarikum, about 300 km but it took about 9 hours to get there. The reason ... the curbed road on the abrupt Black Sea coast, hundreds of serpentines and no tunnels or bridges. but the landscape is breathtaking and driving on the edge of the cliff is quite exciting ... finally we arrived at sunset at Sarikum, a small village. the reason to go there: Ecotopia, a camp in a natural reservation. the place is beautiful, there is this lake with many wild birds and the camp was next to the beach and the beach was beautiful and quiet except for Saturday when locals came for picnic :)


A 1 day trip was to the Erfelek waterfalls, 28 small ones on the course of a river, all within max 2 km. Beautiful and refreshing ... did some walking with bear foot in icy cold water, climbed some walls and admired the beauty of the place. on the way back from sarikum we hithhiked and went really well :) ... first hitch hiking xp in Turkey.



After more bathing in the very warm Black Sea and chilling in the camp I left back to Istanbul with a day stop in Sinop where there was a Music and Tourism Festival. That was pretty noisy and felt like Istanbul again. I arrived just in time for a live rock concert and it was interesting to see vailed women attending the show and curiously following the performance ...



Finally I left Sinop and for 3 hours before sunset I could admire the beautiful landscape in Northern Turkey again, this time in-land and the mountains where even higher, the water was missing but the landscape was as beautiful.


I feel very positively energized after this week, it was exactly what I needed. And I am glad I didnt go for all the crowded and touristical places.

Please check the photo album.


next is Brazil ... :) in 2 weeks time.