Trabzon, Türkiye

We had a quick breakfast at our hotel in Kars, so that we could get an early start on the six hour drive to Trabzon.

It was a nice sunny day, perfect for driving. The route took us north from Kars through the Kaçkar Mountains to the Black Sea, and then west along the coast to Trabzon.

The first hour from Kars was straightforward, staying roughly at 1750m. Then we started climbing through the Kaçkar mountains. This was really beautiful and a fun drive with lots of gear shifting and turning. There was a lot of snow - on some parts of the road, they were still clearing snow drifts from the roadside over 10’ tall. There were a few farming communities along the way, the houses half-buried in snow.

We went through a few passes, the last at 2470m. The view from there was amazing. It was then a two hour drive down to sea level, following the Çoruh River system. The river looked like it would be ideal for white water rafting.

The Deriner Dam created a blue-green reservoir near Artvin. We stopped just outside town and had a really good lunch. We had a coffee after, but should have had tea, as the Rize province we’d been driving through is the primary tea growing area in Türkiye. We saw quite a few tea gardens on the drive.

We finally reached the Black Sea about four hours after leaving Kars. There were a lot of transport trucks parked roadside, as the highway is the main crossing point into Georgia, about 20km away.

It was a beautiful drive along the coast through Rize and then to Trabzon. Most communities had busy boardwalks along the Black Sea (unfortunately in Trabzon the waterfront is mostly privatized).

Overall it was one of the more beautiful and fun drives we’ve taken. CNN has a feature article on their road trip through the Kaçkar Mountains, with pics of a lot of the stuff we saw.

We checked in at the Hilton. Our room had a nice view of the Black Sea. It was already close to 5pm so we just relaxed in the room, and researched how to visit the Sümela Monastery tomorrow. There’s not much info on the web for independent travelers with their own wheels - almost all the articles were about taking an organized tour, or public transportation. I guess we’ll find out tomorrow!