Today was our day in Trabzon, Turkey. Trabzon is a industrious port where they do lots of exports and has a great history. One of the main points of interest is the Sumela Monastery. This was a Greek orthodox monastery that was built into the side of a hill. As you can see it was a site worth seeing. Over the years the Muslims have defaced a good deal of the frescos but fortunately we have a few that are still in tacked. This holy place used to have 3 icons. Once the monastery was closed the 3 were sent all over the world, one was sent to New York, another was sent to Greece and that last was sent to Ireland. The church wanted to make sure they would not be desecrated.
In order to get to the monastery we had to take a bus, then a mini bus, and then finally walk. It was a cold and rainy day and they were doing road work, so we had a nice muddy walk. Finally we made it to the path which was covered with tree roots and other obstacles you had to navigate around. Once you make it to the entrance you have yet more stairs to climb, then you can see the majesty of the location. Pictures don’t do justice to the beauty of the surroundings.
This was our only day so it made for a short half of a day trip which was nice so would could lounge around the ship a bit before dinner. Tomorrow we are heading to Russia. Russia will be interesting, we are using a local guide to see Stalin’s summer home. So I am curious what the guide is like, and how much they actually believe in their country. Time will tell. I have 3 monastery pictures, and a Brandi shot. Ollie and mom didn’t go today they decided to just stay around the boat. Based on the terrain it was probably for the best.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.