It was a nice surprise that the hotel staff were ready for breakfast at 8am instead of 9am like yesterday. It was the same food except the egg was overcooked. The cay—pronounced chai and is tea—is the most popular drink and the Turkish coffee like I had yesterday is a specialty.
I went to the town center where I had been dropped off, and I asked the fellow standing by if this was the place for the bus to take me to Safranbolu, he nodded yes so we waited just 5 minutes and the minibus arrived for the steep hill to the Dolmus bus station at a cost of 3.5 TL.
When I got off, I pointed to the town, Bartin, in my LP Guidebook and asked the drivers where the bus was. They gestured with their hands, so I got the general direction of where to go. After two blocks, I asked again at another bus stop with more gestures, I ended up going down a street and turned right as gestured down an alley where I saw the minibus station.
I was lucky since the bus was leaving in just 20 minutes for the 1 1/2 hour ride to Bartin at a cost of 30 TL after presenting my passport. This was a fully packed 20-passenger bus, and before getting on, they did a temperature check and applied my hand sanitizer. Everyone aboard wore masks as well as everyone I saw on the streets. The only times you don’t wear masks are when you are eating and drinking.
We passed through pine forests and river valleys on our way to Bartin.
We stopped halfway to take smoke and bathroom breaks and then proceeded with occasional stops to drop off and pick up passengers before we got to Bartin.
Once there, the driver showed me that I just had to walk across the street to take another minibus to Amasra. It was a short half-hour ride on the completely full 20-passenger bus and this time I just wrote my name down on a register along with my passport number, sanitized my hands, and got a temperature check as I boarded the bus. It cost 7TL
This Black Sea village was beautiful with a harbor filled with small fishing boats along with lots of tourist restaurants and hotels. It is on a small peninsula with an old stone bridge to a small steep island with cobbled streets and great hilltop views of the harbor and village below.
Once in Amasra, I had no Lonely Planet guide, nor booking.com so I just started walking around and ended up at the Kristal Butik Otel for 125 TL for the night. It was just a block from the local market and the beach area. I got the 2nd floor with views of the remnants of the fortress walls above and rooftops. It was clean and comfortable for a night’s stay.
I enjoyed walking across the Kemere bridge to the Boztepe Island through two of the fortress gates whose side walls were scarred by the drivers who scrapped their rearview mirrors and more on its walls.
I saw lots of fishing boats along with restaurants featuring fish as well as a sandy beach area.
The nearby food market was fairly active and had the usual vegetables for sale.
Again, it looks like there are few tourists with most of the restaurants empty or with few customers. Both here and in Safranbolu, I have not seen or heard anything but Turkish tourists and locals.
I had dinner at one of the seafood restaurants where the menu showed bass, but the fishermen had only been able to have mackerel. It came fried and I ended up spending most of my time picking out the bones and pulling off the skin. The green salad was welcomed as was my raki aperitif.
It was so relaxing that I stayed another night.
I spent the morning going by many of the trinket shops and discovered that nobody has postcards of the area, just framed pictures for sale. I am wondering how I will be able to use the 20 postcard stamps I bought at the local post office that also operates as a bank as well as wiring money like Western Union does. I think this is something our Post Office should consider so they can make more income and make banks and money transfer services more accessible and affordable to more and lower-income people in the US.
Here are other meals and drinks I enjoyed while here.
This is cay—pronounced chai and is tea—which seems like the national drink at only 2-3 TL.
After lunch, I explored the nearby museum that featured lots of Roman antiquities from architecture to statutes and coins.
Now I will retrace my route and I am not sure whether I will spend the night in Ankara or Istanbul. It’s all about the connections.
Good entry with lots of pictures and details. Looks like hand gestures are working for you. Good idea on the Post Office services. Western Union will lobby against theses ideas.
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