Hamsikoy to Sumela Monastery
Sumela Monastery was directly east of Hamsikoy, but to get there we had to do a big loop. We drove slightly less than an hour for about 44 km to reach a huge carpark where we had to leave our car before proceeding to the monastery.
Sumela Monastery
All visitors had to park their cars in the huge carpark and boarded a shuttle to get to Sumela Monastery some 3.6 km up the hill. It costed 40tlr for parking and 20tlr per person for a return ride on the shuttle. The entrance fee to Sumela Monastery was 300tlr per person.
The shuttle stopped just before the monastery and it was a fifteen walk to the Monastery. Before arriving at the monastery we reached Aya Varvara Kilisesi, a small not so impressive monastery.
Interesting it was on the ground of this non-impressive monastery that had a fantastic viewpoint of the Sumela Monastery. Across the valley we saw Sumela Monastery tall and proud standing at the edge of the cliff.
We met a group of Turkish youngsters who were very curious about us and insisted on taking photos with us. Travelling alone in a foreign country we always had to be cautious. Yat Thong posed with them while I took the photo and kept a lookout that there was no “hanky panky” around him. This was not the first time we were requested to pose in photos with locals.
We had bought the entrance tickets into Sumela Monastery earlier at a ticketing outlet at the carpark before boarding the shuttle bus. It was a good thing that we purchased the tickets earlier because those that did not purchase their entrance tickets then had to join a long queue at the ticketing counter just by the stairs leading up to the monastery.
Sumela Monastery, Monastery of Virgin Mary, was a World Heritage Site. It was a Greek Orthodox monastic complex built into a steep cliff. It was a construction than begain in 385 AD and continued until the 19 th century. It went through fire and was restored, it was also expanded, it has been rebuilt and altered many times since.
The frescos on the walls and ceiling were lovely. Their colors were still stunning. There was a frescos of Virgin Mary and Jesus the child held at Virgin Mary’s stomach level.
We took our time to roam around in the monastery complex. Some parts were still under restoration.
Our stay in Pazar
Sumela Monastery was our last “must see in Turkiye”, after that we drove to a small town, Pazar on the coast of the Black Sea where we returned our rental car, which we had been driving for 32 day. We rested in Pazar for a night and the next morning boarded a bus to Georgia.
We usually booked our hotels from booking.com, unfortunately all the hotels listed under Pazar seemed a bit out of the way which would very inconvenient for us once we returned our rental car.
We found “Hotel Minerva Pazar” on Hotels.com, it was located in the middle of the small town.
We had a double room with ensuite toilet. The cost of the room was 1386tlr. It was on a high floor, unfortunately there was no view. The room was spacious and clean.
Free Turkish breakfast came with the room and it was held in a dining room on the top floor with a view of the black sea!
