Trabzon, Turkey

The drive from Samsun to Trabzon along the coast was beautiful. Also, on the drive we happened upon a fantastic swimming cove. The water was amazingly warm, but still refreshing, there were cliffs on both sides of the cove that we jumped off of - absolute perfection for us at that moment. The water was a bit salty, but not as much as the Pacific. We arrived in Trabzon and Jerry, being quite flustered with the Turkish city driving, drove straight into the town until we dead-ended in a parking lot. All the cars were triple parked and there was no way out - and we were asked to give our keys to the parking attendant, presumably so he can shuffle the cars while we are out. Being terribly uncomfortable with this idea we asked around and people confirmed that this was how it was done. Immediately we had a great feeling about the honesty of the people and the safety of this city. Through out the rest of the day when we had people smiling and waving, giving us directions and telling us all of their favourite spots in the area with great pride. We set up camp in a little park in the middle of the city as per the suggestion of a friendly gas station owner. We were beside 2 overpasses, a mall and an airport so it was not exactly quiet; however, it was a great spot all the same. While we were cooking up some dinner outside our tents a guy, who didn’t speak a word of English, came over and gave us a pile of barbequed chicken and peppers from his family BBQ. Turkish people are amazing. We got up fairly early in the morning because the tents were transformed into steam rooms once again, packed up and headed out to try and get tickets for the ferry to Sochi Russia.