October 16 - Saturday - Trabzon, Turkey

Last night was some kind of night. Our ship rocked and rolled as we went through some kind of gale, with waves 18 or so feet. Usually, we've run at about 4 feet, and we could surely tell the difference. I woke several times, and I know Lauren got up at least once.

That was nothing, though, compared to what we've heard about. Apparently this ship, the Prisendam, an explorer-class ship (smaller than most), within the last year or two was sailing in the waters north of Scotland, ran into some kind of storm, and water broke through the front of the ship and flooded the stage area in the main auditorium. Fifty-eight windows were broken. It must have scared everyone to death, although some of those people are sailing this ship again and again. Wow. That must have been something else. Obviously, repairs were quickly made (within days? weeks? We're not sure.) and the ship was declared sea worthy and back on the waters again.

The charm of the Prisendam is that it is small and can go to places other ships can't. This ship sails around the world, and it's often the ship that checks out new ports for Holland America. I think it's the "Off the Beaten Track" of ships. I'm sure we wouldn't have been able to dock a bigger ship in many of the ports where we've been. This is a unique opportunity.

Oh, how we liked Trabzon! Our tour guide was nothing short of excellent - knowledgeable, good English, full of anectodal tidbits, facts, good history, and an earnest desire to give us value for our time and money. He went to school for four years to learn to do this, and he travels all over Turkey to give tours. He will be in Sinop tomorrow (but we don't know which tour) and in Ephesus when we get there (but again, we don't know which tour). Excellent.

We began our day in the rain, had some sunshine for a brief period later in our tour, and ended with rain threatening again.

Our first stop this morning was the Trabzon Hagia Sophia (St. Sophia) - one of four Hagia Sophias in Turkey. Two are in Istanbul (we visited the large one, the largest of the four), one is in Izmir, and the fourth here. 

Hagia Sophia in Trabzon

The Hagia Sophias were built as Greek Orthodox churches, the first under the Emperor Justantine (if I remember correctly), and were eventually taken over by the Ottomans and turned into mosques. It was a common practice to take an already existing church or temple and build an edifice of the conquoring religion over it, so it's not unusual that the Ottomans kept the existing churches and adapted them. The Hagia Sophia in Trabzon was built over a pagan temple to Apollo. The practice of the Ottomans was to plaster over the iconography because any representation of a human face or body in their place of worship is a horrible thing. Orthodox churches are just the opposite - they revere icons because they represent those things in heaven they most love.

Inside Trabzon Hagia Sophia



Inside Trabzon Hagia Sophia


Unlike the great Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, the restoration, when removing the plaster during the modern age (1930s and after) wasn't as successful in Trabzon. Perhaps because this is a minor Hagia Sophia, it wasn't as important. In its present condition, though, perhaps it speaks more to the spirit and heart than the more successful restoration in Istanbul.

Our next stop was the home of Ataturk, the father of modern Turkey. He must have been one exceptional and extremely intelligent man. His bio on Wikipedia is worth reading ... The home really isn't large, but it's certainly beautiful, with wonderful grounds to match. The home is high on a hill, up narrow and winding roads.




Home of Ataturk in Trabzon

 This perfect dahlia is from those grounds...



Dahlia in Ataturk's garden

Across the road from the home is a little mountain resort with some fabulous views ...

View from near Ataturk's home

Our last stop for the day was the Fatih Mosque down in the city.


Fatih Mosque

It was interesting to see a number of men across the street waiting for the call to prayer shortly after noon.

This is Saturday, so the crowd was rather small. On Friday, the weekly prayer and sermon time, I'm sure there would be many more. Our guide says that mosques are packed on Friday.

One more little note about Trabzon. It sits between the Black Sea and the lesser Himalayas, stopping all east-moving storms over Trabzon. It rains here more often than not, according to our guide, and they actually get snow in Trabzon.

We had a very nice visit. Tomorrow, it's Sinop, Turkey, then on to Sevastopol, Ukraine, followed by a day at sea.

Our flickr Trabzon pictures: Trabzon