Day 116,
12 hrs,20 .8 kms

Next morning I wake up to the crisp mountain air and the smell. We're at a rest area surrounded by rugged mountains. On my last trans-Turkey trip in 2010, I got kind of burned out with all these towns with so little historical preservation or originality. This time I'm determined to focus on the positive and enjoy Turkey for what it is, rather than wishing it were something else.

We reach Samsun, one of the main cities on the Black Sea, which I'm determined to explore properly before continuing on. It's very hot, but I decide to try to walk from the bus station to the city (despite previous bad experiences trying to do this in Turkey!) I'm rewarded by a shady park, a cozy city center and a decent cafeteria style restaurant where I can "look and pick"--my favorite way of eating here in Turkey.

Next I head up to the Black Sea shore, where there's an enormous recently built park, with fountains, an artificial waterfall, statues out in the water and a giant hand writing with a pen . Clearly Samsun has made some major effort to beautify its shoreline, which would otherwise be an ugly port view. I'm focusing on the positive--and this definitely counts as a positive.

Some sort of ceremony is going on with a small ship coming ashore and several lines of soldiers standing at attention...

I keep walking along the shoreline, then back into town to an ugly hardware district, then back to the highway along the shore. I'm considering doing a Superhike along the Turkish Black Sea shore, as it seems there are a whole bunch of towns close together along here. I figure I could go ahead and hike to the next town just to get a feel for how this hike might go.

Not a very enjoyable hike, along a noisy highway, with a steep cliff on one side. Finally I reach some more houses and businesses which I assume is another town, but later learn is still a part of Samsun.

An older fellow sitting in his garden insists that I come over, and I gladly oblige. His wife brings some tea and he give me some fruit from his tree as we try to carry on a conversation--and actually do pretty well! Most Turks, if they find I don't speak their language, give up on trying to communicate, but this fellow really tries. We "talk" about family (his sons have gone seeking work elsewhere), work... he has a body shop and shows me the totaled cars that he's salvaging, listing how many people died in each one...

Quite pleased to have my first "interesting encounter" with a stranger here in Samsun...

It's getting late when I get back to the city center, but I decide to go ahead and try for one more town today...