Today’s Zaman, Turkey

26 October 2008, Sunday

Out and about in the backyard of Trabzon

The Sümela Monastery

Trabzon, in Turkey’s remote northeastern corner, may be a fascinating,
vibrant city, but the sad truth is that for most visitors it’s merely
a stepping stone on the way to their real target: Sümela, an
extraordinary monastery that clings to the mountainside, seemingly
defying gravity, southeast of the small town of Maçka.

Even if you’ve never heard of Sümela you will almost certainly
know what it looks like, because it’s one of those images, like those
of Pamukkale and Cappadocia, that tourist offices love to display as
bait for their guests. Remember a picture of a crumbling ruin high up
above the pine trees with no obvious means of access? Yes, that’s
Sümela.

You can hardly help but ask how it came to be there, and the answer
lies in a story that tracks right back to the fourth century when
Sts. Barnabas and Sophronius came to the area in search of an icon of
Mary, the mother of Jesus (Meryamana in Turkish), supposedly painted
by St. Luke. Unlikely as it may seem, they finally found the icon way
up on the mountain, where they established a shelter to protect
it. Over time, word of the discovery spread and the shelter swelled
into a shrine, complete with beautiful frescoes on its rock-cut
ceiling. By the time the Ottomans came roaring into Trabzon its fame
was so great that they too took an interest in the shrine, paying for
more frescoes to be painted on the outside walls of a monastic church
that had been painstakingly built onto the rock face.

But of course, there was no happy ending to the story. As the
centuries wore on, so the number of monks prepared to live in such a
remote location dwindled to a handful. Then in 1924 came the
Greek-Turkish population exchange at the end of the Turkish War of
Independence, which meant that the few remaining Christian monks were
required to leave the country.

One might have thought that the monastery’s remote location would have
protected it from damage once it had been abandoned, but unfortunately
graffiti artists were unable to resist leaving their tags on the
frescoes, while some "art-lovers" went so far as to chisel away whole
sections of the paintwork for themselves. Finally, a decision was made
to rebuild the entire complex on the mountainside, a process which is
now virtually complete. Some purists will probably dislike the end
result, with its distinctive new roofs, but it’s far from being the
worst restoration in Turkey, and certainly makes it easier for the
average layperson to envisage how life might have been lived up here
among the birds.

Although there are many organized tours to Sümela, it’s
perfectly easy to get there under your own steam, either by car or
using a local minibus. The ride out there takes some time to break
free of the ugly Trabzon overspill, but once you reach Maçka
the scenery bucks up considerably, until finally you reach the
Altındere National Park which protects the monastery and its
surroundings. The zigzag walk up the rock face is a stiff one which
requires sturdy footwear — and coming down again can be especially
treacherous, especially after rain when the wet leaves on the path are
more slippery than banana skins.

Sümela may be the most obvious excursion destination from
Trabzon, but its sheer popularity sometimes overshadows all the other
possibilities. Local travel agents are usually most enthusiastic about
Uzungöl, a popular picnic spot on the banks of the long lake
from which it took its name. The trouble is that Westerners who go
there probably anticipate finding the same sort of pristine scenery
and inviting log chalets as seen in the Alps. But this is Turkey, and
more specifically the eastern end of the Black Sea, which means that
concrete structures have insinuated their way even onto the shores of
the sea. Much better, perhaps, to get out of the eastward-heading bus
as it leaves the small town of Sürmene where, on the inland
side of the road, you will be able to visit the Kastell, one of the
finest surviving examples of the sort of fortified house once favored
by the "derebeys," the local lords who held sway around here during
the late Ottoman period.

Not a great deal is definitely known about the Kastell (now signposted
as MemiÅ? AÄ?a KonaÄ?ı), although it probably
dates from the middle of the nineteenth century when it was built for
a member of the YakupoÄ?lu family. Externally, it’s an imposing
building, its stone-built ground floor supporting a distinctively
half-timbered upper storey, but really it’s the lovely woodwork of the
interior that you’ve come to see, along with the frescoes of local
fruits that adorn the walls of the selamlık (the men’s room),
the fine stone-built fireplaces, and the curious private hamam that
provided central heating for the house.

Across the road from the Kastell is another fine house, apparently
also due for restoration. Hard though it is to believe it now, these
two houses once looked straight out onto the sea. Now they have the
newly completed (or almost completed) Black Sea highway in front of
them. As you return to the center of Sürmene, look towards the
inland side of the road to see a cluster of Ottoman houses with so
many windows that the walls could almost be made of glass. These are
thought to have been a later development from the architecture of the
Kastell, designed at a time when life was more stable, and homes no
longer needed to be semi-fortified.

One other day-trip destination from Trabzon is likely to be much less
obvious. If you don’t turn off the road towards Maçka but
instead keep heading south you will come eventually to
GümüÅ?hane, a small town whose name means "Silver
House", a clue to a past far more illustrious than the dreary modern
settlement might suggest. The secret here is to head inland
immediately for what the locals call the Süleymaniye Mahallesi
but which is also known as Eski GümüÅ?hane (Old
GümüÅ?hane). It’s a lovely drive up into the hills
to a virtually abandoned settlement where just five or six families
still hang on amid the ruins of a ghost town that grew rich on the
proceeds of silver-mining, which kept going here until the nineteenth
century. The authorities seem to have exhausted their enthusiasm for
advertising the site with the huge pictures in the bus terminal, but
if you pick the right taxi driver, he should be able to point out the
ruins of the old Greek church, the old Armenian church, and the
original school. A once magnificent Ottoman house with paintings on
its facades is still just about standing, and you will be able to pick
out many other anonymous ruins amid the rosehips and apple orchards.

Afterwards, you will feel more than justified in returning to modern
GümüÅ?hane to stock up on pestil (fruit leather)
and köme (fruit sausage), the two sweet delicacies stocked by
every other local shop.

WHERE TO STAY: Most people will stay in Trabzon but the following
accommodation is in Maçka.

CoÅ?andere Pansiyon Tel: 0462-531 1190

Hotel Büyük Sümela Tel: 0462-512 3540

Maçkam Hotel Tel: 0462-512 3640

HOW TO GET THERE: There are daily flights from Ä°stanbul and
Ankara to Trabzon, and buses from all local towns including Erzurum
and IÄ?dır. Minibuses for Sümela, Uzungöl
and Sürmene leave from the minibus terminal facing the harbor,
buses to GümüÅ?hane from the main bus terminal.

26 October 2008, Sunday
PAT YALE TRABZON