Heading to Trapizon and environs

Trabzon.
As my American students tell me, '... spelling isn't important.....' =:-]

We visited the Trabzon last Sept. We caught an early moning flight with Turkish Air to Trabzon, rented a car and saw Sumela Monastery before checking into our hotel. You can see what you want in Trabzon in a day. We didn't see much reason to hang around longer. From Trabzon up along the coast to Hopa and then South to Artvin as it made a convenient over night stop on our way to Kars. Good scenery along the way but unfortunately in Artvin much of it is chewed up for a massive hydro electric project. We went to Kars mainly to visit Ani which was spectular. Other than Ani and Kars Castle there isn't much to see. From Kars we drove to Dogubayazit to see Mount Ararat and the Ishak Pasa Palace.Dogubayazit is a real frontier town and unless to plan to climb Mt Ararat, it only requires a day. FromDogubayazit we drove to Van for a couple of nights and really enjoyed the Van Castle as well as Akdamar Is. We dropped the car at the airport and flew to Cappadocia. We really enjoyed our time in the Black Sea and Eastern Turkey as they are so unlike you'll see anywhere else in Turkey. Highly recommended.

Thanks Steve. Makes me want to 'expand my horizons'. John