Trabzon travel guide

Trabzon, Trebizond, Trapezus: whatever transitions the name has undergone since the merchants of Sinope founded it in the 8th century BC, this city on Turkey’s Black Sea coast has always had an exotic ring to Western ears. This is one of the legendary names of history: Don Quixote dreamed of himself as Emperor of Trebizond; the great travellers Strabo, Marco Polo and Evliya Çelebi sought out the city, while Napoleon claimed descent from the Comneni dynasty.

In spite of the difficulty of crossing the steep coastal mountains, Trapezus somehow managed to become an important cntrepot for trade to the east. During the Byzantine period all the caravans from Persia and beyond with goods to sell to Europe found their way here.
The city reached the peak of its glory in 1294 when the Crusaders sacked  Constantinople. Alexis Comnenus, a member of the former dynastic family whose intrigues contributed much to the Byzantine decline, escaped from the fallen city; in his flight he raised an army of mercenaries in Asia, occupied Trebizond and proclaimed it capital of a new empire, headed by himself under the title of Grand Comnenus.

Alexis had chosen well; his new city was impregnable and brought him a good income. He and his successors brought all the oriental luxury and ceremony of Constantinople with them. They spread Trebizond’s fame throughout the world. Its military fortunes rose and fell; at its greatest extent it occupied all the Black Sea coast, but near its end, only the city itself.
The Comnenes, like all great, dynasties, were always careful to marry well. Contemporary accounts suggest, that the dynasty’s greatest, resource was preLLY princesses, much desired by the neighbouring monarchs and rulers. ‘this allowed the Grand Comneni to keep their web of alliance intact at all times.  By the middle of the 15th century, unfortunately, the only neighbour Trebizond had left was the voracious Ottoman  sultan, who already had enough wives and was not tempted by the young princesses. After Melunet the Conqueror captured Constantinople, Trebizond, the last free Greek stale,was obviously the next on his list. He duly appeared in 1461, with the greatest army and fleet ever seen in the Black Sea, before or since. In made the desired impression on David Comnenus, The last emperor, who surrendered the city without, a shot. One of his daughters was then married to Mehmet the Conqueror’s son Beyazıt. The Turks renamed the city Trabzon. As Genoa, and later Venice, drew off all the Eastern trade for themselves, the world importance of the city gradually declined. The Russians captured the city in 1916, during World War 1, and did considerable damage. Luckily many of the important ruins survived.
Trabzon today is an exciting and thriving city. It is a centre of international tourism and business, and, due to its location, thrives from trade with the CIS. Its port is busy, its suburbs expanding, and its football team is consistently one of the most successful in Turkey.

Citizens of Trabzon earn their living mostly from the land and the sea, fishing for the delicious hamsi, or anchovy, that is the culinary speciality of the region. Fast of Trabzon is prime leapicking terrain, providing the Turkish public with those: vital leaves. And then, after work, people flock to the city’s many lively bars, restaurants and clubs to spend time with their friends and family.
Modern Trabzon retains much of its genteel charm, and many traces of a fabulous past. The oldest living monument is the Meydan, the city square. This is the site of the ancient agora and later the assembly point for caravans to other parts of Asia. Off the Meydan to the northeast is the fortified Genoese quarter of Leontokastron, now a military club under which the road tunnels. Between the Meydan and the sea lies the church of Santa Maria, which was consecrated as a Capuchin sanctuary in 1874 and is now looked after by nuns. To the northwest huddles the cacophonous bazaar, selling copper, silver, hardwood and cloth, the 16th century Bedesten, and the Site of the Venetians’ castle. Close by is the shell of Trabzon’s oldest church, St. Anne, built in [tie 7th century and rebuilt in 884.
The classic 13th century St. Sophia is one of the most significant cultural sights in Trabzon, housing some of the finest examples of Byzantine painting to be found in the world. ‘this church was founded by Manuel I (1238-1263), and stands on a platform of vaulted tombs. Manuel commissioned everything 13th century money could buy, having made tits fortune in silver mines to the south: an Armenian-style creation relief on the south porch; Seljuk-style stalactite niches; a 6th century eagle capital from Constantinople in the west porch (its brother is in the porch of San Mark in Venice); and inside, reused columns and grape capitals supporting a great host of painted angels flapping in the dome. The result is glorious.
Climb up the hill to the walled city, past the tomb of Gülbahar, Pontic mother of Selim, who was Ottoman governor of Trabzon from 1489 to 1512, and sultan from 1512 to 1520. Selim’s son, the magnificent Süleyman, was born here.
Rebuilt many times, the city walls rise from a classical harbour, through a lower city (1324), an attenuated middle city, up to the ancient acropolis and medieval palace complex that rises dramatically above the meeting of two ravines at the southern tip. The towers of Trebizond, immortalised by Rose Macaulay “shimmering on a far horizon in luminous enchantment”, still stand.
Straddling the middle city is the cathedral of the Chrysokephalos (Golden-headed Virgin), which after 1461 became the Fatih Mosque, the city’s chief mosque. This was rebuilt by the Grand Comneni after 1222 to house their own coronation. The wealth of the empire extended to goldplating the domes of this imperial cathedral.
From here you can cross the bridge over the western ravine back to the Meydan, past the abandoned nunnery of the Theoskepastos (God protected Virgin). Inside the cave-church are a number of Medieval paintings and the tomb of Metropolitan Konstantios. During his formidable reign (1830 to 1879) this bishop was responsible for rebuilding, and therefore destroying, almost every Byzantine church still in Christian hands. The monastery church of St. Eugenios, patron of’ Trebizond, overlooks the walled city. It was rebuilt, in the 11th century, and decorated under Alexium 111, who was crowned here on January 21, 1350. By 1523 the parish had converted to Islam, and the church became the Yeni Cuma Camii, the New Friday Mosque.
South of Trabzon the landscape is dominated by three former great landowning and pilgrim monasteries. Each is poised in a spectacular position and hides a sacred cave church; each claims ancient, foundation; each was refounded and endowed by the Grand Comneni; each was transformed and rebuilt in the 19th century and abandoned in 1923; each is well worth visiting.
St. George Peristereota is 19 km south of Trabzon. A steep scramble up the hill leads to the massive buildings through orchards unpruned for 70 years. Mostly rebuilt after a fire in 1904, Peristereota once had the most important library of the three monasteries.
The monastery of St. John the Forerunner, Vazelon, is in the midst of a flower-strewn meadow. The 20th century facade conceals a 19th century church, older buildings, and a cave The Monastery of the Black Virgin at Sümela was once among the most revered of all pilgrim monasteries in the; Orthodox world.  Sumela 43 km south of Trabzon is a remarkable sight, perched on a ledge 300 metres above a deep valley kept verdant, by a bubbling river, the white walls of its facade standing out sharply° from I he sheer. grey cliff in which it is embedded.
Sumela was founded in the 4th century when a monk, having received divine instruction in a dream, brought to the cliff’s caves an icon of the Virgin, painted by the apostle Luke. The original structure was modest, but as increasing numbers of monks journeyed here to pray before; the icon, and to invoke miracles from it, the complex was extended. By the 14th century its power and influence ranked second only to that of Mount Athos. However, after the population exchange in 1923, all the monks were expelled and the holy icon was taken away to  Athens. Pilgrims once faced a sixhour trek through the forests to reach the monastery, today it is a forty-minute haul to the top, one of the most beautiful vistas in all Turkey.

“Still the toers of Trebizond, the fabled city. shimmer on a far horizon, gated and walled and held in a luminous enchantment.”
From the 14th Century traveler Marco Polo to the novelist Rose Macaulay, old Trebizond has evoked an image of sumptuous and slightly surreal exoticism in the Western mind. Polo visited the city during the brief Medieval interlude when Constantinople lay in doldrums and the half-imaginary Empire of Trebizond stood out as the last stronghold of Byzantine wealth and splendor. Ruy Gonzales de Clavijo, visiting in 1401, described a city of golden towers and glittering mosaics, a Christian relic at the gates of far Asia. Don Quijote styled himself Emperor of Trebizond when he first stumbled over the boundaries of reality. In an equally fantastic mood, the court historians of Napoleon Bonaparte attempted to prove that the Corsican adventurer was a descendant of the Grand Comneni of Trebizond.

 Tantalizing reminders of medieval glory survive in modern Trabzon, hidden in the back alleys of the city and remote corners of the Surrounding mountains. There are the battered fortress walls, jutting over ravines in the heart of the city: the Hagia Sophia, with its extraordinary collection of Byzantine frescoes: the cathedral of Panagia Chrysocephalos, once the imperial shrine of Politic dynasts; the Church of St. Eugenius, with its spectacular view over the city; and outside Trabzon, the Unbelievable Monastery of Sumela clinging to a wall of basalt in the deep forest.
There are also traces of a more recent period of glory-the belle epoque of the turn of 20th century, when Trabzon prospered briefly amid the wreckage of the Ottoman Empire as it had once prospered on the ashes of the Byzantine. They include the misleadingly named Atatürk House and other memorials of an opulent Greek bourgeoisie that dreamt of restoring Trabzon to its old grandeur.
The visitor who expects a city of gold-plated domes and decadent wealth may be at first disappointed to find a homey provincial city instead. Today’s Trabzon lives mainly as the central market town of eastern Black Sea’s colorful, quirky and eccentric people, who have little memory of and less interest in any Byzantine past. Having lost to Samsun the title of being the region’s main seaport the city now faces inland, seemingly oblivious to the sea and the commercial traditions to which it once owed its fame and wealth.
It takes a couple hours of strolling in the cobblestoned streets of downtown Trabzon to fall in love with this “new” city. The pomp and glitter of old times is gone, replaced by the cozy charm of narrow alleys, pastel colored houses and a bustling bazaar. It is easy to feel at home here. Within a day, all the sights around Belediye Square, Uzun Sokak, and Ortahisar take on the quality of familiar landmarks; within a week, one acquires a surprising number of acquaintances to greet during a walk around the Square.
Taking long walks is the key to getting to know Trabzon. The idea of strolling the town goes a long way back, with an English delegation sent by Edward I in 1292 reporting that due to the existence of “so many stony streets in the city and mule paths in the interior, there has been a notable expenditure on shoe leather.” Today, the “stony streets” are of a smooth cobblestoned variety that extend into the city’s back alleys and cul-de-sacs, as well as serving the main thoroughfare of Uzun Sokak. The plethora of shoe repair shops in the city center suggests that the natives continue to wear out a good amount of leather.

Any exploration of Trabzon is likely to begin and end at Belediye Meydanı (“Municipal Square”). This is where the pulse of the city beats and where almost all hotels and eateries are located. There is a lively park and tea garden bedecked with colorful umbrellas, rococo lampposts and other paraphernalia of municipal kitsch: it is the place to have a first sample of the city’s populace. There are the clusters of women identifiable by their costumes: the bright red keşans and peştemals from the countryside of Trabzon; orange-andindigo skirts of Rize; black silk “chadors” of Torul and Gümüşhane, brown coveralls from Bayburt; the grey scarves of “born again” Muslim teenagers. One sees far more women here than in most provincial towns in Turkey. Then there are the men: a
profusion of bearded men with surprisingly bright faces, chuckling at the sins of this world; grizzly villagers on market visit, looking suspicious and profound; harried bureaucrats catching up on gossip at lunchbreak; provincial dandies ogling tourist girls, white shoes glimmering and cigarettes dangling from the lips.
This is the center of city’s communications: buses and dolmus (shared taxis) leave toward all destinations from here. The Information Bureau tries to cope with a bevy of confused tourists: at the row of public phones (the only in Trabzon), one can overhear declarations of secret amours mix with harsh negotiations on hazelnut credit.
At night, the melancholy of “arabesk” music from the nightclubs fill the air. The bank manager who cashed your travelers’ checks during the day can be seen leaving the beer hall with unsteady gait. At the restaurant next door, the policeman whom you had asked for directions greets you with a slap on the back and insists that you join his friends to knock back that bottle of “lion’s milk”. Each restaurant has its own regional jealousies, if not regional specialties: The Karadeniz is run by folks from the Maçka district, and by your third visit you will have acquired a substantial list of pals to visit in the Maçka highlands. Güven Pastanesi, across from the quaint Erzurum Hotel off the northeast end of the Square, is the place to go for a hearty breakfast and (Çamlıhemsin connections. Ebullient Gündüz Akay, the boss, whips up the best pastry in town and is related to everyone in Hemşin.

Most of Trabzon can easily be explored on foot. Here is a suggested itinerary which covers most of the city, with the exception of the Hagia Sophia and Boztepe, within the span of one exhausting day.
The two main arteries of Trabzon, Maraş Caddesi and Uzun Sokak (Long Street), lead west from the Square. The former is themore “modern” avenue and the latter the old mainstreet: A long trail of honking taxis rattle single-file down its cobblestoned length, barely wide enough to accommodate a small car’s girth
Start at Uzun Sokak.

A left turn on Zeytin Caddesi will reveal an elegant stone mansion (Kostaki Mansion) which was originally a Greek convent and later the private residence of a wealthy Greek banker who abandoned it in 1923. It has a palatial interior with stained-glass windows, intricately carved woodwork, and cast iron statues. Now undergoing restoration, the mansion is to be turned into a museum in 1989.
Shortly before crossing into the walled city lies the Church of St. Anna (Küçük Ayvasil Kilisesi) on tiny Misirlioglu Street to the right Looking a bit forlorn in its rundown and padlocked state, St. Anna’s is the oldest Byzantine church in the city, rebuilt in its present form during the reign of Basil I in 884-885.
The worn-out relief of reclining figures over the main portal probably belonged to an older edifice, one of the few bits of pagan antiquity left to see in Trabzon. The Byzantine frescoes described by scholars as late as in the 1920s are now gone.
The walled “old city” of Trabzon stands on a long and narrow hill that is cut off from the rest of the city by deep ravines on either side. Its table top shape-the trapeza-accounts for the original name of the city. It is girdled by Byzantine walls which split it into three consecutive sections-the upper citadel, the historic middle city or Ortahisar, and the lower city which merges with the jumble of the bazaar district. Ortahisar, across the Tabakhane bridge, is the most picturesque of all.
Dominanting the quarter is the Church of Panagia Chrysocephalos, or “the Golden-Headed Virgin”. This was built in its present form in the 13th century and rebuilt in 1341 after a fire destroyed it during one of Trebizond’s civil wars. For two and a half centuries, the Chrysocephalos served as the imperial cathedral of the Comneni and witnessed most of the coronations, solemn processions and imperial funerals of their imaginary Empire. At its heyday its dome was plated in sheet gold-hence the name-and travelers spoke of it in wonder and amazement as the dominant feature of Trebizond’s exotic skyline.
The church was converted to Muslim use shortly after the conquest and it is now known as the Ortahisar or Fatih Mosque. The original frescoes are invisible under layers of whitewash and the Ionic colums in the interior, apparently lifted from a classical temple, have been painted over in pistachio green. Still, the beauty and grandeur of the overall architectural conception does not fail to impress the visitor with a sense of imperial majesty.
The crowds of believers who fill the mosque and the square outside it perpetuate the spirit of religious
devotion that once characterized the affairs of Byzantine Trabzon. The charming Hisar Teahouse is an ideal place to observe their comings and goings. With its tiny round tables and straw stools, the setting seems more suitable to children and it is humorous to watch swarthy, moustached Turks perched precariously on these little seats.
A similar setting is offered by the Atapark Teahouse across the Zaganos Paşa Bridge. Built in 1467 by Fatih’s ubiquitous general and advisor, a Byzantine convert, the bridge consists of a 25 m high stone wall. In Pontic times a wooden drawbridge existed here which during times of war could isolate the citadel from invasions. The teahouse presents an excellent view of the crenellated city walls rising on the steep cliffside. Ancient wood-and stucco townhouses hang over the top. A rustic scene of vegetable patches with clusters of red-roofed houses and white mosques occupies the ravine bottom. Looking down, one may see a woman and her daughters sift through a mountain of hazelnuts piled upon a roof while a group of 15 year olds pursue a hard hitting game of street soccer. At sunset the yellow-ocher walls of abandoned Greek houses shine with a crepuscular glow. Twenty minutes later, the luminescence is gone and the gutted remains of these once grand residences become indistinguishable from the other houses along the walls.
A little further on lies the most important Ottoman monument in the city, the Gulbahar Hatun Mosque and Mausoleum. Built in 1514 by Selim 1, the mosque commemorates his mother, the “Lady Springrose”, who was apparently born a princess of the Comneni house. Her tomb stands nearby and was revered as a shrine by both Muslims and Christians throughout Ottoman times. Surrounding the mosque and tomb is a pleasant garden where,
under the shade of an ancient plane tree, old timers will pontificate on the erstwhile glory of their favorite mosque.
With sufficiently strong feet you may want to make a detour from Gulbahar to Soğuksu Hill, the high peak bracing the city on the west. It is a steep climb to a very pleasant residential suburb where many Trabzon families-in an urban holdover from the yayla tradition-maintain their summer homes. That they did the same a hundred years ago is indicated by the many splendid mansions along the way, now in various states of decline. The best among them, though, stands in perfect shape, being blessed by the good fortune of briefly serving the founder of the Turkish Republic as a home away from home.

The Atatürk House is an extremely graceful art nouveau residence whose whimsical design deserves to be cited among the best examples of the architecture of the period anywhere in the world. It was built in 1903 for the Greek banker Constantine Kapagiannidis, and served as his home at a time when his name figured prominently among the political leaders of the imaginary Pontic Republic. It was abandoned in 1923, when another, very different, republic carried the day.

It lodged Ataturk during his first visit to Trabzon in 1924. It was presented to him as a token of the city’s gratitude on his third visit in 1937 and is now a museum. Both the building and the grounds remain in immaculate shape, tended by an army of keepers. Displays include an excellent collection of period furniture, interesting unpublished photographs of Ataturk and a fascinating military map that bears markings in the President’s own hand indicating troop movements in the Kurdish insurrection of 1937.

Back at Gülbahar Hatun, head back in a big loop that will take you down into the valley bottom and through the maze of brightly colored houses at Erdoğdu district to the massive four-arched Aqueduct of Justinian.Built in the 6th century, it looks like a misplaced section of a gigantic bridge. Continue up the other side of the ravine to Bahçecik Street where the Citadel is located. From atop the ramparts, Trabzon can be seen sprawling from the wooded inland down to the sea. This panorama was once the private domain of the imperial family of Trebizond. whose palace and fabled treasury were located within the citadel. The formidable walls of this fortress protected the Comneni from hostile tribes and rival  sultans for over 200 years, in an age when the durability of a state was dependent upon the impenetrability of its walls.
From the citadel, follow the winding road back into the east ravine. As you descend into the quaint pastoral quarter below. groups of rambunctious children will latch on to you and a Pied Piper effect will emerge as more children pop out 01′ hidden alleys and houses, eager to join in the fun. As the men are either working or sitting in the teahouses it is only the women and the children that are seen. Since not many tourists come this way your presence will be regarded as an event in itself. The female faces that were covered in Belediye Square are open here, exposing pale skin, red and blonde hair and blue-green eyes. The welcoming smiles, a spontaneous offer of hazelnuts, and invitations to tea signal your entrance into the private domain of these people.
Up the hill from this rustic oasis stands another of Trabzon’s major monuments, the Church of St. Eugenius, or Yeni Cuma Mosque. Built in the nascent years of the Empire (1204-1222) the church celebrated the 3rd century saint who overthrew the cult idol of Mithra at Boztepe, suffered martyrdom under Diocletian and as a result was revered as the patron saint of Trebizond. As so often happens, his skull was miraculously discovered shortly after the foundation of the Comnene empire and a church was erected on the hallowed spot. The gold-plated cranium was put on display in a silver case within the church. It came in handy on occasion, as in 1222 when a leader of the  Seljuk Turks  laid siege to the city and promised to destroy it. He pitched his tent atop the saint’s tomb which stood outside the city walls, and even brought (as Byzantine chronicles inform us) women of light virtue into it. The saint then appeared to the blasphemer in a dream and misled him into an ill-prepared attack on the city where a divinely inspired flood wiped away the Turkish army. Sufficiently humbled, the Seljuk agreed to a pact with the Emperor and sent generous contributions to the church of St. Eugenius for the rest of his life.
However, the saint’s powers proved impotent in the face of Fatih’s invasion, and upon the city’s
surrender the church was quickly converted into a mosque where the victorious Sultan made his first prayers in the city-hence the name Yeni Cuma Camii, the New Friday Mosque.
Aesthetically speaking, the Yeni Cuma Camii is the most pleasing of Trabzon’s church/mosques. Built of a faded white ashlar stone, it has a graceful cupola with a feeling of extraordinary lightness and a slightly incongruous minaret added in 1461. From its vantage point atop the ravine you may also look back from where you came and trace your footsteps-up and over the valleys-all the way back to the Gdlbahar Mosque. A quick walk down any of the narrow streets in the other direction brings you back to the familiar terrain of Belediye Square.

The mansion which is reorganised as the Trabzon Museum was built by banker Kostaki Teophylaktos between 1889-1913 as a large family accommodation. The names of the architects are unknown. However, the common belief is that the architects were Italian, and materials used in the building were imported from Italy . Following Teophylaktos’s bankruptcy in 1917, the mansion was sold to the Nemlioglu family.

 The building was used as one of the headquarters during the Independence War, and later on it was prepares for Atatürk’s stay on his visit to the city in 1924. Atatürk, his wife and their travel companions stayed in this mansion between 15-17 September, 1924.

After the nationalization of the mansion which was led by Governor Ali Galip Bey and which cost TL 25.000, the building served as the Governors Hall between 1927-1931, and the Inspectors Headquarters between 1931-1937. Passing to the Ministry of Education, the mansion served for fifty years as a girls polytechnic school, and in 1987 it was turned to the Ministry of Culture to be reorganised as the City Museum .

 Following the fifteen-year renovation works (1987-2001), the building was recreated and opened to the visitors as the Trabzon Museum with its archaeological and ethnographic exhibitions on April 22, 2001 .

With its all floors, except for the basement, being decorated with hand-drawn designs and its 1500 m2 size, the building still remains to be among the most beautiful examples of civil architecture. After being converted into a museum, the basement of the building was designed as the archaeology hall and founds that date from the early Bronze Age up to the late Ottoman period. Stone, clay, metal and glassware artefacts are on display in this department.

The archaeological display hall has a chronological arrangement and includes four separate sections: The first section that serves as the entrance houses a bronze Hermes statue which was found during Tabakhane Rescue Excavations in 1997 carried out by the Trabzon Museum Administration and which was found to be dating from 200 BC. This statue is among the most valuable pieces of the museum and is in standard human dimensions. Marble foundations that belong to a Roman temple excavated during the same excavations, Roman-period marble construction material and Ottoman-period marble elements are also on display in the same hall. In addition to these, the following are on display in the sections of the archaeological display hall:

The 1st section houses the Early Bronze Age, Urartian age, Iron Age, Hellenistic and Roman art works. The Asurian cylinder seal which is among the most valuable artefacts of the museum is also exhibited here. The 2nd section houses Hellenistic and Roman-period bronze, clay and glassware. The Roman coins are also displayed in this hall. The 3rd section houses Byzantine coins, icons and the Ottoman-period artefacts.

Compared to other floors, the ground floor holds more hand-drawn decorations. Some of the rooms on this floor still have the original silk wallpapers. Partly staying loyal to its original spaces, this floor was redesigned as a Konak (mansion) Display Section. This section has the following (from right to left): the living room, the study, the common living hall, the dining room and the game room. The present-day waiting hall and cafeteria are also serving on this floor. The then-entertainment hall is now used for musical performances, conferences and art exhibitions, and has an impressive baroque balcony.

The 1st floor that is rather simple in comparison with the ground floor is reorganised as the ethnographic section. Islamic art, armoury, handwritings, embroideries and costumes are displayed on this floor. Also the bedroom that was prepared for Atatürk and a section arranged for President Cevdet Sunay (the 5th president of Turkey ) are on this floor. The original furniture of the room in which Atatürk stayed in 1924 was bought from the second owner of the mansion – the Nemlioglu family – for display. The mezzanine is reorganised as the Trabzon Museum Administration and used as the administration.

The architecture and decorations used in this building reflect the 150-year-old baroque rococo tradition of Europe that became popular when the Ottoman Empire was slowly abandoning its own artistic and architectural characteristics. The unique use of these styles, which were preferred by palace architects, makes this mansion the only outstanding example of its kind in the city of Trabzon .

The baroque style is an art that adds a dynamic element, a depth of shape and structuralism to the artistic view. It reflects European art. The effect of the 19th century industrial revolution in changing the appearances of the buildings and the attempts to revive the old values was widespread among all Western societies; however, this had not been enough to keep the Western effects away from building. The examples of the palaces and mansions that were built with this baroque/rococo influence during the late Ottoman time and that are now called National Palaces could be listed chronologically as follows:

Aynali Konak Kasr, Dolmabahçe Palace (1842-1856), Ihlamur Kasri (1849-1855), Kuçuksu Kasri (1856-1857), Maslak Kasrs (1861-1865), and Yildiz Sale Kiosk (1st section, 1879-1880; 2nd section, 1889; 3rd section, 1898). The Kostaki Mansion , which is reorganised as the Trabzon Museum , is also a fine example of this rococo (little baroque) tradition. Just as it is true for all those examples given above, the architects and hand-drawing artists of the Kostaki Mansion are Italian. The impression of desire and eternity beyond limits are related with the baroque style. The imaginary scenes, impressive portraits inside the domes and on the walls serve that aim, while the art work becomes more of a decorative element.

As a remarkable effect of baroque/rococo tradition, the main hall’s four columns in the Kostaki Mansion were completed in the marmorina (imitation marble) technique. These columns were worked in the late Roman-period Corinthian style. Marmorina was also used in plaster mouldings on the ceilings in the mansion.

In reality, the eclectic architectural style that was used in this mansion is what makes it so special. As part of this style, the Ionic Hymation decoration blended with lotus-palmet lines at that level where the walls reach the ceiling are worth seeing. The effect of neo-classicism created with Venus Adonis and late Roman figures of Eros on the ceiling of the hall is breathtaking.

The griffons (mythological being-winged lion) that meet you on both sides as pass through the entrance, the art-nevo style handcrafts displayed on the glass frames in the centre of the entertainment hall, the artwork that were placed in the medallions and that depict the city walls and the Nemlioglu bridge in Degirmendere area are worth seeing.

The splendid ceiling decoration of the entertainment hall (which probably was the fortune telling room) with the zodiac, and the medallions around the centre of the ceiling with Zeus and Hermes’s figures are really masterpieces. The fish and bread scenes together with wine bottles that decorate the ceiling of the dining room together with the fantastic craftsmanship practised for the service window tell us that they are the products of some elite artists.

Stone tiles in the mosaic technique were used on the floors in stone spaces of the building. The walls of the ground floor and the wall side of the stairways leading to the administrative floor are coated with leather or sometimes with wood up to 1 metre high from the floor. While the outside of the building reflects Italian architecture, the woodwork inside the building signals Russian craftsmanship.

Local stone blocks cut very neatly decorate the façade of the mansion while granite was used in the basement and rose andesite was preferred for the other parts. There are one-metre-high spaces between the sections. The interior of the mansion was designed in the Baghdadi technique with dominant use of timber.

The eclectic architectural style used in the mansion is also visible in the roof. The octagonal tower on the north east corner of the roof is covered with fish skin-like lead covers. The octagonal tower on the North West corner of the mansion has a conic dome covered with fish skin-like lead covers. The roof of the rectangular room with oval windows on the north-east corner of the storey is a terrace. A glass roof covers the entertainment hall on the ground floor. The other sections are covered with a roof of traditional red tiles.

This eclecticism can also be seen on the facade of the building. The doors of the balconies on the façade also serve as the light openings. The sizes of the rectangular windows vary depending on the size of the rooms. The functions of the window shutters are twofold: depending on the frequency of use, some shut horizontally some shut vertically. When they are not used at all they are hidden in the wall. In order to increase the architectural aestheticism, the tower placed on the south-eastern corner of the mansion is decorated with a line of blue tiles above the windows. Like the glasses used in the inner spaces, these tiles were also imported from Italy . The tyke (the goddess, protector of the cities) statue at the entrance of the front garden makes it clear that the influence of neo-classicism did continue with the garden setting too.
Among the other elements of the garden is the decorative pool with its rather different fountain at the south-eastern corner. The garden houses pine and palm trees with a large variation of flowers

The bazaar district of Trabzon is located on the seaward (north) side of Maraş Avenue. It is the oldest and most colorful marketplace of the Black Sea region You can spend a full day or more getting lost in its colorful back streets and alleyways, admiring both trinkets and treasures amid the musty antiquity of its centuries-old warehouses and archways.
Start your walk on Kunduracılar Caddesi, an avenue that glitters with the rows of jewelry shops that line both sides of the street. Keep an eye out for the distinctive Trabzon bracelet. a wide wristband woven out of extremely fine threads of silver. This is a form of art unique to the Trabzon region, and all the bracelets are crafted by hand in the backstreet ateliers of the bazaar.
At the end of Kunduracilar a light turn on the winding cobblestone of Semerciler Sokak takes you into he heart of the textile section of the
bazaar. Congested with choosy housewives sifting through piles off S linen and scarves, this is where one can find the widest selection of traditional Trabzon-area feminine attire. The tiny shop of Mehmet Kiran at No. 66 offers an excellent choice of red-black-cream keşans and variously striped peştemals ranging from high quality models made of pure fine cotton, to cheaper ones with colors that are less vibrant. He also has more exotic varieties that are not generally seen on the streets.
Coutinuing on Semerciler you pass the tiny Ebubekir Mosque and enter the heart of the bazaar, centered around Çarşı Camii, the biggest mosque in town. As usual in all Turkish towns the block around the market mosque is an ideal vantage point from which to observe the ebb and flow of urban life. The mixture of business and ritual, routine and fantastic, drab and colorful define the oriental marketplace. The Bedesten, formerly the vortex and safe house of the Trabzon bazaar. is located near the mosque. The edifice was constructed by the Genoese in the 14th century and subsequently added to and restored by various Ottoman governors. With its looming walls now overgrown with shrubbery and its ornate portal barely visible, it now serves as a storage area for lumber and a haven for stray cats.
The nearby Taş Han (“Stone Inn”) is a different story. Also known as Vakıf Han, this is one of the many structures of its kind in the bazaar which served both as a mall for local craftsmen and small merchants of a specific line of trade as well as an inn for visiting long distance traders. It was built in 1531 by a former governor, Iskender Paşa, and follows the plan of other Ottoman caravanserais of the same period. A rectangular courtyard is surrounded by arched enclaves where the camels of visiting merchants were stabled while their owners stayed upstairs in rooms which also served as shops.
Walking into Taş Han is like taking a step back in time. The two major trades carried on within are broom making and the manufacture of tin sheets. From the street one
hears the voice of children in the small mosque upstairs reciting Arabic verse by rote from the Quran under the stern glare of a bearded hoca. On the second floor walkway Dickensian urchins sit in small vaulted rooms hammering tin containers into uneven sheets. Groups of men cut, sift and fasten strands of straw until the shape of a broom emerges. Old men sit on straw stools, shuffling their worry beads and toying with cups of tea. Streams of light wafting in through the iron grilled windows cast a surreal gleam upon the blackened walls of the han’s interior.
Further down Bedesten street is the open market where all the food and produce in the city is bought and sold. Under the roofed platform built within the crumbling city walls, the din of peddling vendors, haggling women, and bawling children is deafening. Unlike the  Istanbul bazaar which caters primarily to the tourist, Trabzon’s bazaar is purely functional. Every vegetable and fruit from dark cabbage to cornelian cherry can be found here-a feast for the nose and eye. On the surrounding streets, great barrels of goat cheese and butter brought down from the highlands stand on display beside tubs of gooey, waxy honey. Feel free to dip in with your finger: the shopkeepers are usually eager to test their produce on the foreigner’s discriminating palate.
Having pushed yourself to the limits of fatigue in the Oriental bazaar, what better way can there be to wash off the grime and sweat of the day’s exertions than a Turkish bath? Meydan  Hamamı on Maraş Caddesi is the recommended spot. Unlike other hamams in the region it has a separate section where women too can bathe. Fully refreshed, you might then enjoy a cold beer at the rooftop restaurant at the Trabzon Hotel, which takes on a festive air with a little dancing and singing on weekends.

The Hagia Sophia of Trebizond

Boztepe, Trabzon