My original plan was to travel from Amasra by public bus to Sinop, then continue onwards to exotic sounding places such as Ordu, Giresun, Rize, Hopa etc. As soon as I arrived at Amasra, however, I found out to my disappointment that there are no direct bus links between Amasra and Sinop, although there is a coastal road that links both towns. Friendly locals told me to get a bus to Cide, about halfway between Amasra and Sinop, and try my luck at Cide and see if there is any bus that would travel all the way to Sinop.
Fuelled by a sense of adventure, I decided to wait for the once-a-day bus from Amasra to Cide and see if I can catch the connecting bus from there to Sinop. The Amasra-Cide bus departs from the front of Amasra's post office and cost 10TL (October 2009) for the 3.5 hour drive through beautiful valleys and small fishing villages.
For some reason, this route is relatively unknown among foreign tourists, despite the abundance of beautiful green valleys, impressive coastal cliffs with clean, unspoilt coves, and miles of soft white sandy beaches, not to mention the numerous Pontic Greek historical ruins of note along the route. The scenery en route reminds me at times of parts of southwestern Ireland.
The mid-size bus winds through small coastal villages picking up passengers and their big bulks of baggages, some of which are situated in a very idyllic setting. On the way I notice several notable bus agencies selling tickets to Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir. So there must be at least daily buses to these big cities, although it must be a tough 15 hours to sit in a bus while travelling on such narrow, windy coastal roads. After about 2 hours, I started to feel somewhat unwell thanks to the bumpy ride and my stomach was slowly brewing up inside. For those who are prone to motion sickness, better take some tablets before you embark on this ride.
The bus passes through the following route: Amasra - Cakraz - Kurucasile - Kapisuyu - Yenice - Cide.
Cide is a pleasant seaside vacation town popular with the local Turkish tourists in the summer. There are a few big hotels on the seafront, but it seems the place only gets busy during the summer months.
Upon arrival at the bus station of Cide, I was told that no direct bus operates the route Cide - Doganyurt - Inebolu - Abana - Catalzeytin - Sinop on Sundays. And I happened to arrive on a sunday. Well, the alternative will be to take a bus to Kastamonu, the provincial capital some two hours away inland, then transfer onto a north-bound bus towards Sinop, or I could try to travel to as far as Inebolu, then stay overnight there and hopefully find another bus that connects Inebolu with Sinop on weekdays.
Although I had really wanted to continue my journey to Sinop along the coastal route, the fact that it would be perhaps 6 or 7pm when I arrive at Inebolu kept me away from the idea. Instead I opted for the easy way out: a detour via Kastamonu, which was not in my original travle route. The positive thing is, I read somewhere that Kastamonu is supposed to be a beautiful town with many old monuments and mosques from the Ottoman period. Well, at least there is the chance to visit another town in northern Anatolia, so why not??
The bus company that operates frequent mini-buses between Cide and Kastamonu.
The bus station of Cide. As it was already well past lunch time, and there was another 1.5 hours before the mini-bus to Kastamonu departs, I decided to have a beef and cheese pide for lunch at a pide shop right next to the bus station. The shop serves hand-made pide baked in traditional wood fire ovens. It costs less than 4TL but tastes simply delicious. And the portion is big.
Copyrights@2010. All Rights Reserved. All text and photos by YC Cheng.
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