Sights in Trabzon
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Aya Sofya Museum
One of Trabzon's star attractions, the Aya Sofya Museum, originally Hagia Sophia (Church of the Divine Wisdom), is 4km west of the centre on a terrace that once held a pagan temple. Built in the late Byzantine period, between 1238 and 1263, the church was clearly influenced by Georgian and Seljuk design, although the marvellous wall paintings and mosaic floors follow the prevailing Constantinople style.
It was converted to a mosque after the conquest in 1461, and later used as an ammunition storage depot and hospital by the Russians, before being fully restored in the 1960s.
Enter through the western entrance into the vaulted narthex to view the best-preserved, vividly col…
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Atatürk Villa
Town life too hectic for you? Head to the Atatürk Villa, 5km southwest of Atatürk Alanı. Set above the town, it has a fine view and lovely gardens. The three-storey white villa, designed in a Black Sea style popular in the Crimea, was built between 1890 and 1903 for a wealthy Trabzon banking family, and was given to Atatürk when he visited the city in 1924.
It's now a mildly interesting museum of Atatürk memorabilia, but the best reason to come is to see the building and the pretty grounds, or to relax in the pleasant tea garden at the back.
City buses labelled 'Köşk', from the northern side of Atatürk Alanı, will drop you right outside the villa (around €1.50). Buses…
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Trabzon Museum
Just south of Uzun Sokak, a marvellous Italian-designed mansion was built for a Russian merchant in 1912 and inhabited briefly by Atatürk. It now houses the Trabzon Museum. Inside, the fantastic interiors and original furnishings put most Ottoman re-creations to shame, with a series of impressive high-ceilinged living rooms displaying a variety of ethnographic and Islamic artefacts, mostly labelled in English.
The archaeological section in the basement also has some significant pieces, including a flattened bronze statue of Hermes from local excavations at Tabakhane and Byzantine finds from around the Sumela Monastery.
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Boztepe Picnic Place
The Boztepe Picnic Place (Boztepe Piknik Alanı) has fine views of the city and the sea, as well as tea gardens and restaurants. In ancient times, Boztepe harboured temples to the Persian sun god Mithra. Later the Byzantines built several churches and monasteries here.
To get to Boztepe from Atatürk Alanı, take one of the frequent Boztepe dolmuşes (from a side street on the northern side of Atatürk Alanı). The route goes uphill 2.2km to Boztepe park.
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Çarşı Camii
Check out the recently restored Çarşı Camii in the lively bazaar district. It's to the west of Atatürk Alanı, in the Çarşı (Market) quarter, accessible by the pedestrianised Kunduracılar Caddesi from Atatürk Alanı, which cuts through the tightly packed streets of the ancient bazaar.
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Taş Han
Close to the recently restored Çarşı Camii (Market Mosque), you'll see the Taş Han, a single-domed han (caravanserai) thought to have been constructed around 1647, making it the oldest marketplace in Trabzon. It's now full of workshops and stores.
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Sekiz Direkli Hamamı
The Sekiz Direkli Hamamı, 600m west of the Çarşı Camii, is among the city's most pleasant Turkish baths. The rough-hewn pillars are said to date from Seljuk times, although the rest of the building has been modernised.
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Gülbahar Hatun Camii
The Gülbahar Hatun Camii is another mosque worth taking a close look at. It was built by Selim the Grim, the great Ottoman conqueror of Syria and Egypt, in honour of his mother, Gülbahar Hatun, in 1514.
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Atapark
Next to the Gülbahar Hatun Camii (Mosque Of The Ottomans), the Atapark has a tea garden for refreshments and a reconstructed wooden serander from a village further along the coast.
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Meydan Hamam
The Meydan Hamam, right in the heart of town, is clean and efficiently run.
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