Day 126 (1st November) Findikli to Gumushane
The road to Gumushane thankfully turned left at the eastern edge of Trabzon, a million-strong city where we got lost in May. The left turn was at the roundabout where we spent a night in 2023 while waiting for the van to be repaired. We went to see Sumela Monastery which we visited in 2023 but Jennifer didn’t see the glorious frescoes which are thought to be dated to the 7th century because the steps were too steep, too crowded and too wet. This year they were dry, people very kindly waited for us old gits to walk up and down them, but they were just as steep. It was well worth the effort.
The aim was to find the restaurant where the owner was very kind in 2023 and arranged for a low-loader to take the van into Trabzon and for a garage to repair it. We failed to find it on the return from Georgia in 2023 but stopped at another restaurant where we had a brilliant meal and the friendly owner showed us where we could park the van for the night. However we failed to find the row of restaurants, possibly because new tunnels have been built and they may have closed. Anyway, after driving well out of Gumushane we found an isolated truckers cafe where the lovely man and his son who ran it cooked us a delicious plate of barbeque chicken and salad. We both agreed it was possibly the best meal on the entire trip. We also bought some jars of locally-made honey and Jennifer bought a bag of dried apple and plum pieces.
The contraption the monks used for getting stuff up the mountain to the monastery
