Trabzon & Sümela Monastery

Trabzon (ancient Trebizond) sits on a narrow strip of land between the Black Sea and the Pontic Alps on Turkey’s northeastern coast. The city’s significance peaks in two distinct periods: as a Roman and Byzantine trading port controlling the eastern Black Sea, and as the capital of the Empire of Trebizond (1204–1461), one of the last outposts of Byzantine Greek civilisation. The Hagia Sophia of Trabzon, a 13th-century church with well-preserved frescoes, dates from this late Byzantine period.

But the most celebrated site in the Trabzon area is the Sümela Monastery (Sumela Manastırı), clinging to a vertical cliff face in the Altındere Valley, about 46 kilometres south of the city. Founded in the 4th century CE, Sümela was an active Greek Orthodox monastery for over 1,500 years, abandoned only in the population exchanges of 1923. Its frescoes, its setting, and its sheer improbability make it one of the most striking cultural sites in Turkey.

When to Visit

The Black Sea coast has a mild, humid climate with rain possible at any time of year. Summer (May through September) is the driest and warmest period, though showers occur even in August. The mountain roads to Sümela are most reliable from May through October; in winter, the approach can be affected by snow and ice. The greenery of the valleys — dense forests of spruce, beech, and rhododendron — is at its most vivid in late spring.

How to Get There

Trabzon Airport (TZX) receives daily flights from Istanbul and Ankara (about 2 hours). The city is the eastern terminus of the Black Sea coastal highway (D010). Intercity buses connect Trabzon to Erzurum (4.5 hours), Rize (1.5 hours), and other Black Sea cities. Sümela is reached by car from Trabzon in about one hour, heading south through the Altındere Valley. There is limited dolmuş (minibus) service to the park entrance; a taxi or guided tour is more practical.

What to See

Sümela Monastery

The monastery is built into a sheer rock face at an elevation of about 1,200 metres, overlooking the densely forested Altındere Valley. According to tradition, it was founded in 386 CE by two Athenian monks guided to the site by an icon of the Virgin Mary. The complex grew over centuries to include a church, several chapels, a kitchen, a library, an aqueduct, and monks’ cells — all hewn from or built against the cliff. The main church and the entrance passage are covered with frescoes dating from the 14th through 18th centuries, depicting scenes from the life of Christ and the Virgin.

A multi-year restoration programme (2015–2022) stabilised the cliff face and consolidated the frescoes. Visitors now access the monastery via a renovated path and tunnel system. The approach — ascending through misty forest with the monastery slowly appearing above — is part of the experience.

Hagia Sophia of Trebizond

Built in the mid-13th century during the Empire of Trebizond, this church-turned-mosque retains Byzantine frescoes of notable quality. The cycle includes the Ascension (in the dome), the miracle at Cana, the Wedding at Cana, and a Last Judgement. The exterior features carved stone reliefs in an ornate late-Byzantine style. The building sits on a terrace above the coast with a view across the Black Sea.

Trabzon Old Town

The citadel area (Ortahisar) contains remnants of the Byzantine-era city walls, the Fatih Mosque (originally the Panagia Chrysokephalos, the principal Byzantine church), and the old market streets below. The Uzun Sokak (Long Street) and the Maraş Caddesi area provide a glimpse of the 19th and early 20th-century port city architecture.

Atatürk Pavilion

A white hillside villa built in 1903 in an Ottoman bourgeois style, the pavilion served as Atatürk’s residence during his visits to Trabzon. It now houses period furnishings and personal items. The gardens and the view over the city make it a calm counterpoint to the dense city centre.

Practical Information

Trabzon is the Black Sea’s largest city, with full services including hotels from budget to upscale, and restaurants specialising in Black Sea cuisine: hamsi (anchovy) in every form (fried, baked, in bread, in rice), muhlama (cornmeal-cheese fondue), Akçaabat köfte (local meatballs), and Trabzon pide (a boat-shaped flatbread). Allow half a day for Sümela and a separate half day for the city’s sites. The Altındere National Park around Sümela charges an entry fee; the monastery charges a separate ticket.

One Thing Most Visitors Miss

In the Altındere Valley below Sümela, a second, smaller monastery — Vazelon (Yazılıtaş Monastery) — sits on a cliff face about 10 kilometres from Sümela. Less restored and far less visited, Vazelon was also a Greek Orthodox monastery, active from the 7th century. Its frescoes are fragmentary but the setting — overlooking a mountain valley with no other visitors — offers a different kind of encounter with the same monastic tradition.

Sümela was not built to be seen from a distance. It was built to disappear into the cliff — and to be found only by those who climbed.