TRIPPIN' IS A WAY OF LIFE STYLE: RİZE;TRABZON/TÜRKİYE

Part 1;

                                                          ~RIZE~

When I decided to go Georgia first of all I was planning to visit my friend who lives in a nice village of Rize city which is located at Eastern Blacksea Region of Türkiye as I mentioned from my last posts…

On 1st of April (as we clearly know the day of joke) I went to Trabzon from Izmir by plane. This was my first domestic flight I have ever used in my life as I mentioned from my last posts also…I was excited for sure…

I didn’t find a time to go the city center of Trabzon from the airport cause of my friend was waiting in Rize at the same time but I didn’t have a timing problem whenever I wanted; I would come there…

Then I used a shuttle to go Rize from Trabzon Airport. Even from the first minute I realised the difference; the difference of culture. Blacksea people have a different a way of understanding the life and reaction as far as I observed in a week. For sure until now I have seen; talked; lived with many people from Blacksea Region but now it is the real time…I was in Eastern Blacksea and that was a great time to discover my own country’s different cultures…I wanted to start this journey also for that reason…After 1 year abroad now it is time for travelling in my own country especially a region which is very special for me…

The first thing which would be the attraction for people who come to Blacksea (especially Eastern Blacksea) Region is to discover happy and humorous people. Nowadays it is so hard to run across with people who have joy of living…But even if under hard circumstances; they exactly know how to make their life more excited and joyful…Of course this is not only belong to a region or to a weather or something but I have been travelling for a certain time and a lot places but to be honest Eastern Blacksea people are different…Even for this experience to see their joy of living; it is worth to see that region…

When I reached to the city center of Rize, my friend was waiting there for me and we went to a restaurant which is pretty famous in Rize. I also learned that Rize also Trabzon are famous for their meat quality which is using for some kebab&döner and some traditional meals…For example not only in Turkey but also in whole Europe there is one meal which is well known DONER...is a Turkish dish made of lamb meat (mainly) cooked on a vertical spit and sliced off to order. According to my also to many people’s gastronomic pleasure this region’s döner is  one of the most delicious ones in the world…when I asked this to my friend also to some restaurants in Rize also in Trabzon I received almost the same answer...They claimed that they take care of meats so much even more than meats deserve  and some other techniqual and traditional details which I cannot even share in here as they requested…

We went to a very nice village (Salarha) which is located 14 km far away to the city center of Rize. I stayed at my friend’s home and this home also around were so pastorical. I just remembered the days which I had passed in Slovenia cause there were so many similar things which reminded me of Slovenia...

Tea fields in Salarha village

Me in front of my friend's home

Salarha

I started to discover Rize center with my friend the day after I came…I liked the atmosphere of Rize especially when we started to walk along the seashore…

A view in Rize

There is one square which is the famous square of Rize…Around of this square 2 museums are located…One is Rize Tea Museum (ÇAYKUR) and the other one is Rize Museum of Ethnology…Probably we spent almost 2 hours at there. We also listened about the tea making process from the officer of  ÇAYKUR Tea Museum…and about ethnology museum there are so many things to say but briefly when you visit this museum you can get almost whole history not only the Blacksea Region but also whole Anatolia…

Rize Tea Museum (ÇAYKUR)

Rize Museum of Ethnology

Nayla (Serende)

Then we walked uphill to the “botanic garden of Rize”. Even if it was too foggy, I liked the place and around of garden…

The Botanic Garden of Rize

After that we went to the city center again and my first exploring day finished.

Then the second day we came to the center again we met with his friends…I also would like to thank from here to them cause I have been hosted awesome by them…And they were great guides for me when I was in Rize…

We went to the castle of Rize and the view from there was amazing…I can’t forget this view…also the tea which we drank on the top of the castle…

The view from the castle of Rize

And around the night I had an another gastronomic pleasure. This time it was about deserts. Fırın Sütlaç (Baked Rice Pudding) is a desert which is pretty famous in Turkey. I personally tasted this desert in many places of Turkey but the one which I tasted in Rize was the best one so far...

And with this taste…I finished my Rize trippin’ with a great pleasure…

…I WILL COME BACK FOR SURE…