Favourite stop of the road trip, beautiful Amasya!

Krakow to Tbilisi: Day 5

Istanbul to Amasya. Distance 700 km

Cross country driving in Turkey, once we managed to leave Istanbul. Spending the night at Ziyagil Konagi, in the heart of the ancient Ottoman Quarter, nestled under the imposing hill fortress.

We set off pretty early, after a hotel breakfast and chasing the sunrise over the lovely Küçükçekmece Lake. I definitely had no concept of the vastness of Istanbul and just how long it would take us to leave the city behind and hit the “open road”. But we knew this was one of the longest drives of the entire trip, so wanted to get away early.

We headed steadily East and I have no words to express how beautiful this part of the world is. For some bizarre reason, I imagined Northern Turkey to be mostly shades of brown and entirely flat. And it wasn’t! It was all the shades of Autumn, with some green as well and anything but flat. This was not a day where we would see the Black Sea yet, but I wasn’t even overly sad about the lack of large bodies of water, because the landscape was varied and lovely, the company continued being amazing and we were ever closer to getting home to Georgia.

The reason we drove to Amasya, is because I stuck a metaphorical pin in a map when I planned the trip to even out distances. And as I searched for accommodation, this city was recommended as a “not to be missed”. And honestly, I don’t feel they said it clearly enough! I have had the huge fortune to see many spectacular places, many quaint villages and towns, stunning scenery of all kinds and spanning the ages. And Amasya will forever be on my list of: “places I happened upon and want to return to with as many people as possible.”

We arrived after sunset, exhausted and hungry, having pushed ourselves to get the driving done as much in daylight as possible. And our first impression was stunning. The castle on the hill all lit up, the graves carved in the hillside also lit and found the road to our hotel to be a narrow, cobbled road in the oldest part of the city, following the curve of the hill. And again we encountered generous kindness; being shown the way and having another hotel owner call ahead so our host would meet us on the street, immediately being served apple tea, the local speciality as we completed the check-in, being guided to the car park and finally walked to a restaurant recommended by our host and owned by his friend.

The hotel was incredibly comfortable and so well thought through, the host very friendly, and the restaurant he recommended had some of the best food I’ve eaten. All local specialities.

We walked around to try and take it all in after dinner and decided we needed more time in this lovely place and would leave later the next day.

It was a quietly eventful day… not because of big experiences, but because of a series of small ones that made for a richness that was satisfying.