SAFRANBOLU & AMASRA
Safranbolu
The first unmissable stop is the city of Safranbolu , included in UNESCO's World Heritage List, where some 800 of the finest 19 th -century Ottoman houses in Turkey have been beautifully restored. The town was and is still famous for its leather, copper and iron craftsmanship, which was quality-controlled under a sophisticated guild system. As its name suggests, Safranbolu is also noted for saffron and other spices. It also produces some of the finest lokum – Turkish Delight – in the entire country.
Amasra
Amasra is a stunning old town between two fortified promontories with Hellenistic foundations and surviving Byzantine walls. Rarely visited by foreigners, it seems more like a Greek village, with sweeping sea views and steep, cobbled paths from which you can easily view the magnificent 14 th -century fortress, built when Amasra was a Genoese trading colony. |
