Sinop

Sinop is a city in the Western Karadeniz region, on the Turkish Black Sea coast. In 2022 it had a population of 57,404.

Understand
The earliest known settlers were Hellenistic people from the 7th or 8th century BC. (The Hittites may have arrived sooner, but historians think not, and that their artefacts here indicate trade goods not settlement.) It was a port for coast-hugging small vessels but, backed by mountains, has poor inland access, so Samsun further east grew into the major port. Sinop was still worth ransacking or raiding, the last incursion being in 1853 when Russia made a surprise seaborne attack: the coast hereabouts has the shortest crossing north to Crimea.

Sinop is nowadays a beach resort for the townsfolk of Istanbul and Ankara, and accommodation gets very full June-September. Few westerners ever come this way.

Get in
Buses from Istanbul run six times a day and take 13 hours via Gebze, Izmit, Adapazari, Bolu, Karabuk, Safranbolu and Taskopru, for a fare in 2024 of 800 TL. From Samsun they run every hour or two and take 2 hours 30 min. One overnight bus from Ankara takes 7 hours. Bus lines include Metro Turizm and Flixbus.

the bus station is 6 km west of town centre. It's modern but filthy inside.

By road from Ankara is 413 km: take D765 north to Kastamonu, then D030 to Boyabat, then D785.

Get around
Sinop is easily navigable by foot. Parking is difficult in summer.

Dolmuşes and taxis ply to the out-of-town bus station and airport.

See

 * City walls are best preserved crossing the isthmus west of town centre, with bastions at each end, then along the harbour shore south.
 * Hacı Ömer Mosque just west of Otel 117 was built in 1903 for the harbour workers. The fountain between it and the hotel is a memorial to casualties of the 1853 Russian surprise attack.
 * Sinop Harbour is just south of the fortress. The 200 m east wharf is quieter and used for fishing, the 500 m west wharf is a busy commercial dock.
 * on Fatih Cd celebrates the smelly dingbat philosopher who preached Cynicism. Diogenes was a banker, born in Sinop in 412 or 404 BC, who had to flee because as mint-master he trashed the city currency. (This part of the legend is backed up by debased coins of that period, smashed to take them out of circulation.) It's said he was captured by pirates, anyhow he ended up in Corinth. There he cut a cantankerous squalid figure, raging against corruption all around, and rough-sleeping in a wine jar. His statue shows him holding a lantern, which he carried by day saying he was "looking for a man" - this is nowadays glossed as "looking for an honest man" but given his sexual habits it was maybe just as he said. He's accompanied by a dog as he thought they were nobler simpler creatures, crapping in public as he did, and κυνικός (kynikos, "dog-like") became the word "cynic". His name lives on in "Diogenes Syndrome" where someone lives in squalid conditions, seemingly through personal choice, as depicted in the 2015 film "The Lady in the Van".
 * on Fatih Cd celebrates the smelly dingbat philosopher who preached Cynicism. Diogenes was a banker, born in Sinop in 412 or 404 BC, who had to flee because as mint-master he trashed the city currency. (This part of the legend is backed up by debased coins of that period, smashed to take them out of circulation.) It's said he was captured by pirates, anyhow he ended up in Corinth. There he cut a cantankerous squalid figure, raging against corruption all around, and rough-sleeping in a wine jar. His statue shows him holding a lantern, which he carried by day saying he was "looking for a man" - this is nowadays glossed as "looking for an honest man" but given his sexual habits it was maybe just as he said. He's accompanied by a dog as he thought they were nobler simpler creatures, crapping in public as he did, and κυνικός (kynikos, "dog-like") became the word "cynic". His name lives on in "Diogenes Syndrome" where someone lives in squalid conditions, seemingly through personal choice, as depicted in the 2015 film "The Lady in the Van".
 * Pervane Medrese is across Görgün Sk just north of Alaaddin Mosque. It was a religious school founded in 1262, named for Mu'in al-Din Parwana who ousted Trebizond (a Byzantine rump state) from Sinop. It closed in 1923 when Turkish education was secularised, and became a depot for various archaeological and ethnographic items; it was a museum 1941 to 1970 when the city museum moved to its present site. It nowadays hosts souvenir and craft shops.
 * Kef Evi Mosque is on Derviş Sarabil Cd a block north of the ethnography museum. It was built in 1581 AD.
 * at Okullar Cd 99 is a small mosque and shrine built in 1297 AD. Bilal was the grandson of Huseyin, in turn the grandson of the Islamic prophet Mohammed; sufficient reason for the Byzantines to chop his head off when he strayed this way in the 7th century.
 * (Paşa Tabyası) is a half-moon artillery position. It was built to protect the town against sea-borne attack from Russia, too late as town and fleet were bombarded in 1853. This escalated into the Crimean War, as France, Britain and Sardinia-Piedmont (the proto-Italy) weighed in to prop up Turkey against Russian expansion. Enter from Yakamoz Sk on the north side. The area is neglected and overgrown, with only a few grazing beasts left on guard against further Russian advance.
 * at Okullar Cd 99 is a small mosque and shrine built in 1297 AD. Bilal was the grandson of Huseyin, in turn the grandson of the Islamic prophet Mohammed; sufficient reason for the Byzantines to chop his head off when he strayed this way in the 7th century.
 * (Paşa Tabyası) is a half-moon artillery position. It was built to protect the town against sea-borne attack from Russia, too late as town and fleet were bombarded in 1853. This escalated into the Crimean War, as France, Britain and Sardinia-Piedmont (the proto-Italy) weighed in to prop up Turkey against Russian expansion. Enter from Yakamoz Sk on the north side. The area is neglected and overgrown, with only a few grazing beasts left on guard against further Russian advance.
 * (Paşa Tabyası) is a half-moon artillery position. It was built to protect the town against sea-borne attack from Russia, too late as town and fleet were bombarded in 1853. This escalated into the Crimean War, as France, Britain and Sardinia-Piedmont (the proto-Italy) weighed in to prop up Turkey against Russian expansion. Enter from Yakamoz Sk on the north side. The area is neglected and overgrown, with only a few grazing beasts left on guard against further Russian advance.

Further out

 * (Hamsilos Tabiat Parkı) is 14 km northwest of town, off the road to İnceburun. It's a scenic bay surrounded by forest, with camping and picnic areas and rocky beach. In 2024 you pay 50 TL per car.
 * 23 km northwest of town is a breezy peninsula with an 1863-built lighthouse. It's nearly the northernmost point in Turkey but the area against the Bulgarian border edges it.
 * are a cascade of 28 waterfalls reached by hiking trails to the southwest.
 * is a Seljuk-era pilgrimage site in the hills above Gerze to the southeast.

Do

 * Beaches close to town are trash-strewn. Go to Karakum Plajı on the headland east, or to Akliman beach on the north shore beyond the airport.
 * Football: Sinopspor play soccer away down in the amateur leagues. Their home ground Sinop Şehir Stadyumu (capacity 5000) is 1 km west of town centre off Fatih Cd.

Buy
Lots of small stores, usually open daily to 21:00.

Eat
Eating places around the harbour and fortress are Cem's Kitchen, Mavi Ay, Poyraz, Saray, Hey Yavrum and Nihavent.

Drink

 * Mavi Esinti is a tearoom on the seafront 200 m east of the fortress.
 * Others nearby are Chillin Cafe, Vento del Nord and Vitrin Club.
 * Others nearby are Chillin Cafe, Vento del Nord and Vitrin Club.

Connect
Sinop and its approach highways have 4G from all Turkish carriers. As of Feb 2024, 5G has not rolled out in Turkey.

Go next

 * Samsun is a large resort and harbour town, where Atatürk launched the fightback of the Turkish War of Independence.
 * Boyabat inland has an extensive hilltop citadel.
 * Amasra is another resort on the coast to the west.