Karadeniz

The following day, we drove to the Black Sea to explore a few places along the coast. Our first stop was at the Zonguldak Mining Museum. Zonguldak is both a province and a port city in Turkey, and it is known for it’s coal production.

Before making it into the museum, the kids discovered a litter of very friendly puppies, and they played with them for a while.

Inside the museum there were displays about when and how coal was discovered in Turkey, the mining process, and many exhibits and mock-ups of the mines. It was well-done and the kids enjoyed learning some new things about mining.

At the museum, they have a mining safety training center that is utilized for miners in Turkey. It was an impressive place to visit.

Just a few miles down the road, we got to the coast. The Black Sea coast is beautiful. It’s rugged with tall cliffs and dark blue water for miles and miles.

We drove along the coast for a while, then arrived at the next town, called Ereğli, which is known for it’s coal, steel production, and fishing.

It was a neat town! Along the sea was a long boardwalk lined with cafes, parks, and places to sit.

The boys and I visited the Alemdar ship museum, which is a Turkish tug boat that was used in the Turkish War of Independence. It was built in Denmark in the late 1890’s, was seized by the Ottoman Empire during World War I, and then served under Turkish rule until 1982. In 2008 a replica of the ship was built as a museum and placed at the port.

I didn’t get any pictures inside, but this is from the front of the ship looking out into the sea and along the boardwalk. Benjamin asked earlier that day why everyone was posing for pictures...lots of instagram and facebook images... so, here he is posing like everyone else, haha!

While we were on the ship, Nathan and Eliza played at a nearby park. We have loved having so many parks and green spaces for the kids to play, it has been a real treat for them.

KDZ stands for Karadeniz, which means Black Sea in Turkish.

This was the town’s love, peace, and friendship bridge.

The clouds were moving in fast, but we managed escape in time to avoid the rain yet another day.

We took a different route home and drove through some beautiful little towns in the mountains and valleys.

The scenery and fall colors were spectacular. We had no idea how beautiful this country is, and everywhere we turn has been one nice surprise after another.

We got to the main highway as the sun was setting, and arrived at the cabin a little after dark. It was a really fun day exploring another new place.

 

Yedigöller Milli Parkı

Over Halloween weekend, we went out of town for a few days. We visited Yedigoller National Park, and Zonguldak and Karabuk provinces to explore the mountains and Black Sea coast. This first post is about our visit to Yedigoller National Park. We stayed in a cabin about 40 km away from the park, in a town called Mengen. The town is surrounded  by mountains and was just beautiful this time of year, with all the trees and leaves changing color. This was our cabin and view.

And lots of space for the kids to play and run free.

We arrived mid-afternoon and while Eliza and I got unpacked, Nathan took the boys on an ATV ride through the forest.

Afterwards, we went to town for dinner. Meat sandwiches are very popular here, and that is all this restaurant sold. It was good!

The next morning we ate breakfast in the cabin and then left for the park. The mornings were foggy, but turned nice most days. It was supposed to rain each day, but we got lucky and aside from one night in the cabin, we saw no rain! Did I mention all the dogs and puppies on the property? It was heaven for the kids to have dogs and puppies ready to play as soon as they left the cabin each day. By the end of the trip, they had names for every one of them.

Such beautiful scenery and wide open roads!

Yedigoller means seven lakes in Turkish and that is what the park is famous for, it’s seven lakes . 

The northern end of the park was cobblestone and windy roads. We passed very few cars and felt like we had the park to ourselves.

We hiked around several of the lakes admiring the beauty. The colors and nature were stunning.

We stopped at a büfe, which is the Turkish word for snack bar, and ate....meat sandwisches for lunch! The park was packed inside with tents everywhere. However, despite the large crowds, everyone was respectful of eachother’s spaces.

Popcorn and soda for dessert for the win.

We drove through the park and left at the southern (and more popular) entrance, and we were shocked at the long line of cars waiting to get inside. 

What a treat to be here in the fall time.

We stopped at a meat house for dinner. Meat is a staple in Turkey, and we have eaten more red meat in the past few months than I think we did in our entire 5 years in Jordan! They didn’t even have chicken as an option. We got beef and lamb and it was delicious.

Home sweet home for the evening.

It was an incredible day and we loved driving through the park and mountains. God’s creation is all around us and is truly amazing!