“Great Islamic Foundation” Population: 15,000
Market day: Monday
If you’re trundling along the Black Sea coast between Giresun and Trabzon and it’s a Monday you might want to break your journey to take a look at the huge Black Sea market at Vakfıkebir that spreads itself out beside the river. Once it was apparently full of colourful keşan-wearing Laz women. Today the only keşans (shawls) you’ll see for sale are those in their new tourist-attracting shapes: dresses for children, waistcoats, socks, etc.
Instead the market is full of fabulous fruit and veg in unbelievable quantities as well as lots of pungent cheeses, and helvas flavoured with walnut and apricot. Here, too, you’ll see large wicker baskets designed for gathering hazelnuts, grapes or tea for sale.
Before moving on you should do what the Turks do and drop by one of the bakeries to buy a loaf of bread roughly the size of a wheel. Baked in wood-fired stone ovens using a natural sourdough, it’s commonly held to to be some of the tastiest bread in the whole country.
Transport info
Pick up a dolmuş to Vakfıkebir (42 km) from Trabzon‘s western minibus terminal.
