Yiğit İnebolu (Brave İnebolu) Population: 10,500
Festival: Heyamola Deniz Senlikleri (Festival of the Sea) Mid-July
Roughly midway between Sinop and Amasra, İnebolu is a much smaller port than Samsun with a wonderful heritage of Ottoman rose-coloured wooden houses hiding in its back streets. Recently it, like Samsun, has started to make more of the illustrious role it played in the Turkish War of Independence (1919-22) when arms were smuggled from İstanbul by sea and then had to be conveyed overland to Kastamonu.
The locals gladly turned their hands to the task, led by Hamamcı Kadı Salih Reis, an old man in his seventies who nevertheless lugged heavy trunks of weapons ashore along with the women and children. Salih Reis is commemorated by a sea-facing statue right in the middle of town, while he appears again leading a line of heavily-laden women in a frieze very close to the local museum.
The weapons were then put into carts pulled by water buffaloes to start their 95km-long journey over the mountains to Kastamonu; another statue commemorates that process on the road heading up from the bridge across the İnebolu river to the new otogar. The route they took has been waymarked as the Atatürk ve İstiklal Yolu (Atatürk and Independence Way).
In 1921 İnebolu was itself attacked and put up a strong resistance, thus earning itself the “yiğit (brave)” title. In 1924 Atatürk awarded the city the İstiklal Madalyası (Independence Medal) in memory of its efforts.
In 1925 he also visited and made a speech publicising the new Hat Law which decreed that Turkish men should modernise their dress, in particular by shedding their fezes in favour of Western-style hats. “Bu serpuşun adına şapka denir (this type of headgear is called a hat),” he said in words that are plastered on signs all over town.
Around town
İnebolu’s museum (closed Mondays) is easy for foreign visitors to miss since it bills itself as the Türk Ocağı (Turkish Hearth). An imposing building accessed up a flight of steps which would once have been right on the waterfront, it contains two floors of information and photographs, none of it sadly in English although no one could fail to understand the diorama of Atatürk striking out with his new hat in his hand.
At the foot of the steps leading up to the building sit two full-size model boats called denk kayığı of the type used to bring the weapons from the ships to the shore.
The town also boasts a style of architecture that is peculiarly its own. As you walk along the seafront you will notice two distinct types of wooden building squeezed in amid the usual concrete apartment blocks. The first is a fairly standard sort of Black Sea house made of timber that has shaded to a gentle grey over the years but whose roof is covered with shingles to give it that quaint Hansel and Gretel look.
The second is much more interesting, being a konak painted the same rust-red (Ottoman rose) as the original İstanbul yalıs. These particular konaks, though, have window and door frames edged in white which is not something you see in İstanbul.
Inevitably many of these marvellous houses now look the worst for wear. Others, however, have been given a new lick of paint and are now extremely fetching.
To see some of the finest konaks head inland along Mustafa Kemal Paşa Caddesi and then upwards along Mehmet Sabri Caddesi – from here the early evening view out across a series of headlands west of İnebolu is absolutely spectacular.
There’s a large model of a typical rust-red İnebolu house in front of the Belediye (Municipality) building, itself once a medrese or theological school. You can also stock up on bedside lamps and fridge magnets in the shape of a local konak – – one of the best places to browse for souvenirs is the small market housed in kiosks near the Yakamoz Tatil Köyü.
Sleeping
Yakamoz Tatil Köyü
Surprisingly given its location this is a wonderful hotel facing the sea over a small garden. Spacious but simple rooms have something of the feel of Thai beach bungalows about them. They’re quiet and comfortable, and you’ll probably find yourself tempted to stay on.
Tel: 0366-811 3100
Konak Pansiyonu. Tel: 0366-811 5037
Transport info
The only reasonably quick way to get to İnebolu is by bus from Kastamonu.
There are no direct buses here from Sinop which means that you can end up wasting a lot of time in the heartsink midway settlement of Türkeli. Worse still, there is only one daily bus west to Cide (for Amasra) and that leaves at 9am.
Day trip destinations
