Amasra
Black Sea Headland Town With Byzantine And Genoese Fortress Walls And A Roman Bridge To Boztepe Island; On The UNESCO Tentative List · Amasra, Bartin
Amasra sits on a headland on the western Black Sea coast with a harbour on each side of it, which is why everyone who has ever controlled this coast fortified the place: the walls and gates are Byzantine and Genoese, and the arms of Genoese families are still carved above one of them. A Roman bridge called the Kemere joins the town to the small island of Boztepe, which you walk across to for the view back. It is a small town and an unhurried one, known across Turkiye for two things that are not monuments: seafood, and a salad. The Amasra salatasi is a genuine local institution with a long list of vegetables in it, and the town's restaurants are the reason a good share of its visitors come at all. It is ninety minutes from Safranbolu on a winding coast road, which is how most people arrive, and it is a Turkish holiday town rather than an international one. Come on a weekday or not at all in summer.
Kum Mahallesi, Amasra Kalesi, Amasra, Amasra, Bartin, Turkiye
An inhabited town, open at all hours. The castle walls and gates are open public fabric; the museum keeps daytime hours and has a weekly closing day. Restaurants and guesthouses run year round with a heavy summer peak, and weekends from June to September are extremely busy. Winter is quiet, wet and windy with much reduced opening.