Uzungol
Landslide Dammed Mountain Lake At About 1,100 Metres In The Pontic Alps; A Tourism Centre Designation That Permitted The Surrounding Development · Caykara, Trabzon
A landslide blocked a valley in the Pontic Alps at some point in the past and left a long narrow lake at eleven hundred metres, ringed by very steep forested slopes that hold cloud for most of the year. A small wooden mosque stands at one end with the water and the firs behind it, and that photograph - taken from the road above - is what made Uzungol one of the most visited places in the Turkish Black Sea and a fixture of Gulf tourism. It is worth being straight about what has happened since: the village around the lake has been built up hard with concrete hotels, restaurants and shopping, the lakeside path is lined with stalls, and on a summer weekend it is a crowded resort rather than a mountain retreat. The lake is still beautiful, the air is still cold and wet and green, and the yaylas on the ridges above are the real thing - which is where anyone who came for the mountains should go.
Uzungol Mahallesi, Caykara, Trabzon, Caykara, Trabzon, Turkiye
Open public space at all hours, free to enter, though parking is charged. Restaurants, hotels and shops run year round with a summer peak, and the village is busiest from June to September and during Gulf-state holiday periods. Mountain roads to the higher yaylas above can be closed by snow from late autumn to spring.