Sinop, Turkey
1970
If you have come directly to these pages through a web search for pictures of places in Turkey, please note that these pages are part of a description of the author's military service in the late 1960's. The text associated with some of the pictures thus may make more sense by starting with that introduction.
Picture credits: All of the pictures used here were originally taken by the author during his military service. Having been in storage for 30+ years, the original slides had become discolored and were marred with mold. Fortunately, a friend was able to skillfully use a variety of software packages to restore these to their original condition.
The base at Sinop is on a mountain off the Black Sea coast, the mountain is connected to the coast by a relatively narrow isthmus and Sinop covers the isthmus – the pictures on this page show this relatively well. Sinop was interesting to explore – much of the city is very old, with ruins dating back to the Byzantine empire. (Try the following web site for a history of Sinop: http://www.adiyamanli.org/sinop.html) Unfortunately it was impossible to capture all of the ordinary, every day things about Sinop that affected me so much in my thinking about the world – the carefree children that wandered all over town, the small butcher shops with no refrigeration and carcasses hanging over the sidewalk, the retail shops where the owner sent for a cup of tea for you while you haggled over prices, the persistent begging by small children that we encountered in some areas of the town, the groups of men hanging out in cafes or the tea garden discussing heatedly and/or playing checkers and chess, the scenes of men riding donkeys while the women walked alongside carrying large bundles on their heads, the neighborly scenes of women hanging out their windows to talk with other women and check on their children, the sights of groups of men taking their young sons off to the circumcision ritual (and the later screams from the boys), the regular calls to prayer from the minarets. (An interesting thing to note in all of the pictures of Turkey from that time -- everyone is dressed in dark colors.)
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From the mainland, looking north across Sinop isthmus, to the military base. In the larger version of the picture you can see that the original city wall is in about the center of this picture. (Click on picture for greater detail) |
| From the base (at dusk), looking down and across the Sinop isthmus. The docks in the above picture are on the left in this. |
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| From a wharf in the harbor, looking back towards the city wall. (Click on picture for greater detail) |
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The picture below is of the Yeni hotel, which was the most modern building in town at that time -- the hotel was not at all fancy by American standards, but was a pleasant place to go for a nice dinner and a drink while looking out over the harbor.
Between the hotel and the wall is a large park which would be filled with men (no women) drinking tea, reading, and playing chess or other games. It took some time to get accustomed to drinking hot tea -- it was served in a small, clear glass container about the height of a standard coffee cup, but shaped roughly like a vase. To drink tea, one had to hold the container by it's edge.
The barracks on the U.S. base are just visible on top of the hill, to the left side of the picture.
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| The main street through town.
Be sure to look at the larger picture, the detail is amazing.
(Click on picture for greater detail) |
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Again, the detail visible in the larger picture is amazing. |
| A neighborhood street (Click on picture for greater detail) |
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(Click on picture for greater detail) |
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Detail on the building in the center of the above picture. |
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Scattered around Sinop were drawings or paintings from the Byzantine era – such
artifacts were so
common that there was no special effort to preserve them. (Click on picture for greater detail) |
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(Click on picture for greater detail) |
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