Northern Turkey

The steady procession of history has embellished this beguiling part of Northern Central Turkey rather than leaving the more traditional trail of destruction. Hittites, Paphlagonians and the Kings of Pontus came this way before it became part of the Ottoman Empire. Even during the World Wars of the last century damage was minimal, perhaps the reason so many of the area’s wooden mansion houses have survived from the Ottoman period. We’ll visit the Hazeranlar Mansion in Amasya, an exquisite Ottoman masterpiece on Amasya’s riverfront. Rock-cut tombs, that according to the famed Geographer Strabo, who was born in Amasya, are those of the Pontic Kings, can be seen in the cliffs above the town.

Towards the Black Sea are Serapias feldweggiana and Cephalanthera kotschyana, as well as an abundance of wetland birds including Dalmatian Pelicans where the Yeşilırmak empties into the Black Sea. Upstream Iris orientalis colours the riverside and on Akdağ blooms slender yellow Iris kerneriana. Akkuş’s hillsides are imbued with yellow Rhododendron luteum and bright pink Silene compacta and amongst this colourful show we’ll find rare Lilium akkusianum and Aristolochia pontica. Nearby are huge spikes of Dactylorhiza osmanica, delicate Dactylorhiza iberica and endemic Dactylorhiza ilgazica. The butterflies continue to impress with Blue Argus, Algerian Fritillary, Cardinal, Tessellated Skipper, Violet Fritillary and on the higher meadows Russian Heath and Ottoman Ringlet. There’s Lilium monadelphum and Lilum ciliatum in flowery meadows on the Eğribel Geçidi before we descend for a last day exploring the famed deltas of the Yeşilırmak and Kızılırmak, two of Turkey’s mightiest rivers.