Explore The Black Sea coast
Most public transport from Sinop heads either east towards Samsun or inland to Kastamonu. There are dolmuşes plying the little-travelled coast west to Amasra, but none provides a direct service. Expect to travel from village to village and change frequently. If you plan to stop anywhere along the way, the nine hours’ total driving time will have to be spread over two days due to infrequent departures. However, with your own vehicle, the smooth roads enable you to explore the coastline’s empty coves and sleepy villages at your leisure.
İNEBOLU, the biggest place between Sinop and Amasra, is still a sleepy harbour town and resort mustering only ten thousand inhabitants. A few isolated Ottoman houses grace the web of narrow streets, which is bisected by a river and wedged between the hills and the sea, with a long, empty shingle beach. Between the coast road and the sea, on the western approach to the centre via İsmet Paşa Caddesi, are a couple of recommended resorts, both with rambling beachside tea gardens where women holiday-makers sit and knit while their husbands throw pebbles into the sea.
The constant curves mean that it takes a good two hours to drive to CIDE, whose town centre is actually a couple of kilometres inland. The beach near here is pebbly but extends for nearly ten uncrowded kilometres to the west of the harbour.
GİDEROS, 15km west of Cide, is a small cluster of houses surrounded by green cliffs and makes a serene, beautiful spot to swim and take a break. The next popular stop is KAPISUYU, an idyllic village where a bucolic mountain stream enters the Black Sea. Just a few kilometres ahead lies KURUCAŞİLE, long renowned as a boat-building centre – craftsment can still be seen making them on the eastbound road.
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