Sinop

Understand

The earliest known settlers were Hellenistic people from the 7th or 8th century BC (The Hittites may have arrived sooner, but historians think not, and that their artefacts here indicate trade goods not settlement). It was a port for coast-hugging small vessels but, backed by mountains, has poor inland access, so Samsun, further east, grew into the major port. Sinop was still worth ransacking or raiding, the last incursion being in 1853 when Russia made a surprise seaborne attack: the coast hereabouts has the shortest crossing south from Crimea.

Sinop is nowadays a beach resort for the townsfolk of Istanbul and Ankara, and accommodation gets very full June-September. Few westerners ever come this way.

Get in

Buses from Istanbul run six times a day and take 13 hours via Gebze, Izmit, Adapazari, Bolu, Karabuk, Safranbolu and Taskopru, for a fare in 2024 of 800 TL. From Samsun they run every hour or two and take 2 hours 30 min. One overnight bus from Ankara takes 7 hours. Bus lines include Metro Turizm and Flixbus.

the bus station is 6 km west of town centre. It's modern but filthy inside.

By road from Ankara is 413 km: take D765 north to Kastamonu, then D030 to Boyabat, then D785.

Get around

Sinop is easily navigable by foot. Parking is difficult in summer.

Dolmuşes and taxis ply to the out-of-town bus station and airport.

See

City walls are best preserved crossing the isthmus west of town centre, with bastions at each end, then along the harbour shore south. Hacı Ömer Mosque just west of Otel 117 was built in 1903 for the harbour workers. The fountain between it and the hotel is a memorial to casualties of the 1853 Russian surprise attack. Sinop Harbour is just south of the fortress. The 200 m east wharf is quieter and used for fishing, the 500 m west wharf is a busy commercial dock. on Fatih Cd celebrates the smelly dingbat philosopher who preached Cynicism. Diogenes was a banker, born in Sinop in 412 or 404 BC, who had to flee because as mint-master he trashed the city currency. (This part of the legend is backed up by debased coins of that period, smashed to take them out of circulation.) It's said he was captured by pirates, anyhow he ended up in Corinth. There he cut a cantankerous squalid figure, raging against corruption all around, and rough-sleeping in a wine jar. His statue shows him holding a lantern, which he carried by day saying he was "looking for a man" - this is nowadays glossed as "looking for an honest man" but given his sexual habits it was maybe just as he said. He's accompanied by a dog as he thought they were nobler simpler creatures, crapping in public as he did, and κυνικός (kynikos, "dog-like") became the word "cynic". His name lives on in "Diogenes Syndrome" where someone lives in squalid conditions, seemingly through personal choice, as depicted in the 2015 film "The…

Do

thumb | 300px | Diogenes searching with his lantern Beaches close to town are trash-strewn. Go to Karakum Plajı on the headland east, or to Akliman beach on the north shore beyond the airport. Football: Sinopspor play soccer away down in the amateur leagues. Their home ground Sinop Şehir Stadyumu (capacity 5000) is 1 km west of town centre off Fatih Cd.

Buy

Lots of small stores, usually open daily to 21:00.

Eat

Eating places around the harbour and fortress are Cem's Kitchen, Mavi Ay, Poyraz, Saray, Hey Yavrum and Nihavent. Local foods include a Sinop version of Mantı and Nokul, a type of puff pastry.

Drink

Mavi Esinti is a tearoom on the seafront 200 m east of the fortress. Others nearby are Chillin Cafe, Vento del Nord and Vitrin Club.

Connect

thumb | 300px | Sinop Fortress Sinop and its approach highways have 4G from all Turkish carriers. As of Feb 2024, 5G has not rolled out in Turkey.

Go next

Samsun is a large resort and harbour town, where Atatürk launched the fightback of the Turkish War of Independence. Boyabat inland has an extensive hilltop citadel. Amasra is another resort on the coast to the west.