İlber Ortaylı's Western Black Sea route, from Sinop to Safranbolu
A road that runs from Sinop Castle to Ayancık in the forest, to Kastamonu, which deserves at least three days, and the wooden Mahmut Bey Mosque in the village of Kasaba, then along forest roads to Cide, Kurucaşile and Amasra, and back via Safranbolu. We compiled it from the route Prof. Dr. İlber Ortaylı suggested in Hürriyet in 2017 for the end of August; we added the timings, breaks and practical notes.
Duration4–5 days (by car)
Walk≈ 520 km by road
Stop8
Tickets0
PD
Kaynak: Prof. Dr. İlber Ortaylı (1947–2026)Hürriyet’teki “Yazın kalan günleri için gezi önerileri” yazısında önerdiği güzergâhtan derlendi · son kontrol 26 October 2026
This route was compiled by AnatoliaPass editors from the published recommendations of the person named; the timings, breaks and practical notes are ours. It does not mean that the person recommends or endorses AnatoliaPass.
On 13 August 2017, in his Hürriyet column, Prof. Dr. İlber Ortaylı (1947–2026) listed travel suggestions for the remaining days of summer. The Turkish leg of the list was the Western Black Sea. For Ortaylı, the end of August was a comfortable time to travel in the region; he wrote that conditions there had changed a great deal, and that new roads made it easier to reach coasts that had once been hard to get to.
Part 2A single province
Behind the suggestion lies a historian's view: in the Ottoman period Sinop, Kastamonu and present-day Zonguldak belonged to the same province. So Ortaylı suggests seeing the region not as separate cities but as a whole that bears shared traces: Sinop's castle and dervish lodges, Kastamonu's high school and mosques, the wooden mosque of the Çandaroğlu Beylik, the coastal towns and the mansions of Safranbolu.
Part 3Three days for Kastamonu
The longest stop in the article is Kastamonu. Ortaylı says the city needs at least three days to be seen properly; he lists the high school building and the mosques, and singles out the Mahmut Bey Mosque in the village of Kasaba as an original wooden monument from the Beylik period, likening it to the mosques of distant Kashgar. From there he wants you to go down by the newly opened forest roads to Cide, Kurucaşile and Amasra, and to call in at Safranbolu on the way back: he writes that anyone who hasn't seen Safranbolu cannot claim to know the geography of Türkiye.
Part 4How we built the route
We followed Ortaylı's order: Sinop, Ayancık, Kastamonu, Cide, Kurucaşile, Amasra and Safranbolu. We gave Kastamonu a day and a half on the route; if you have time, stretch it to three days as he suggested. Of the mosques in Kastamonu he didn't name, we chose the Nasrullah Mosque as an example. The timings, driving times, meal breaks and warnings are ours.
1 / 4
Respect guidelines
Enter mosques in clothes that cover your shoulders and knees; women cover their heads and shoes are taken off. Pause your visit during prayer times and at Friday midday prayers.
At the Mahmut Bey Mosque in Kasaba village, don't touch the painted wooden ceiling or the columns, and don't use flash inside.
In Safranbolu most of the mansions are private homes or hotels; don't go in through doorways or courtyards without permission.
Don't climb onto stretches of the walls or castle towers without railings; don't leave children alone on the walls facing the sea.
In villages and bazaars, ask before photographing people, the inside of homes or children.
Ortaylı starts his Western Black Sea trip in Sinop and recommends seeing Sinop Castle and the dervish lodges that survive in the town. The walls cutting across the neck of the peninsula carry layers from antiquity through to Seljuk and Ottoman repairs; the historic prison inside the castle can now be visited as a museum.
Some sections of the walls have no railings; take care with children. Check the prison museum's opening hours before you go.
2
Ayancık
≈ 1 hour west from Sinop along the coast road · stay 75 min
Ayancık, which Ortaylı called a charming town in the forest, lies west of Sinop, where wooded mountains come down to the sea. Logs cut in the Zindan forests were once carried by narrow-gauge train to the town's timber mill. Walk along the pier and spend the evening here.
The coast road is winding and gets slippery in the rain. Check road conditions before you go.
Day 2 Kastamonu: the high school building, the mosques and Kasaba village
3
Kastamonu · Abdurrahman Paşa High School
≈ 2.5 hours from Ayancık to Kastamonu · stay 40 min
Ortaylı writes that Kastamonu needs at least three days and lists the high school building among the sights of the city. Opened in 1885 under the governor Abdurrahman Paşa, the school is one of the oldest high schools in Anatolia; its monumental building on Cumhuriyet Square is still in use as a school.
It's a school building; you can't go in during lessons, so look from outside. Check whether a visit is possible before you go.
4
Kastamonu · Nasrullah Mosque and the bazaar
≈ 5 min from Cumhuriyet Square · stay 120 min
We chose the Nasrullah Mosque as one of the mosques Ortaylı wanted you to see in the city: built in 1506, with the şadırvan in front and the hans and bazaar around it, the mosque is the centre of old Kastamonu. Walk on from here towards the castle and you climb into neighbourhoods full of Ottoman houses; sit down for lunch at the restaurants in the bazaar, and buy some çekme helva on the way back.
Pause your visit during prayer times. Check the han and bazaar opening hours before you go.
5
Kasaba village · Mahmut Bey Mosque
≈ 25 min north-west of Kastamonu · stay 60 min
The mosque Ortaylı singled out: a wooden-columned building put up in 1366 by Emir Mahmud Bey of the Çandaroğlu Beylik, assembled with a nail-free jointing technique. Ortaylı counts it as an original monument of the Beylik period and likens it to the mosques of distant Kashgar. Its painted wooden ceiling and columns have been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2023.
It's a small village mosque; its door may not always be open. Check visiting hours before you go.
Day 3 Down to the coast: Cide, Kurucaşile and Amasra
6
Cide and Gideros Bay
≈ 2 hours from Kastamonu to Cide by the forest road · stay 90 min
Ortaylı writes that the newly opened forest roads let you go down from Kastamonu via Cide to Kurucaşile and Amasra. Cide is the coastal town where Rıfat Ilgaz was born; to its west, Gideros Bay, with its narrow mouth and forest-fringed waters, is one of the loveliest bays on the Black Sea. For lunch, sit down at the fish restaurants in the bay.
Forest roads are narrow and winding; there may be landslides after rain. Check road conditions before you go.
7
Amasra
≈ 2 hours from Cide along the coast road via Kurucaşile; in Kurucaşile, have a look at the wooden boatyards · stay 120 min
The last coastal stop on Ortaylı's Western Black Sea road. On the peninsula between two harbours: the citadel ringed by Byzantine and Genoese walls, the Kemere Bridge crossing to Boztepe Island, and the old church turned into a mosque in the town Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror took in 1460. Spend the evening at the harbour.
Summer evenings and weekends get very crowded, and parking is hard to find. Check museum opening hours before you go.
Day 4 Safranbolu
8
Safranbolu
≈ 1.5 hours from Amasra via Bartın and Karabük · stay 240 min
On the way back from Amasra, Ortaylı suggests turning off onto the Safranbolu road: he writes that Safranbolu, once an inward-looking town, has now opened up to tourism, and that anyone who hasn't seen it cannot claim to know the geography of Türkiye. The mansions of the Çarşı quarter, the Cinci Han, the Köprülü Mehmed Paşa Mosque and the view over the town from Hıdırlık Hill; a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1994.
Most of the mansions are hotels or private homes; check which are open to visitors and the museum hours before you go.
One more day? Bursa.
Outside Istanbul
≈ 2 h 15 min · fast ferry + bus · Day trip
Why here: The first Ottoman capital. The Green Mosque, the Grand Mosque and Koza Han make an easy day trip; we suggest it if you are staying in Istanbul for more than four days. Not part of this route.
