Weekend Getaway to Samsun

Mui and I flew from İzmir to Samsun today … a weekend getaway to visit his nephew, Kerim … and Nalan & Selin (Kerim’s wife and daughter). The bonus? This is my first trip to Turkey’s Karadeniz (Black Sea) Region.

Happy as we are to be here, it wasn’t easy getting to Samsun. Not because we had connecting flights. No, we were on the only nonstop flight between the two cities … operated by Sun Express. All other flights go through İstanbul. Rather, the aircraft that was to fly us to Samsun was delayed nearly two hours leaving Berlin, Germany!

So, our late-in-the evening flight became a late-at-night flight, arriving in Samsun around midnight. At least we managed to get there! Could have been diverted since the local airport was socked in with thick fog. So much so that our rough touchdown came as a surprise because we thought we were still flying through the clouds.

No matter, we’re here and that’s what counts. Luckily, both Kerim and Nalan are night owls, often sitting up until the wee hours of the morning. So, our late arrival did not inconvenience them.

Having chatted for a while, we are now set to get some sleep. Tomorrow, we have a day trip planned to the neighboring province of Sinop.Read more