Glorious views

Our drive to Rize along the D010 is relatively short and takes just over an hour. Here are mountain backed coves, tea and hazelnut plantations.  The grand but decaying architecture of the fishing ports, promontory castles and former Greek communities that extend for 750 miles east from Istanbul to the border with Georgia. The thickly wooded hills, a late-summer landscape of mocha coloured farmland unfolded.

Craig did one of his specials and tried to park at the botanical gardens, which is located high above Rize town. However, the vertical streets and equally vertical car park were not suitable for a motorhome. On our way down, we seemed to brass off a few dozen Turkish drivers.  All the double parking had turned the road in to a single lane. When faced with Vin and his trail of honking followers they had no option to reverse. A manoeuvre they were not at all comfortable with.  We opted for horizontal parking the sea front, which is just a few minutes walk to the town centre. 

View from our parking spot

Our Bumble wild camping spot Rize N041.028825, E040.519300

We spent the next three days and two nights in Rize. It was simply amazing and I am going to struggle to find the right words to express how amazing it is. It had everything and more from stunning scenery, picking tea with the locals, making long lasting friendship, a night on town followed by a traditional Turkish breakfast. (click the small photo’s to enlarge)

One of the many tea valleys

Asia’s tea culture is as fascinating as it is diverse. One of the interesting tea facts about Turkey is that nearly all its crop is grown in this small area behind our parking spot. Growing conditions in this region are perfect. Its wet climate and proximity to the Black Sea are optimum for producing black tea, also known as Turkish tea. However, we only experienced fierce sunshine and despite the application of sunblock we still burnt the top of our heads. 

Hazy & Moist Tea Terraces

Ottoman Sultan Abdülhamid II loved tea; but Sultan Mehmed V was addicted to it. The tea seeds that were brought from Japan in 1878 were planted in Bursa.  However, the cultivation failed. When it was understood that the Black Sea region was more suitable to grow this plant, the first tea seeds were planted in Batum in 1918. Ali Rıza Erten, was known as the first person who tried tea cultivation in Turkey. A law regarding tea was introduced in 1924 and the seeds brought from Batum were planted in Rize. The result was promising. The very first tea factory in Turkey was established in the same city in 1947. The state established a tea monopoly right away lasting until 1984.

Like rows of green velvet

The tightly trimmed bushes are planted everywhere between sea level and about 600m, to the exclusion of almost all other crops. Picking the tender leaves is considered women’s work, and during the six warmer months women can be seen carrying enormous loads of leaves in back-strap baskets. Each year, nearly a million raw tonnes of tea is sent more or less immediately to the cutting, fermenting and drying plants whose stacks are recurring regional landmarks.

Notice the pickers on the terrace

We wandered for hours through tea plantations in the misty highlands. The sun was fierce and the humidity high. As we drove Eor off the main road and high in to the plantations we were greeted with nothing but smiles and waves.  Tea pickers popping their head out the bush to say hello. One particular lady just went bonkers when she saw us. She was adamant to hug us. We had no choice but to fumble our way through the tea maze to say hello. But Merhaba was not enough. She flung her arms around me and hugged the life out of me. What a welcome, she was so happy to see us. 

Big Welcome Squeeze

Greetings over and the tea sheers were in my grasp and I was chopping away. My new friend showed me to to just nip the right buds, so as to still promote further growth. It was brilliant fun and the whole group was as fascinated by us and we were by them. Saying good bye was a long and emotional event (click to enlarge). 

The women spend around 10 hours a day in the field and they go by lines and rounds are followed. This way, no tree is forgotten during a round, nobody is in the way of anyone else and the tea trees can regenerate between 2 pickings. The women use a pruner with an attached gunny bag. As they clip the little light green leaves from the bush fall in to the bag. When the gunny bag is full they empty on to a large hessian or plastic sheet. This in turn is tied in four corners and carried to the main road by the supervisor. Some of the steeper and remote plantations have pully systems in place. Once on the road they are left for the wagons to collect and take to the factory. 

Tea for as far as you see

At the factory the leaves will follow different steps with different machines : drying, cutting, fermentation (black tea only), crushing, separation, another 30 minutes of drying at 100°C, classification from 1 to 4 (1 being the finest tea) and wrapping. Caykur is the largest producer, which is still owned by the government. It produces several series of black tea, green tea (same production process except for the fermentation) and white tea (no transformation, the small buds are just dried and wrapped).

One of the many tea factories in Rize

Back at base and we here a tap, tap. Craig opens the door to two Turkish guys Enes and Fatih. They spoke as much English as we did Turkish, so Google translate became our go to App. It turns out that Enes and Fatih are Dolumus drivers and often come to this spot during rest periods.  Over the course of the two nights we became good friends and we had a fabulous time. First, they took Craig out for an evening of tea (really can’t stop laughing at Craig going out for tea!) and returned with six cans of larger and bag of popcorn. It was a fun night to say the least and Fatih was so chuffed he video called all his friends to introduce us. 

The area is dotted with tea ceremonies in their traditional setting.  From the botanical gardens above the town to local tea shops. The preparation of Çay, as it is known locally, is surrounded by a ritual. Offering it to guests is part of Turkish hospitality and you can see groups of Turks enjoying this beverage in shops, their homes and parks. The tea itself is prepared by traditional means. It is brewed in a samovar (self boiler), which creates a concentrated brew, diluted with water when served. Çay is served in small glasses without milk, to which cubes of beet sugar are added. As a typical tea glass does not have a handle, it’s really important to grasp it at the rim to prevent burned fingertips. 

The following morning, Fatih took us in to the town for a traditional Turkish breakfast. Sadly, Enes had to go hospital as he had something in his eye.

What an experience!  Fatih’s brisk pace and fearless approach to crossing hectic roads had us in hot sweats within minutes. First was stopped at the cheese store for hard cheese, peynir cheese and cream (like clotted cream). Plus some delicious peanut satay.  Then another mad death defying dash across town to the bread store.  Were we picked up red hot simet bread before the final hurdle to the mosque tea shop. Here we sat amongst the locals and tucked in to breakfast. Fatih showed us how to snap the bread, dunk in to the cream and then in to the cheese. Turkish twist on cream cheese bagels, which was delicious