Experience the best of Sinop

Sinop sits on a narrow neck of land that juts into the Black Sea, with a sheltered harbour on one side and open water on the other. Greek colonists from Miletus founded Sinope here in about the seventh century BC, and it later became the capital of the kingdom of Pontus; the philosopher Diogenes was born in the city. Walls of the old fortress run along the shore, and its prison stayed in use until the late twentieth century.

The Archaeological Museum holds finds from the area, and the Alaeddin Mosque dates from the Seljuk period. Boztepe, the headland above town, has views over both bays, and the long fjord-like inlet of Hamsilos lies on the coast nearby. In 1853 a Russian squadron destroyed an Ottoman fleet in Sinop's harbour, in the battle that helped draw Britain and France into the Crimean War.

The sea provides much of the table, from fried anchovies and bluefish to Black Sea turbot, a prized catch, served in simple fish restaurants by the harbour. The coast is humid and green, with hazel groves and forest in the hills behind, and summers are mild by Turkish standards.