Amasra

 Along Turkey's north coast 

Limestone cliffs descend 

In tourism we're engrosed 

Watch the fashion trends

Black Sea gently rolls 

Tourists and buskers mingle 

Trinket shops extol

Hoping for coins to jingle.

Amasra the town is named 

Twas once Roman then was Greek 

It's Turkish now reframed 

Of history we shall not speak

Looking at the view 

Enjoying restaurant eats 

Jostling tourists too 

Stroll up and down the streets.

Amasra. It's a pretty little town. Neat concrete apartments, supported by throngs of tourists from Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir and other cities in Turkey. Very little tourism comes from outside these borders. Speaking English with very little Turkish is a serious handicap. We're getting proficient with our translation apps though. We've been in tourist towns all around the world, and similarities abound. Small shops open for long hours, many of them selling the same trinkets as their neighbor. As if someone arrived with a van load of objects (in this case wooden spoons, spatulas and related wares) and now every other shop is selling the same spoons. There's no imagination, no initiative for assessing what people might actually want. It's the same jewelry we see in Ankara or Eskisehir. What's surprisingly missing here, that is such an important staple of tourist towns, is t-shirts, hats and other wearables with 'AMASRA' emblazoned across. We notice the anomalies of life.  

There's a very short hike up to a promontory overlooking a sea. We have enjoyed bringing a picnic up there. Although the litter leaves us dismayed. From here we watched a pod of dolphins swim by. And tourist boats with music blaring chug around the peninsula and return, only to collect a new group and plod through the same course.