About Samsun :
Samsun is a modern city, provincial capital, important Black Sea port and transportation center, but has few sights to detain you. Although it's very old, Genoese raiders burnt it to the ground in the 1400s, so there's not much left of old Samsun (SAHM-soon, pop. 340,000). It was in Samsun that Kemal Atatürk came ashore on May 19, 1919 to rally the people against Allied occupation and to begin the Turkish War of Independence; but a booming economy has covered that quaint old 19th-century Samsun with modern high-rise buildings. The Archeological and Ethnographic Museum and, right next door, the Atatürk Museum, are worth a look. Samsun also has numerous decent hotels and restaurants. Otherwise, you'll probably find yourself heading west to Sinop or east to Giresun and Trabzon on the Black Sea coast, or south to Amasya, all of which are more interesting towns. For details, see my Recommended Itineraries, particularly the one for Eastern Turkey. Bus service is frequent and convenient to Samsun, especially with the Ulusoy company. The few trains from Sivas via Amasya take twice as long and are not as comfortable. Turkish Airlines has daily flights from Istanbul to Samsun.
MORE INFORMATIONS : http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/
