The Black Sea, hostile and hospitable by turns, a land of towering mountain peaks, green tea plantations and thick forests, has always attracted civilisation to its shores: Hittites, Greeks and Romans, Seljuks and Ottomans, Georgians and Armenians, Genoese and Venetians, have all left their traces here. This scholarly and intrepid guide visits all the provinces of the Turkish Black Sea region, delving into their history and discovering all the present-day reasons for a traveller to go there. There are many.