Sinop
The province of Sinop is located at the most northern point of the Black Sea Region in Turkey. At the most narrow section of the Boztepe Peninsula. The province is one of the most beautiful natural seaports of the Black Sea Region. The province is one of the oldest cities of the region and is the birth lace of the philosopher Diogene. The city provides unbelievable beauties to its visitors with the beaches which lie one each other. The city is a charming Black Sea port town with excellent views. You can easily spend a day here wandering around the town, restaurants and sea front, although you could also easily see everything in half a day. The city has a combination of Eastern and Western Black Sea the climatic characteristics. On the northern section of the city, it’s mostly the Black Sea climate but it changes when you go to the south with temperature decreases and the effects of steppe climate is observed. The average annual temperature in Sinop is 14 °C and the annual humidity rate is 78 %. Sinop has warm and humid summers with an average daytime high of 26 °C (78.8 °F) however temperatures rarely exceed 30 °C (86 °F). The highest recorded temperature for Sinop was 34.4 °C (93.92 °F) on 6 July 2000. The winters are cool and wet. The average for winter ranging around 5 °C (41 °F). The lowest recorded temperature for Sinop was -7.5 °C (18.5 °F) on 21 February 1985. Snowfall is quite common between the months of December and March, snowing for a week or two. Sinop is one of the oldest cities of the region and the birth place of the famous philosopher Diogenes. Sinop has been a strategic location for the cultural and commerce of the Black Sea for thousand years. This port hosted to many civilizations, including Bronze Age, Greek, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman. It was called “Sinuwa” in the Hittite times and then as “Sinope” when it was founded by the great Greek city of Miletus 7th century BC. It was conquered by Pharnaces I in 183 BC and became the capital of the Kingdom of Pontus. Later it was captured by Lucullus and Julius Caesar established a Roman colony there in 47 BC. It stayed as a part of Trezibond Empire until the Seljuk Turks captured it in 1214. In 1458, Ottomans captured Sinop, and it became an important port for the Ottoman Empire. After the disastrous battle at Lepanto in 1571, the Imperial fleet of several hundred ships were rebuilt at Sinop by the order of Sultan Selim I. As a part of the Crimean War, on 30 November 1853, The Battle of Sinop took place when the Russians destroyed an Ottoman frigate squadron in Sinop. During the cold war, Sinop was a military base for US and it was closed in 1992.
