Tag: Black Sea coast

  • Photo Essay: A stormy day at Turkey’s Black Sea (Includes first-hand account)

    Photo Essay: A stormy day at Turkey’s Black Sea (Includes first-hand account)

    Kandira – Turkey’s long northern border with the Black Sea witnesses many storms. At Kandira, pink rocks line a cliffy shore with offshore islands and sheltered bays. Explore this place on one stormy day.

    Clouds,_Waves,_Rocks,_SandPembe Kayalar, or Pink Rocks, is a series of cliffs that line the rugged coastline of Kandira in Kocaeli province, about two hour’s drive northeast of Istanbul. Wild storms sweep down from Russia, on the other side of the Black Sea, and cause hazards for boats and swimmers. Every year ships sink and people drown off this coast. High waves pound cliffs and rocky islands, calmed only by sheltered bays where towns sleep during the off season but team with tourists in summers. If you take a drive to Kandira in October, you are sure to find yourself trapped in an autumn storm.

    I went to Kandira with some of my Turkish students who were learning English. It took less than an hour to drive northward from Izmit. When we arrived, sun was shining through gray clouds. I got out of the van and walked along the cliff tops, taking photos of pinkish rocks, coves, and distant islands. I wandered toward a far-off bay as the clouds turned dark and menacing. Suddenly, a storm descended on me, and I understood why people call this sea Black. Waves swept against rocks as wind pushed me. Rain poured down so hard on my face that I could not see where I was going. Mud became currents at my feet, slippery against the rocks.

    It was powerful and invigorating and a little dangerous as I walked along the cliff tops. A man herding cows toward their home waved at me to take cover. My students finally found me, headed back toward the van. I had wandered far as I often do on my walks, wanting to see the next curve of the coastline and catch it in my camera’s lens.

    “We thought you fell off a cliff!” one of my students exclaimed as she walked toward me.

    “We called the local police and reported you missing,” another reported.

    “But I was gone only for an hour,” I replied, so soaked that even my leather jacket hung wet and heavy about me. I reached for my glasses and found them broken from being shoved into my pocket. I pulled my camera from my other pocket. It, too, was soaked and would never work again.

    “Oh, well,” I said, holding up the broken camera and taking one squeaky step forward in my drenched sneakers. “It was an adventure! One day, I’ll buy a waterproof camera.”

    And so I did.

    via Photo Essay: A stormy day at Turkey’s Black Sea (Includes first-hand account).

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  • Bulgaria: Turkey Not to Build NPP on Bulgarian Border

    Bulgaria: Turkey Not to Build NPP on Bulgarian Border

    Bulgaria: Turkey Not to Build NPP on Bulgarian Border – Report

    photo verybig 1448061

    The construction site of what could become a Turkish NPP is said to be visible from the Bulgarian Black Sea village of Rezovo. Map from bivol.bg

    Turkey does not intend to construct a nuclear power plant several kilometers away from its border with Bulgaria, a Bulgarian official has stated, denying earlier reports.

    Konstantin Grebenarov, district governor of Bulgaria’s Burgas, has assured that Turkey only plans to build a thermal power plant

    “Currently there are only private investment intentions for the construction of a thermal power plant there,” Grebenarov told reporters on Monday.

    However, the Bulgaria Greens have expressed concerns over the potential power plant near the Bulgarian border. Even a thermal power plant may pose serious environmental risks, Greens party representative Petko Kovachev has told the Bulgarian National Radio.

    “Our reaction should be very strong if Turkey is building a nuclear power plant near our border without notifying Bulgaria and the European Commission,” Kovachev declared.

    Last week, it emerged that the municipality of the small Black Sea Turkish town of Igneada has received a letter from the central government in Ankara announcing the upcoming construction of a nuclear power plant and thermal power plant on the spot.

    Igneada is a town of some 2 000 inhabitants, located 5 km south of the Rezovska (Rezovo) River, which marks the Bulgarian-Turkish border. The first reports that Turkey was planning to build a nuclear power plant there emerged in 2011.

    Back in April 2011, the Turkish Consul in Burgas Sibel Arkan told Burgas Mayor Dimitar Nikolov that Igneada is only the project with the third highest possibility to become Turkey’s third NPP and the Turkish government is yet to take a decision on its construction.

    In May 2010, Turkey reached an agreement with Russia for the construction of what will become Turkey’s first nuclear power plant in Mersin’s Akkuyu district. Turkey’s second NPP is to be located in Sinop on the Black Sea.

    Locals in both Bulgaria and Turkey are said to be alarmed by the reports that a NPP may be built in Igneada.

    Tags: Sinop NPP, Igneada NPP, EDF, GDF Suez, Areva, Ankara, Tekirdag, France, Sinop, Akkuyu NPP, Nuclear Power Plant, NPP, Taner Yildiz, Black Sea coast, Black Sea, Igneada, Bulgaria Greens

    via Bulgaria: Turkey Not to Build NPP on Bulgarian Border – Report – Novinite.com – Sofia News Agency.