Rize town, Turkey

Rize, the capital of the tea region, is a pleasant modern city which first flourished during the early boom years of tea production in the 1950s. Its roots go back to the ancient trading port of Rhizaion, but only a meagre (and recently reconstructed) Byzantine fortress survives. Lack of history is compensated by the beauty of the natural setting. The city is located on a broad bay flanked by steep mountains. A mild and extremely humid climate has brought about a botanical extravaganza. Banana and citrus trees and the tangle of overgrown creepers give a tropical aspect to the landscape. Tea is everywhere-in gardens, backyards, road¬side patches and on the hills, as well as in shops which display hundreds of local tea brands not sold lsewhere.Appropriately, the major attraction of Rize is the Tea Institute-at once a research institution, a botanical garden, a beauty spot and a public teahouse. In the institute's greenhouses located on a hill overlooking the town visitors can observe the development of new and experimental strands of tea. The products can be sampled in the lush confines of the tea garden. The grounds offer exotic species of flora from around the world. The panorama is superb.The next town along the coast offers more of the same. Çayeli is the final (and purest) bastion of the kesan-and-pestemal look. It has a clannish reputation somewhat like Of, underscored by the fact that a large number of important political jobs in Istanbul and Ankara seem to belong to people from Cayeli.