Bithynia, around Sinop

Filling the "hole" that I described as the Black Sea with my last post, I found that yes, I am skirting the northern edge of Bithynia, on the coast of modern day Turkey.  The region is massive compared to European standards, with a 500-mile coast that collects together a series of isolated population centres between wild, forested mountains.  These cut Bithynia off from the mainland of Turkey except where gaps in the mountains occur ... and in terms of trade, there's only one practical road for use, that south of Amisos.  As such, south of the coast, there's a whole lot of sparse, nasty, high-peaked wilderness.  Most parts of the province cannot communicate with one another by road, and thus rely upon the sea.

I had to create three map sheets to account for the parts I'll be mapping, though these'll remain largely unworked until I pass this area again.  I only touch the very edge of the today's sheet map and then I'm onto the next one.  Here's the section that appears:

It's strange that an area with 3,000 years of history still has vast areas of wilderness, but this is Turkey.  Looking through GoogleMaps, there's a distinct absence of villages and other occupation all along the hinterland just south of the sea.  Sinop is a beautiful looking city that spreads along the peninsula that reaches out from the mainland:

And naturally, it includes the necessary ruins that make it an excellent adventure starting point:

Alas, I won't be working on the hinterland of this place for a while.  Instead, I'll be skipping along the north coast of Turkey, following my exacting longitudal line until I reach Bulgaria, where I can once again put the coast behind me and work on pure mainland.