The painted tomb chambers
Five rock-cut chambers inside two tumuli, with false columns, painted walls and a stone couch from the third century BC, and AR screens restoring the lost decoration.
Cobija — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Cobija — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Cobija — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Cobija — CC BY-SA 3.0
On 28 November 1995, road-building machinery on Baruthane hill west of Samsun broke through into a rock-cut chamber with painted walls and a stone couch, where someone had been laid to rest roughly twenty-three centuries earlier. The hill turned out to hide two Hellenistic burial mounds holding five tomb chambers between them, three in the northern tumulus and two in the southern, most likely built for a family from the ruling elite of the Pontic kingdom in the third century BC. Rescue digs in 2004 and 2005 then produced the Amisos Treasure, dozens of gold pieces that are now among the highlights of the Samsun Museum. The site was landscaped and opened to visitors in 2008, and augmented-reality screens were later added to put the vanished decoration back on the bare walls. Be honest with yourself: the tomb chambers are a short visit, fifteen minutes at most, and they feel small if you arrive expecting a royal necropolis. What earns the trip is the way up and the view from the top. A short cable car from Batı Park covers about 320 metres in a few minutes, running since 2005 as the first cable car anywhere in Turkey's Black Sea region, and drops you on a terrace with the whole shoreline and the city spread out beneath you. Entry to the site is free; the cable car costs 50 TL a ride (30 TL for students), paid with a Samkart transit card rather than cash, and small children usually travel free. You can also drive up to a car park on the summit for a small daily fee. Timing is everything here. Go up about an hour before sunset so you see the chambers in daylight, then linger over tea at the municipal café on the terrace while the lights come on along the coast. In August the summit is kinder than the beach thanks to the breeze, but that same breeze turns into a hard wind on many days and the cable car stops when the weather gets rough, so bring a light jacket even in summer. For families it is an easy outing: paved paths, a pushchair fits in the cable car cabin, and the only stairs are a few steps down into the tombs. One last suggestion: pair it with the Samsun Museum in town, before or after. The gold that came out of these chambers is displayed there, and without it the story is only half told.
Five rock-cut chambers inside two tumuli, with false columns, painted walls and a stone couch from the third century BC, and AR screens restoring the lost decoration.
The Black Sea region's first cable car, a short hop from the seaside park to the summit that children enjoy for its own sake.
Samsun's best panorama over the coast and city, with the municipal café making the wait for the evening lights an easy one.
Baruthane Mah., İlkadım, Samsun, on the Sinop road west of the centre
Yes, if you make it your sunset stop. The tombs alone do not justify a special trip, but the cable car, the view and the café make it the best two hours of the evening, especially with children. If antiquities are your interest, the Samsun Museum matters more: the gold treasure is there, not here.
Cable car if the weather is calm: it is half the fun and cheap, and you only need a Samkart card from a kiosk. In strong winds it stops, and then the road to the summit car park is the fallback, also the better choice with elderly relatives.