The landing figures
Life-size painted figures capture Mustafa Kemal and his companions at the moment of the first step onto the Samsun shore.
Every Turkish schoolchild learns what happened on this exact spot: on the morning of 19 May 1919, Mustafa Kemal and his eighteen companions stepped off the steamer Bandırma onto the Samsun shore, the date the republic counts as day one of the War of Independence. The wooden pier where tobacco bales were once loaded vanished decades ago, but in 2009 the metropolitan municipality rebuilt the landing point on the İlkadım waterfront as a short memorial jetty reaching into the water, directly in front of the old Foreigners' Bazaar. The scene is plainer and more affecting than you might expect: a group of life-size, painted, wax-style figures shows Mustafa Kemal and his officers stepping from the boat onto land, with townspeople there to greet them and the real Black Sea behind. From here starts the Kurtuluş Yolu, the Liberation Road, a signposted walk of roughly 400 metres that climbs gently from the shore to the Gazi Museum, the former Mıntıka Palas hotel where he lodged for six days on arriving in the city. It takes about ten minutes, on an easy gradient, and is fine with a pushchair. Keep expectations honest: the stop itself is a quarter of an hour, and there is nothing to see beyond the figures, the information boards and the photo you take with them. The value lies in stitching it to the rest of the story: the Honour Monument a few minutes away in Atatürk Park, the Gazi Museum at the top of the Liberation Road, and the full-size replica of the Bandırma in Doğu Park to the east, where the Panorama 1919 museum rounds the tale off. The sensible order is the ship first, then this pier, then uphill to the museum. It is open-air, free and accessible around the clock, and the seafront is normally lit after dark, so it slots easily into an after-dinner stroll along the front. On 19 May it becomes the heart of the city's celebrations and is packed to bursting: avoid it if you want a quiet photograph, come precisely then if you want the atmosphere.
Life-size painted figures capture Mustafa Kemal and his companions at the moment of the first step onto the Samsun shore.
A short signposted walk climbs from the pier to the Gazi Museum, the hotel where he stayed for six days on arriving in the city.
The pier makes sense alongside the Bandırma replica in Doğu Park, the Honour Monument and the Gazi Museum.
İlkadım waterfront, in front of the old Yabancılar Çarşısı (Foreigners' Bazaar), Samsun
A pause is enough; it is a fifteen-minute photo stop, no more. Fold it into a walk that starts at the Bandırma replica in Doğu Park and ends at the Gazi Museum, and it earns its place.
Yes, the pier is level and the walk is only a gentle rise, both free, and children enjoy the painted figures, but expect nothing more than a short stop before moving on to the ship replica or the park.