Sumela Monastery

At the end of the 2025-26 English football season, Mohamed Salah departed Liverpool Football Club. His 9-year tenure at the club saw multiple club scoring records broken as ‘Mo’ notched up 257 goals in all competitions, making him Nr 3 in the club’s all-time list, behind Ian Rush & Rodger Hunt.

Many in Saudi Arabia expected Salah to return to his Arab region (he’s Egyptian), sign a megabucks deal with one of the top Saudi clubs and enjoy a few lucrative seasons in the sun before retirement. But Salah made the rather strange decision, in the opinion of MB, to sign for Tranzonspor FC, from the city of Trabzon on the North Sea coast of Northern Turkey, now Türkiye. ‘Strange’ because Trabzonspor finished only seventh in the top Turkish league last season, so the chances of Salah playing Champions League football in the coming seasons is slim to none, short of some Salah-inspired miracle team improvement. And on that score, let’s wait and see.

But the social media hype around Salah’s arrival in Trabzon saturated Liverpool fan MB’s social media feed, and planted a seed in his head. The scenes at the stadium on the night of his introduction to the fans were incredible as twenty-five thousand showed up, lighting flares and behaving like crazed Salah addicts. Salah has played in the most intense atmosphere at Liverpool for many years and in some of footballs hottest cauldrons, but even he was visibly taken aback with the Trabzon reception.

Anyway……………….

On the occasion of MB’s birthday last week, MB decided on a weekend adventure outside of Saudi Arabia, escaping summer temperatures in the high 40s and taking some chillax time out. Requirements – direct flight from Riyadh and max 3.5 hour flight.

And that’s how MB got to spend three days in Trabzon last weekend.

MB’s primary quest was to acquire a Mo Salah Trabzonspor FC jersey, and after that, anything else would be a bonus. Open the Tripadviser app, enter ‘Trabzon’ and ‘Thing’s to Do’. Not a lot to do in the small city it must be said, but a day trip to an old monastery, pitched high up on a mountain face, immediately caught MB’s attention. Name, Sumela Monastery.

In or around 300 years after the death of Jesus Christ, two Greek monks, Barnabus and Sophronios, individually received a calling from the Virgin Mary to go to the mountain region near Trabzon. Both travelled individually, not knowing that the other has also got the same spiritual calling. After some time, the monks stumbled across each other and both divulged their similar callings to the other. Nearby, they found a cave, and on a wall in that cave that found a painting left by the apostle Luke. At that site, the two monks founded Sumela Monastery, Sumela meaning ‘on Melas’; ‘Melas’ being the name of the mountain.

Over its long history, the monastery has fallen into ruin many times and was repaired by Romans, Ottomans and others. Finally, in 2019, the Turkish Government opened the monastery to tourists, and if MB’s visit was anything to go by, they are visiting in their tens of thousands. It is also now a place of particular pilgrimage for worshippers from the Russian and Greek Orthodox faiths.

The tour bus dropped MB and fellow tourists at a bus park located at the base of the mountain. The mountain park minibuses then took all to approx. 100m below the monastery location. The final climb must be done on foot along stone steps and narrow forest pathways, and a level of physical fitness, such as that of MB!, is a big advantage. Only a percentage of the entire monastery is accessible, less than 50% MB estimates, but one can easily spend an hour of more exploring the old buildings and caves and the many colourful frescos that still remain, albeit the frescos have suffered much man-made damage. Security guards now ensure that no further damage can take place.

The setting hight up in the tree-covered mountains is stunning and is a trip not to be missed if ever followers find themselves in the greater Trabzon region.

And what about the Mo Salah jersey MB? Any luck?

Well lads, it was a close shave, and MB only managed to get one an hour before departure on Day-3. But where there’s a will, there’s a way!