On the way to Kıyıköy and the Black Sea: piles of firewood on the slopes of Strandža / Istranca Dağları
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On the way to Kıyıköy and the Black Sea: piles of firewood on the slopes of Strandža / Istranca Dağları

District of Vize, Kıyıköy Municipality, photo 12a. The mountains of Strandža (the backbone of the Lesser Haimos or Haemus Minor, Turkish Istranca Dağları or Yıldız Dağları) descend from the Turko-Bulgarian frontier in the direction of the Bosphoros, cutting off the plain of Eastern Thrace from the unwelcoming shore of the Black Sea, where settlement is exceptionally sparse and the only town is Medeia / Kıyıköy (not more than a poor village). All along the country roads that link Istanbul with Medeia, and Medeia with Bizye / Vize and the Thracian plain, animal pens and piles of firewood are the lone signs of human presence. The landscape preserves its semi-wildness and the ecosystem remains intact: a mountainous microcosm forgotten in 1922.

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[That was the character of this remote area until the beginning of the 21st century, when the first campers arrived from Istanbul and the inland cities.]