Country Turkey Province Rize Time zone EET (UTC+2) Area 473 km² Area code 464 | Region Black Sea Elevation 0-2,000 m (−7,000 ft) Postal code 53 Local time Sunday 4:32 AM | |
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Weather -10°C, Wind SE at 6 km/h, 93% Humidity | ||
Çayeli (Laz: მაფავრი/Mapavri) is a town and district of Rize Province on the Black Sea coast of eastern Turkey, 18 km east of the city of Rize.
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Map of %C3%87ayeli%2FRize, Turkey
Çay means tea in Turkish and a large percentage of Turkey's tea is indeed grown in this lush green district.
Geography
Çayeli consists of a narrow coastal strip and a large section of the Black Sea Mountain range which rises steeply and runs parallel to the coast. The Rize mountain section of these mountains reach up to 2,000 m in the district.
The local economy is mainly dependent on tea-growing, along with some sweetcorn, which before tea was planted in the 1940s was the major crop here. The town and the cultivated area are all on the coastal strip, while the mountain hinterland is sparsely populated. Indeed, the steepness of these hills is legendary, and celebrated in song; the late Barış Manço used to sing a version of the local ballad Çayelunden Öteye Ciderum Yali Yali, which tells of a man so much in love that he was even prepared to haul his household over the mountains of Çayeli.
However, for anyone who does venture up here the countryside is unspoilt forest and the views from these steep mountainsides are incredible; therefore Çayeli is now attracting visitors on trekking holidays.
The local cuisine includes a dish of large, light-coloured baked beans known as Çayeli fasulyesi.
The people are conservative, and the municipality is controlled by the Islamist-leaning Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi.
Climate
Çayeli has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen: Cfa).
History
Mapavri was long occupied by the Laz community, and was part of the Roman Empire and then the Empire of Trebizond until was brought within the Ottoman Empire by Mehmet II in 1461, although this coast has always been vulnerable to invaders from across the nearby Caucasus.
In the recent past Çayeli was an impoverished remote region that saw successive generations migrate away to jobs in Turkey's larger cities or abroad. This emigration slowed when tea was planted here in the 1940s.