The Pileki cave in the İyidere district of Rize is not natural: it was made by people. Within it are a number of tunnels, shafts and lakes, and it has two large entrances.
The cave formed between 2300 BC and 1970 through the cutting of pileki stone from this ground, the stone used in the region for baking bread.
Pileki stone is used for baking kinds of bread such as maize bread and bread with anchovies. The stone is hollowed into a round dish and the bread baked in it. Depending on size, pilekis are known by names such as laz, yarım, üç çeyrek, kotluk and ikili kotluk. The stone passes its heat slowly into the dough and does not cool quickly, so that food bakes through evenly.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Rize as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from 6.8 °C in February to 23.3 °C in August; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in May, June, July, August, September and October; rainfall is heaviest in October (294 mm) and lightest in May (97 mm). Long-term means for 1927-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
