Ordu is a Black Sea city that works best when you let the landscape lead. The centre sits on the water, the hills rise immediately behind it, and the cable car to Boztepe turns the whole city into a viewpoint in a few minutes.
This is not one of Turkey's great monument cities. Its appeal is softer: tea gardens above the sea, hazelnut country inland, a long waterfront, old stone houses, and a few small museums and churches that explain the mixed history of the coast. Paşaoğlu Mansion is the best cultural stop in town.
Ordu clears the one-day test because the city is more than a transfer point. Ride up to Boztepe, walk the waterfront, see the mansion, and if you have a car continue to Cape Jason, where myth, sea wind, and a small restored church make one of the province's better coastal stops.