Trebizond, a beacon of Byzantine culture perched on the Black Sea, clings to a precarious existence. This remnant of the once-mighty Eastern Roman Empire exists as a shadow of its former glory. The grand city itself, with its towering walls and magnificent Hagia Sophia cathedral, still retains a sense of faded grandeur. However, its streets bustle less with the vibrancy of trade and scholarship, replaced by a sense of watchful anxiety.