Mohamed Salah Turns Rock in Trabzon into Pilgrimage Site
High on the "Kürtdere" plateau in Turkey’s north-eastern Trabzon province, an ordinary rock has become anything but.
It is just a boulder, really. No plaque, no statue, no carefully designed viewing deck. Yet people now queue for their turn, phones in hand, ready to sit, lean, and pose exactly as Mohamed Salah once did.
All because of a few photos.
The story started when the Egypt captain shared images from his visit to the plateau. In them, Salah is perched on one of the scattered rocks that dot the landscape, a simple snapshot from a quiet escape into the hills. The scenery is striking, but it was the man on the stone that changed everything.
The pictures exploded across social media. Fans zoomed in, studied the backdrop, compared slopes and ridgelines. Before long, visitors were making their way up into the heights of Trabzon, hunting for the exact rock where Salah had sat.
They found it. And they named it.
Locals now call it "Salahtaşı" – "Salah’s rock" in Turkish. The label stuck almost instantly. What had been just another lump of stone in the middle of the plateau is now a landmark, folded into the mythology of one of the world’s most recognisable footballers.
Turkish media quickly picked up the story, capturing the humour and pride of the people living around this unlikely attraction. In one widely shared segment, a journalist jokingly asked the owner of a nearby facility whether the entire area might soon be rebranded as "Salah’s plateau". Laughing, she pushed back, insisting these were still her own "Subaşı" facilities, even as the crowds grew.
A shop owner near the rock went one step further, sending a warm, unpolished message out into the world: an open invitation for Salah to return, to visit his shop, to sit down for a cup of tea. No marketing slogan. Just a fan, hoping the man who transformed his neighbourhood’s fortunes might one day walk through the door.
As the stream of visitors thickened, Turkish platforms began posting clips and guides showing the route up to the exact spot Salah had chosen. What was once a quiet path is now documented and shared, step by step. Reports say a directional sign has been installed, pointing the way for anyone keen to take their own photo on "Salah’s rock".
The timing is no coincidence. The craze comes hot on the heels of Salah’s stunning performance in a Trabzonspor shirt, where he tore through Galatasaray in a 4-0 victory. Three goals, one assist, a complete domination that turned him into the central figure of Turkish football conversation.
On the pitch, he dismantled one of the country’s giants. Off it, he turned a rock in the hills into a symbol – of fame, of fandom, and of how far his reach now stretches.
A hat-trick in the stadium. A landmark on a mountain.
In Turkey, Mohamed Salah doesn’t just decide games. He redraws maps.
