city, northeastern Turkey, on the Black Sea. The city lies on wooded hills stretching down to the sea, with its commercial section on the narrow strip of flat land around a small bay. Rize enjoys a mild climate and luxuriant vegetation. It is linked by road with Trabzon (41 miles 【66 km】 west), Hopa (55 miles 【88 km】 east, near the Georgia frontier), and Erzurum (south) and by ship with Istanbul. Rize is a processing and sea shipping centre for the tea grown in the surrounding area; it has a tea research institute, founded in 1958. Pop. (2000) city, 78,144.