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Scenic spot
Giresun
Karadeniz
Priority Stop
NatureGiresun Island is the only true island off the eastern Black Sea coast of Turkey, a rocky, roughly four-hectare mass rising from the sea about 1.2 kilometres from the city centre.
Mythology & History
Known in antiquity as Aretias, Areos Nesos (the Island of Ares) and the Amazon Island, it carries some of the most vivid mythological memory of the classical world. In Apollonius Rhodius's Argonautica it appears as the place where Jason and the Argonauts encountered fierce birds that shot their feathers like arrows; tradition also holds that the warrior Amazon women held their fertility rites on this sacred island. A local legend that King Mithridates imprisoned his daughter here after she fell in love with a shepherd adds a melancholy, romantic aura to the rock.
Archaeology & Nature
The island preserves an extraordinary layering of archaeology accumulated across the ages: a roofless ancient stone temple, Roman-era watchtowers and ramparts, a Byzantine monastery-castle complex, chapel ruins uncovered in the 2015 excavations with graves around them, and presses that once served wine or oil production. Within the temple ruins lies the four-metre black stone known as Hamza Taşı, linked to ancient stone cults and revered today as a wishing and fertility stone, serving as the starting point of the annual Aksu Festival. The island's untouched vegetation of bay laurels and black locusts, home to cormorants and seagulls, combines with the historic fabric to create a scene found nowhere else on this coast.
Visiting, Access & Route
What makes the island indispensable in agencies' Giresun city tours is both this visual drama and the short, pleasant boat crossing: visitors depart from the Giresun Port passenger pier aboard small and mid-sized excursion boats, cruise along the shoreline and enjoy a long break on the island itself. The average visit, including the round-trip boat ride, runs about two and a half to three hours; a walking path begins at the natural southeastern cove and lets the whole site be circled while the guide recounts its history. The strongest photographs frame the historic tower and island silhouette against the sea, or the island panorama seen from Giresun Castle and Boztepe hill. The island is protected as a second-degree historical and natural site, and settlement is forbidden. Nearby stand the city's other stops -- Giresun Castle, the Zeytinlik historic houses, Giresun Museum and the hazelnut-lined seafront market -- usually combined into the same half-day itinerary.
Visit & Logistics
Visit & Logistics- Getting thereThe island is reached only by sea. Excursion boats depart from the Giresun Port passenger pier in the city centre; the crossing is a short sail, 1.2 km from the shore. The pier is reached by city minibus and taxi, and by minibus from surrounding districts. There are no motor vehicles on the island; the visit follows a walking path starting at the southeastern cove.
- ParkingThe Giresun coast road / port car park near the pier and the Atapark seafront flat area car park are used. There is no parking on the island.
- Coach accessTour coaches drop passengers at the coastal/port car park near the Giresun Port passenger pier; coaches cannot cross to the island, so passengers continue by boat.
- AccessibilityLimited. The pier itself is reachable, but boarding and disembarking the boat, together with the island's rocky, sloped and stepped paths, are not suitable for wheelchair users or visitors with reduced mobility, and access also depends on sea conditions.
- Photo spotsThe historic tower and island silhouette over the sea (from the boat deck); the island panorama from Giresun Castle and Boztepe hill; the temple-chapel ruins seen from the southeastern cove and its walking path; Hamza Taşı and the surrounding ancient presses.
- Suggested routeThe first or main stop of the Giresun centre half-day tour: a morning boat crossing from the Giresun Port passenger pier with about a 2.5-hour island break, completed on the return with Giresun Castle, the Zeytinlik historic houses, Giresun Museum and a walk through the seafront hazelnut market.
Tours that include this place