Mythical Giresun Island attracts 27,000 visitors yearly

GİRESUN

Surrounded with legends of the Amazons, and Jason and the Argonauts, Giresun Island in the eastern Black Sea has become a tourist attraction.

“Imagine such a place that 27,000 people visit in a year, and it is so well-protected that you could think that not a single person has stepped on it,” said Altın Post (Golden Fleece) tour company on its Facebook page on July 9.

Visitors enjoy shows of Hercules and the Amazons. Upon request, a show on a fictional encounter of the Argonauts of Greece and the Scythians of the Central Asia can be staged on the island.

Pointing that the island was located on the ancient trade route between Greece and Georgia, it was the site of mythological narratives, said Hakan Adanır, who organizes the activities on the island.

“Around 800 B.C. Greek sailors called Argonauts and their captain Jason stopped by the island during their journey to Georgia for gold trade. This story has never been forgotten since then,” he told state-run Anadolu Agency on July 9.

“The moment of the encounter of the Scythian Turks with the Argonauts is being portrayed. Of course the two people were aware of each other in the first place but then start looking for the Golden Fleece together, and eat together. Thus, the Golden Fleece opens the way to the people in this geographical region to live in friendship,” he added.

Ercan Büyükbaş, who has come to Turkey from France with his family for holiday, said that they wanted to see the Giresun Island after hearing those legendary stories.

“We have seen it and we have been impressed. It is as beautiful as we have been told. History came to life with the Amazons and Hercules. We took photographs with them, our kids enjoyed it,” he said.

Archeological excavation works also continue on the island which was home to a monastery and a chapel during the Byzantine era.

“Visitors can walk on the only Black Sea island that housed a settlement. They will have the chance to see the Byzantine graves, historical walls, and the remains of the monastery and the chapel,” the governor of the Black Sea province of Giresun, Harun Sarıfakıoğulları, told Anadolu Agency.

The island is also home to several types of aquatic and migratory birds, he added.