Turkey to open one of the most picturesque UNESCO-listed islands in the Black Sea for tourism in 2025

The Turkish authorities plan to expand the variety of tourist destinations for travelers by developing one of the smallest but most picturesque islands in the Black Sea, Giresun, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Within two months, representatives of the Middle Eastern state will announce a tender for the project.

The land area, located at a distance of 1.2 km from the city of the same name, is filled with many historical monuments, Glavkom reports. To popularize the island, the government plans to create a sufficient number of excursion routes, recreation areas, and expand infrastructure.

"Giresun, which is included in the investment program of our Ministry of Culture, is an asset for both our region and our province, as it is the only habitable island in the Eastern Black Sea. It is a symbol of our ancient civilization. It is an important tourist attraction with its history, mythology and nature," said the island's governor, Mehmet Fatih Serdengeçti.

Today the territory is not included in any tourist routes, so it is visited by no more than 50,000 individual travelers per year. The Giresun authorities plan to implement a set of measures to develop the island, including the creation of sightseeing trails, observation decks, recreation areas, cafes, a safe pier, and sufficient infrastructure. According to the preliminary plan, the work will be completed by 2025.

Additionally, the government aims to build a cable car to connect the island with the city of the same name and to start fighting the large amount of garbage.

Recent research conducted on the Turkish mainland has shown that the first settlements appeared here about 4000 years ago. Archaeologists managed to find the remains of a stone temple, the representatives of which belonged to the cult of the pagan goddess of fertility and abundance, Cybele. In addition, an important discovery was the remains of the watchtowers of the Monastery of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which was built in the V or VI century AD, and the walls of a chapel with a large number of tombs around it, indicating the importance of the island for the religious world of the Byzantine Empire.

Another no less impressive feature of the island is the diversity of flora and fauna. There are more than 72 species of plants and dozens of exotic birds on the territory of Giresun, as it is a protected area.

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