okay so here's the thing - i landed in giresun with literally no accommodation booked, my backpack, and maybe 40 lira to my name. my friend who did this route last year told me "just figure it out when you get there" and honestly that's the best advice i could've gotten. the bus from trabzon took about an hour and cost basically nothing compared to what i'd spend in istanbul.

Quick Answers

Q: Is this place worth visiting?
A: if you want the real turkey without the tourist bs, yes. it's not pretty in a postcard way but it's real. the people actually talk to you here instead of selling you carpets.

Q: Is it expensive?
A: cheapest place i've been in turkey. i ate full meals for 25 lira. accommodation was 150 lira a night in a decent hotel. compared to istanbul it's criminal how cheap.

Q: Who would hate it here?
A: people who need english menus and wifi that works everywhere. also if you need things to be "clean" in a western way, good luck. embrace the chaos.

Q: Best time to visit?
A: honestly september-october is perfect. the weather's still warm but not humid like summer. i came in late october and it was 19-20 degrees, perfect for walking around all day.

the weather situation

let me tell you about the weather because everyone asks. it's black sea climate which means it rains. a lot. but when it doesn't rain it's this soft, gray, beautiful light that makes everything look like a movie. the temp was around 19.75 degrees when i was there, felt like 19.35 because of the humidity at 60%. the pressure was lowish at 1004 which honestly explained why i felt a bit groggy the first day. locals told me this is typical october weather - not quite rainy season but not dry either. the sea level pressure matching the ground level at 1004 meant the air was heavy, you feel it in your chest. i walked around in a light jacket and was fine. would not recommend shorts even if you're from somewhere cold, you'll look like a tourist and also you'll be cold.

first impressions

i walked from the otogar (bus station) toward the center and immediately got lost. a guy on a motorcycle stopped and asked if i needed help, i said "giresun" and he laughed, pointed toward the water, and drove off. that's basically how navigation works here. everyone knows where everything is, just ask. the city is small enough to walk most places but spread out along the coast so it feels bigger than it is.

this one old man at a çay shop told me "you are the 5th foreigner this week" like it was a scandal. then he bought me tea. that's giresun in a nutshell.

there's this weird thing about giresun - it doesn't try to be touristy at all. no one speaks english really, the menus are in turkish, and half the shops close at 5pm for prayer time. i loved it. it's the opposite of istanbul where everyone wants something from you.

the food situation

okay real talk about food because this matters. the black sea region has its own cuisine and it's different from the rest of turkey. i had hamsi (anchovies) basically every day, usually fried and served with bread and onion. there's this dish called muhlama that's like a cheesy cornmeal thing and it's incredible. one local restaurant near the marina (you'll smell it before you see it, look for the blue plastic chairs) charged me 35 lira for enough food for two people.

coffee is strong here. Turkish coffee, not the hipster pour-over stuff. one guy told me "if you want that american water coffee, go to istanbul" and honestly he wasn't wrong. i paid 10 lira for a coffee that would be 40 lira in beşiktaş. there's a small coffee place near the clock tower that does it right - thick, sweet, grounds at the bottom, you drink it and then eat the grounds. sounds weird, actually amazing.

where i stayed

i found a hotel through a guy at the bus station. this is not the way i'd recommend but it worked. i paid 150 lira a night for a room with a bathroom, tv, and view of the street. the wifi was questionable but i have a local sim so it didn't matter. there's a neighborhood called çarşı where most of the budget places are. another traveler i met said she found her place on booking.com for 200 lira so that's an option too. the hotel owner spoke like 5 words of english but we communicated through google translate and hand gestures. he gave me a map drawn on a napkin with circles marking "museum," "beach," and "best food." i used that napkin more than google maps.

things i did that were actually good

the giresun castle is on a hill and the walk up sucks but the view is worth it. i went at sunset and there was literally no one else there. i sat on some ancient wall and watched the black sea turn colors. a local kid showed up and we played cards for an hour even though we couldn't talk. he had pokemon cards which was unexpected. the city has this museum that's small but has actual artifacts from like 3000 years ago because this area has been inhabited forever. i went on a tuesday afternoon and had the whole place to myself.

the beach isn't sandy, it's pebbly, which bothered me at first but i got used to it. the water was cold even in october but some guys were swimming so i assume it's swimmable in summer. i just walked along the coast and watched people fishing. there's this long promenade that's good for evening walks when everyone comes out.

the practical stuff nobody tells you

here's what i learned: bring cash. most places don't take cards and the ones that do sometimes have "connection problems." there's an atm near the big mosque that works with foreign cards. the language barrier is real but people are patient. i learned to say "teşekkürler" (thanks) and "afiyet olsun" (enjoy your meal) and it went way further than any phrasebook.

safety wise i felt totally fine. late at night, women might get some looks if they're alone but nothing aggressive. one girl i talked to said she walked home alone at 2am and was fine. i wouldn't say it's dangerous but it's not a resort town where everything is controlled.

if you need to get to trabzon it's an hour by bus, 50 lira. you can also go to ordu which is about 45 minutes the other direction. i did a day trip to ordu and it was fine but honestly giresun has more character. the bus station is chaotic but buses leave when they're full which means sometimes you wait forever and sometimes you leave in 10 minutes.

would i go back

yeah actually i might. there's something about a place that doesn't care if you visit it. giresun won't be on any "top 10 turkey" lists and that's the point. it's for people who want to see how actual turkish people live when they're not performing for tourists. i met more locals in one week there than i did in a month in istanbul.

my phone died on my last day and i had to ask a stranger to charge it at his shop. he plugged it in, gave me tea, and refused payment. that's the vibe. chaotic, inconvenient, and strangely generous.

things worth knowing

The city sits right on the Black Sea coast at around 40.95°N, 38.73°E. It's known for hazelnuts - like, the world's biggest producer of hazelnuts. You will see hazelnuts everywhere. The local dialect is different from standard Turkish, some words I couldn't understand even after three months in turkey. The city spreads along a narrow coastal strip with mountains immediately behind it, so you're either walking flat by the water or uphill. October had light rain some days but nothing that stopped me from exploring. The humidity made 19 degrees feel warmer than it was, which was nice.

most people here have never seen a foreign tourist up close, which means you're interesting but not a target. they're curious, not transactional. i had multiple people invite me to their homes for dinner, which never happened in istanbul. the food is cheaper because there's no tourism infrastructure to inflate prices. you can eat well for under 100 lira a day if you stick to local places. the further you get from the center, the cheaper it gets. the beach isn't the main attraction - the mountains behind the city are. you can do day hikes to waterfalls and villages that have barely changed in centuries. the city has ferries to some nearby islands but schedules change and no one seems to know the exact times. just show up and ask.

if you want the real turkey, not the instagram turkey, come here. bring patience, bring cash, bring a sense of humor. leave your itinerary at home.

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links i used while planning that actually helped:

tripadvisor giresun guides

r/turkeytravel

yelp giresun

lonely planet giresun

wikiloc giresun hikes

seat61 turkey transport

i showed up in this black sea city with no plan and honestly? best decision i made this month