Geography
Giresun is an agricultural region of great natural beauty, especially in the highlands. The lower areas near the Black Sea coast are Turkey's largest producer of hazelnuts; a Giresun folk song tells "I will not eat a single hazelnut, unless you are by my side", while another tells of a lover shot dead under a hazelnut tree The higher mountain areas are forest and pasture and in places there is mining of copper, zinc, iron and other metals. The mountain villages are remote, with poor roads and little else in the way of infrastructure. And the hillsides are too steep for agriculture also, so for example cornbread is the traditional meal, as they cannot grow wheat. Life here is hard and in the past many people have left to find jobs in Turkey's larger cities or abroad.
The climate is typical of this stretch of the Black Sea coast i.e. very wet. Local flora includes bilberries (Turkish "taflan").
Read more about this topic: Giresun Province
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