Giresun Castle & Island

Would you believe it if someone told you a fruit took its name from a city? Giresun’s old name is Kerasous, and legend has it that the word for cherry in many languages was born here. The story goes that the Roman commander Lucullus, after his victory over Mithridates, King of Pontus, took cherry saplings from these shores to Rome, and from there the cherry spread all over Europe… So today, someone eating cherries at the other end of the world may, without ever knowing it, be sending a greeting to Giresun.