Gerede

Gerede is a town and a district of Bolu Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It is located on the highway from Istanbul to Ankara (approximately 150 km (93.21 mi) from Ankara, where the road to the Black Sea coast brances off). It covers an area of 1,255 km2 (484.56 sq mi).Elevation is about 1,450 m.

Gerede is a large area of hill country surrounded by pine-covered mountains, on a passage from central Anatolia to the Black Sea coast. The climate is notoriously cold and wet, enough to make it a centre for cross-country skiing, and traffic on the highway often has to negotiate fog, rain and ice around Gerede.Gerede was an established town in the Ottoman Empire period and was visited by the 16th century traveller Evliya Çelebi, who described a town of 1,000 homes and 10 mosques, with a military base.