What is "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 from Ankara, where the road to the Black Sea coast brances off). It covers an area of , and the population (2000) is 41,391 of which 25,200 live in the town of Gerede. Elevation is about 1,450 m. The mayor is Ömer Baygın ( AKP).

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.