Technically speaking, today’s Germir is merely a suburb of Kayseri. However, it is so self-contained and unlike the rest of the town that it merits an entry in its own right.
Germir offers a clue to what the wasteland behind the Merkez Bankası in Kayersi town centre might once have looked like, with its fine stone mansions, each of them standing on its own separate plot of land. Sadly, these days few people want to live in these houses, and most stand empty, their erstwhile occupants long since moved into Kayseri apartments.
The area appears to have been settled by Armenian Christian leather workers in the late 16th or early 17th century (Germir is probably a corruption of the Armenian ‘karmir‘meaning tannery). Shortly afterwards they were joined by Rum (Greek) settlers and a few Turks.
The suburb contains the ruins of three churches, two of them Greek Orthodox (St Teodoros and Panayia), the third Armenian. Opened in 1837, the Panayia church has a lovely, tiered belltower. In 2012 one of these churches was serving as a home for several families.
The family of the American film director Elia Kazan came originally from Germir.
Transport info
You can catch a bus to Germir from İnönü Bulvarı in Kayseri, or pick it up further along in Sivas Caddesi.
Read more about Germir: http://www.turkeyfromtheinside.com/index.php?option=com_easyblog&view=entry&id=24&Itemid=218
