What were the ticks silent about?

Rybachye - vdp. Jur-Jur - vdp. Dzhurla - South. Demerdzhi – Valley of Ghosts – Angarsk Pass – Angar-Burun town – Eklizi-Burun town – cave. Name-Bair-Khosar – cave. Mramornaya – Perevalnoe – bus. to Yalta - march. to Ai-Petri - cable car - Ai-Petri - car to the Fifth Kilometer cordon - Grand Canyon - vdp. Silver - Cordon Tea House - Roman Road - Baydar Gate - Foros

April 30, Fri

On April 30 at 14:00 we left the house. Before that, we prepared a lot, bought different things: my mother bought me a new jacket with a lining (it (the lining) could be worn as a sweatshirt), and the jacket was red (very beautiful and the right size). Dad also bought himself a backpack (Red fox) and a new rug. My mother also bought me a backpack (Tatonka), my mother gave it the name “Tatoshka”. And I bought myself a flashlight (Petzl zipka) (because I forgot mine in Zapolitsy), with four LEDs (the cost is 1400, and I have 1200 (because I had three LEDs). And the switches are different: mine has a switch and one mode, and my mother’s has three modes and a button. We arrived at the station at 15:15. When the train arrived we managed to buy: a chocolate bar Alpen gold, TWIX, a bottle of PEPSI, 2 bottles of Aqua Mineral, beer, “Around the World” and a notebook. Then we got on the train and went. I climbed onto the top shelf and began to write a diary. stations on the door:

Fast train No. 107. Schedule.

Here is Tula "Yasnaya Polyana". At 19:40 we got off the train (stop for 11 minutes). We need to buy “Tula Gingerbread” quickly. There were visibly and invisibly gingerbread!!! There were both large and small and of different types straight from the factory. These were: hearts, bears, Christmas trees, triangular and simple rectangular ones with orange jam, and there is also a special type that is just as rectangular but very tasty. They had an internal composition (condensed milk tasted better than regular condensed milk) and nuts. We bought: two large bears for mom and dad, and for me this rectangular, unusual one (which I just talked about). Then we got on the train and moved on. And I slowly began to eat the gingerbread and write a diary - there is still a lot of time until the next stop "Eagle", the stop will only be at 22:36 - so you can relax and read the magazine "Prostokvashino". At 22:36 we went out onto the street in the city of Orel. It was raining, we climbed under the roof, then another train passed us. Then we boarded our train and went to bed. At night, the customs-shoemakers came and woke everyone up. And at that time I found out the number of our train. No. 107.

“Igor, I have no money - only hryvnia!” - we walk along the underground passage of the Kursk station to the Moscow-Simferopol train No. 107. This time we knew in advance where to go. The fuss came out only with the equipment. We bought a new Taganka, Vasya’s jacket, a small Tatonka backpack and a large Red Fox. Over the past few days I have sewn three pockets for Red Fox, 1 of which I left at home as unnecessary. Few things: 2 sleeping bags for three and freeze-dried food:

We'll drag you through the mountains

5 edible kilograms,

Layout-ru sent us

a whole box of “Gala Gala”!

Incredulously, we try buckwheat with chicken on the train – it’s edible. The entire carriage is occupied by a tourist group. In the evening they got drunk, but somehow very civilly. And only one compartment opposite Tanya and Vasya buzzed all night. And in another compartment these figures opened a window, and then, when it got cold, they couldn’t close it - we even had to call some guy with tools, so we couldn’t put Vasya to sleep - he would have been blown out of the open window, and he could have fallen from Igor’s top bunk. Fortunately, by 11 o'clock everything had calmed down. There are a lot of gingerbreads in Tula, especially good with boiled condensed milk.

May 1, Sat

On May 1, I woke up at half past six in the morning (Kyiv time). I got up, sat on the bed (lower bunk) and began to look out the window. It was a beautiful sunny day outside! When we were driving in the Tula region, there were broad-leaved forests and forest-steppes. And behind the “Eagle” just steppes began. Then we got up, had breakfast and I went to the top shelf to write my diary and read the magazine “Prostokvashino”. And dad went to read the magazine “Around the World”. Mom remained on the bottom shelf reading the newspaper. Then we stopped in Zaporozhye - 1 LBK (parking 5 minutes). Then we drove and saw (... a reservoir). It was large and similar to the sea. At 14:24 we reached the platform in the city of Simferopol. Uncle Kirill met us, we took a minibus to the village of Rybachy. The road was very long and there were many mountains. Then we went to the seashore, sat and went to the mountains. At first there were a lot of vineyards there. (I won’t draw (it will take up a lot of space)). Then we turned right and climbed the mountain. The sun began to set. We did not see a parking lot or a spring anywhere. We searched for a very long time, but finally found a parking lot next to a rotten shed, and a spring flowed nearby from some farm. We had dinner and went to bed.

Since dawn, hryvnias have been carried around the carriage, although no one changes them. Having eaten “Galy-Galy” again, we arrived in Simferopol by 14:30. Kirill literally grabbed us by the scruff of the neck and carried us through the underground passage and the square to a minibus on Rybachye. It left immediately and it was as if we had never left the Carpathians! We take off on smooth asphalt to the Angarsk Pass. Sun. Heavy fog from the sea. Ears blocked. The road is very beautiful. The only frightening thing is the forest cover and the length of the mountains. How long do we have to go! Rybachye. We are on the seashore. Transparent greenish water. Kirill and I are symbolically taking a dip. The guys from Perm are coming. They have already completed the route. They told us that they had been bitten by 6 ticks between them and asked if we had been vaccinated.

At 17:00 we leave, passing the notorious Crimean Wines store - the only open store in all of Rybachye. We climb up the stream, making a slight mistake and meeting tipsy locals who are trying to explain the way to us. Vasya walks in a hood, despite the heat - to escape ticks - probably right. Vineyards. Stream. Hare. The road turns sharply to the right to the north. Hot. We gradually rise higher in search of the key. We see several muddy lakes. There are dwarf pines, apple trees, some thorny bushes all around, everything is in bloom. In the falling twilight we stand in a grassy clearing next to a stream. A stream flows from a long water pipe. We have dinner by the light of the moon. It's getting chilly. We stopped at 19:30, fell asleep at 22:00

May 2, Sun

We woke up, got dressed, washed, and had breakfast (as usual) with Galoy-Gala. And we went up. There were a lot of beautiful rocks and “Crimean pines” along the road. I even found three big lumps. Then Uncle Kirill and Dad disappeared somewhere. Mom and I walked for a long time without them, but finally found them under the “Crimean Pine” and moved on. We walked for a long time, there were many mountains. Then we went down into the valley and finally, through a beech forest, we soon came to a slope. The “Dzhur-Dzhur” waterfall roared under this slope. We agreed to take turns. Uncle Kirill and I went first. At first we walked along a steep slope, but then a small, shallow, rocky river appeared, then we saw a waterfall from above. It was very beautiful! Then we crossed the river on logs and leaves and went down to the pirogi. The pies were very tasty! I got a peach pie with delicious whitewash. Then we went down to the waterfall, the river here became wider and shallower, but deeper than from above. Jur-Jur was a very beautiful and large waterfall. The drop was 20-22 m. There were a lot of people under it. Some looked at him and were surprised, some went into the water, and the men climbed to the waterfall itself. Uncle Kirill also undressed and went up to Dzhur-Dzhur and climbed into the bath under the wall of the waterfall. Then he went out, washed his feet, got dressed (or rather, half dressed). Then he took the camera and began taking photographs. Then we crossed the river using two sticks and then, near the shore, we saw an alpenstock that someone had lost in the water. I crossed the river to the end and carefully took it out of the water, cleaned it and washed it in the water, then mom and dad went on. Dad was very angry when he came to the pies and they were sold out. And he took his mother with him and said that they would go make lunch. I stayed by the river and waited for Uncle Kirill. Then it turned out that dad found a shish kebab, we ate and went up the mountain. There were beech forests there for a long time. Then we met tourists who said that a place to spend the night could only be found in an hour and a half. But we turned onto a side road and saw a good place. We had dinner and went to bed.

The spring from which the water gushed turned out to be a dirty lake 50 m above us. The real key was still 50 m away. To the right of the path in the lowland is the forester’s house. The road turns left, along the steep rocky wall of Mount Kengech-Oba. Through rough terrain with pine and beech thickets we reach the Nefan-Uzen spring. We left at 9:00. After numerous stops, we crossed the ridge and began the descent to Jur-dzhur. First, a huntsman drove up to us in a Niva and offered us wine, then a forester in a UAZ offered us a ticket for 6 UAH. It was near the Ai-Alexiy spring. Through the already solid beech forest we descend for a long time to the Dzhur-Dzhur waterfall, until 15:00. Lots of tourists in all directions. I was too lazy to lower my backpacks to the waterfall, Tanya and I stayed to guard them on the trail, and Kirill and Vasya went to take pictures and disappeared for half an hour. We swam and ate pies, but we suffered from hunger and were freezing. When patience ran out, we went downstairs. The pies had already run out, and this prevented us from enjoying Jur-Jur.

Igor got angry, began to strive to make lunch as quickly as possible, and did not allow me to properly admire the waterfall. Although, of course, I have a feeling that after the Karelian Oba-na and Mamani, I will only be impressed by something like Niagara. The waterfall is, of course, beautiful. A narrow canyon, a narrow transparent stream, stone “baths”. We got some water. The waterfall itself is a vertically falling white wall 15 m high. In the middle it is cut into 2 streams by a vertical rock. There is a “bath” downstairs, many people bathe. Feeling upset about the pies, we walk 50 meters and see kebabs - pork and chicken. We were greeted very warmly by two guys, fed and given green tea. We were very happy to learn that we were from Moscow and began to “ask” to go to Russia. We talked about political topics for about 0.5 hours, finding out for ourselves that half of the South Coast belongs to Luzhkov, and half to Chernomyrdin. Having walked 150 m along the right bank of the stream, we began a steep climb from the area fenced with a net.

Here some company collects tribute from those who want to see the waterfall, fortunately, the forester warned us in advance that we had to approach from the other bank, so they didn’t charge us anything. Beech forest. Bizarre growths and bends of trunks. Birds. One of them gloatingly says: “Uh-huh, oh-ho-ho, uh-guh, oh-ho-ho.” We’ve been pushing uphill for 1.5 hours, we’re terribly tired. On shaky legs we climb up the path going up and to the right from the main one (blue marker). I have a feeling that today I won’t be able to walk at all, I climbed the mountain for about 20 minutes. We set up a tent in a tiny non-horizontal clearing with a fireplace. A clear and almost full Moon, the cries of night birds and someone's high howl above.

May 3, Mon

We woke up, got dressed, but didn’t have breakfast (since we didn’t have water), drank tea and ate chocolate and went. We soon came out into the open and saw beautiful rocks. Then we walked for a very long time and finally came to a stream on which the second waterfall “Dzhurla” gurgled. It was a small waterfall with a drop of 3-4 m. Among them were small baths and very beautiful ones. We sat on the slope, lit a fire, had breakfast and went. Our next point was the top of the Demerdzhi South mountain. We climbed for a long time, but finally came to large stones. There was a geodetic sign at the top. Then we went down to the Valley of Ghosts. It was very beautiful there! On the way, we stopped at a stall and bought SNIKERS SUPER and Zhivchik JUICE. Next we wanted to get to the MAN clearing. But on the way we met tourists who said that it was better to stop in a beech forest (because further on there were 20 tents, then 80 tents). We did just that, stood next to the stream and lit a fire, had dinner and went to bed.

At night, everyone moved down, Tanya smothered me with the hood of her sleeping bag (we have 2 bags - interlocking cocoons - for three), stones dug into the rug, I had nightmares: they were chasing me down the street with an ax, and Kirill was methodically shooting generals on the mausoleum podium. At 6:00 we woke up to the orange rising sun and left at 7:00. After 5 minutes, of course, there was a gorgeous grassy clearing, rocks, and a view of the sun-drenched sea. The trail no longer tended upward; there were many flat sections and small descents, and at times there were open views, cliffs, and rocks. There are tents in many clearings and people are lounging. We crossed a small ridge from which you can see Alushta, Bear Mountain, the sea, Chatyr-Dag with patches of snowfields. And down again into the beech forest. The sun plays on the trunks, Crimean birds sing. It seems that Jurla will never come. Finally, there are a lot of tourists, tents, a blissful atmosphere, a gorge with large rocky foreheads. Along the covered and slippery slope of the canyon we emerge into a clearing near the waterfall. The waterfall itself is hidden by rocks, but they say that it is very small. In addition to this, there are a lot of 1-1.5 m steps in the stream - also waterfalls. Tired. We plop down on the grassy terrace on the right bank. We cook breakfast over a tiny fire - porridge with apples. We left at 7:00, breakfast at 10:30, until 12:00. We get to the top of the slope and follow the path up the stream to the Dzhurla parking lot. We rise, small pines and birches (!) end, ahead is an open plateau, bizarre rocks, the sea, the peaks of Chatyr-Dag, South and North Demerdzhi. Very beautiful finger and mushroom formations on the South Summit. There is a geodetic sign on the rocks. Tourists, dogs, half of Crimea in full view, almost no haze and you can see Megan. It's a pity to leave. To the right, around the rocks, we descend into the Valley of Ghosts. Rocks that look like heads and faces. This similarity (looking ahead) is especially strong in photographs showing the valley as a whole. The valley is located high on a steep slope, but a sheer rock wall rises even higher above it. Along a steep slope overgrown with young beech trees we descend almost in a straight line. Thousands of soles have dug holes in the ground, and exposed roots have formed steps, thanks to which we, gently pushed by our backpacks, drop the height smoothly and relatively safely. Soon the dots below turn into horses, people and cars. We haven't had lunch yet. 17:00. Kirill inspires us with the Tatar pilaf sold below. Instead of pilaf - spring, Snickers, beer and Zhivchik juice. Having limited ourselves to Snickers and Zhivchik (a strong allergen!), we walk along the rocky wall to the MAN clearing. The road is not exactly clear, but the idle girls we meet in the forest - without backpacks - say that we are going the right way. We see a huge hare galloping across a clearing. After two streams and small climbs, we get up at 19:00 under centuries-old beeches, on the bank of another stream. It’s 500 meters to Man. Next to us is a group from Donetsk, who hospitably showed us the parking lot. Hearth, hot fire, murmur of water. The banks are damp - while picking up tea, my dress sneaker fell into the brown sludge. My elbows and neck are burned - tomorrow I’ll tie a black pirate scarf on it. Since there was no lunch, we eat “Galu-galu”: 1. Volga fish soup from pike perch. 2. Boiled tongue with potatoes, with the addition of beef. All members and Kirill in particular constantly laugh at “Gala-Gala”: like, it weighs nothing, is 100% digestible, saves toilet paper and the live weight of tourists, adds a food incentive to completing stages of the route, etc. And the poem about “Galu-gala” has already become a parasitic rhyme; read many times in the morning, afternoon, evening and especially while driving.

May 4, Tue

We woke up, got dressed, had breakfast and moved on. We again walked through the forest for a very long time, but then we came to the Angarsk Pass. There was a sign there: “Angarsk Pass 752 meters.” And we moved on. Then we passed the weather station and began to climb the mountain. We finally climbed Mount Hangar Burun (1452 m). Then we climbed the next mountain. And the three of us (dad, uncle Kirill and me). We walked for a long time and finally climbed to the top of the Eklizi Burun mountain. When we descended, everyone slid down the snowfield on a seat. Then we returned to our mother at that peak and began to descend to the Chotyr-Dag plateau. When we went down, we did not find water and walked for a long time and finally came across the road just in time to a fork with a sign: “NAME-BAIR-KHOSAR CAVE OF THE 7 WONDERS OF NATURE.” Dad and Uncle Kirill disappeared somewhere. Mom and I followed the signs and went to the cafe, where we found dad and uncle Kirill. We ate pizza, drank tea and went to the cave. First we met the tour guide. Then we looked at the excursion plan. And let's go. The first point was a well. We were led up to a huge hole and told that many different animals had fallen into this well. And nearby in the cave lay the skeleton of a baby mammoth. Age 14-15 years. Then we went to the museum and there they showed us various remains of these animals. They also told us about the name of this cave - that it was as if a girl named Imene fell into a well. Next we saw an underground lake. We were told that if water stands for a long time without movement, a film of calcium carbonate is formed. The guide said that a bat swam across the lake and took off. Next we went to the Hall of Idols. The first stalagmite was the Guardian idol, and then the rest. Then we were shown a staircase that leads to unequipped halls - “Treasury” and “Kecskemet”, where bats live. Next we looked at the huge stalagmite “Monomakh’s Cap”. And let's go back. At 21:00 I approached the well and saw bats flying out of the cave. Then we pitched the tent and went to bed.

We left at 9:00. At 10:20 we stood on the Angarsk pass, near the traffic police post, next to the sign “752 m”. The traffic cop offered to take a photo with us, but Tanya turned him down. At the Angarsky Pass camp there is a spring on the banks of which tourists shaved. I used to get shaving cream in my mouth a lot and nothing bad happened. So I decide to get some water – boil it anyway! 10:45. There are roads going up the hill. Rusted signs read: “School Descent”, “Difficult Descent”. After exchanging glances with Kirill, we go in the direction of the latter. The road gradually climbs up, and a flatter path goes to the left. Three cyclists push their bikes there, while we continue to climb the slope, which has the steepness of an attached fire escape. We overtake a grandfather with two girls without backpacks. The path soars vertically upward. Gasping for breath, we climb, clinging to beech trees, resting our feet on roots and small stones. We rest often and end up redistributing things. This happens after I walk the next few meters with great difficulty and rest for about 10 minutes before reaching the guys. Igor comes down to me and takes my backpack, but for some reason it’s terribly difficult to walk without a backpack. We fight with our own backpacks for every meter of height. By an effort of will we fall out of the forest zone onto a plateau, along which we rise another 50 meters and then fall. 12:45. We climbed from 10.45, that is, in 2 hours about 600 m - not bad. We lie for a long time, stupidly contemplating the surroundings and, listening to the vibrations in our lower backs, we greedily drink the water collected at the camp site. The height is dizzying. We are at the level of South Demerdzhi. Cars on the highway are almost indistinguishable and tend to zero. Another effort and we are on Mount Hangar-Burun. 14:20. An iron pipe is stuck into the round, like a cross, or maybe a sword. I remember scenes from The Lord of the Rings, onts, orcs and little stubborn hobbits. At a glance - Alushta, Perevalnoe, Simferopol, dams, reservoirs, the sea, green and black beeches. But we want to visit the highest point of this area - Mount Eklizi-burun. Tanya is guarding the backpacks. Taking a shortcut, I lead straight and soon realize how difficult it is to move without a path, even through very short grass. The sun is shining and to protect my burned neck, I make a turban out of a camouflage T-shirt, temporarily turning from a hobbit into a Wahhabi. It’s interesting how it all looks from the outside - I didn’t look in the mirror from the train!

At the top of Eklizi-burun there are several bikes and the same grandfather. Column made of stone. At 100 m there is a sign with the names of members of the NKVD detachment that fought the fascists. Separately, there is a small stone obelisk with an icon. To the side is another obelisk with an eagle. The surroundings shimmer below, in a blue-greenish haze, and only the ridge with the highest peak of Crimea - Roman-Kosh proudly rises opposite us as a dark bulk with small spots of snowfields on the ledges. Our plateau is not much lower; the difference between Eklizi-Burun and Roman-Kosh is only 40 m. And we also have snowfields. On one of them - under the very top - we ride on chairs and, of course, play snowballs. Back - only along the path! Twice as quickly - in just 30 minutes - we get to the top with Tanya. At this time, having rested (only after that I was able to eat, otherwise I had no desire), I ate chocolate, drank water and read the magazine “Around the World” (weight 550g), which we, having bought to read on the train, foolishly and out of greed carried with us the entire trip. From time to time it was either hot, and then I blissfully sunbathed, or cold - an unpleasant wind rose, and it was at this time that clouds appeared. Then different people appeared - somehow all almost at the same time. At first, some lonely woman of about 50, who asked for some water, saying that she forgot hers, then rejoiced at the surrounding landscape and asked her to take a photo, adjusting her clothes so that her breasts were partially visible. Then a whole group in shorts appeared, quickly drank water and ran downstairs, a few more people, 2-3 each. then everyone disappeared again and silence reigned. Fortunately, the men soon appeared. 16:20. The steep, exhausting descent from the top to the plateau cramps your knee. The backpack presses in like a parasite. We go to the Marble Cave. On the plateau there is a sparse forest, many karst sinkholes, stones resembling the vertebrae of dragons, juniper creeping along the ground, crooked low-growing apple trees. There is a more direct road from Eklizi-Burun. We cross the plateau diagonally, along a path marked with tours and a blue marker. The group spends the night in a funnel overgrown with bushes and resembling a swamp. They melt water from the snow and even offer to share the snowfield. Having abandoned overnight and rest, we cross the karst plateau and go out to the Emine-Bair-Khosar cave. 19:00. There is a whole park around, benches, a rock garden, very cozy, there is a cafe. We gorge ourselves on sausages and delicious pizza. I'm terribly thirsty. 4 liters of mineral water and 2 cups of tea. Water, like food, is 100% absorbed. It’s already evening, but we are invited into the cave. The vertical shaft - a natural entrance - served as a trap for wild animals, this is the uniqueness of the cave. Inside is a rare mammoth skeleton, bison bones and saber-toothed tigers. We descended along narrow iron stairs to a depth of 65 m and with open mouths looked at the stalactites, stalagmites and stalagnates, listened to an interesting story, and Vasya tormented and tormented the guide Alexey with cross-questions about bats. We were taken through all the halls, shown the pearl of Emine - the Monomakh's Cap and a beautiful underground lake. Nobody rushed us, and the walk took about an hour and a half. Night greeted us on the surface, and in the night, far below us, settlements, roads, dams, and the camps of rare travelers lost in the forests twinkled with fabulous lights. The speleologists offered us a clearing not far from the cave and from the toilet at the same time. No! We walk 500 m and stand in a karst sinkhole, next to another tent. The moon brightly illuminates our path. Strong wind, terrible night. The awning on Kirill's side regularly unfastens and begins to flap. The wind blows through the “legs” of the cocoon, it’s dreary and chilly! I stealthily dismantle the fireplace and place huge smoked stones on the awning.

In a shady beech forest

I'm still carrying my backpack.

As soon as I reached the pass,

Immediately the backpack fell off of me.

May 5, Wed

We woke up, got dressed and went to the Marble Cave. We've arrived. There is a cafe nearby. We went in and bought: For me – BOUNTY 1 piece, CRIMEA TEA – 5 pieces, pizza – 1 piece; For dad – pizza -1, tea – 1; Mom. - pizza -1, tea – 1; D.K. - pizza -1, tea – 1; We ate and went to see the Marble Cave. We went to buy tickets and my mother bought me calendars (set of 4th grade - 1 hryvnia) with photographs of the Imene-Bair-Khosar cave. And we went to the first hall (it was nameless). There we were told that stalactites (icicles) there grow 1 cm in 2 thousand years, stalagmites (stone columns) grow faster (1 cm, 1000 years). When stalactites and stalagmites grow together (over 15-25-50 thousand years), columns are formed - stalagnates. Then they begin to grow in width. This beauty exists thanks to calcite, calcium carbonate, limestone and water. Next we went to the “Gallery of Fairy Tales”. First we saw several stalagmites. There were very beautiful ones: - Santa Claus, Koschey the Immortal, a hedgehog with an apple and a pear and a figurine of a Goldfish. Then we looked at various very beautiful “Cacti” growths. And the guide said: “Be careful, don’t get killed by this “Rocky Chicken.” Then we went to the hall called “Ovalny”. Once upon a time, there was a huge earthquake in Crimea and very large stones and stalagnates collapsed. The size of this hall is 250x220 meters. Then we went to other unnamed halls (2 pieces). We were told that the Clay Hall and five other halls were not equipped. Then we went to the Tiger Pass (there it was interesting and at the end there was the “Mother-in-Law’s Fang” stalagmite. We were all allowed to touch it with our hands. Then we went out, drank tea and cake and went to the village of “Perevalnoe”. We took a bus, went to “Yalta”. We took a minibus and went to the foot of the Ai-Petri mountain. Then we climbed the cable car and went to the very the top of “Ai-Petri”. Then we drove by car to the forester’s house and went to bed. We ate at the “Sary-Su” cafe.

With a runny nose and sleep-deprived, we walk past Emine-Bair-Khosar along a rugged forest path to the Marble Cave. Too lazy to go. Yesterday we had dinner in Khosar, and today in an even more cozy cafe on Mramornaya. Pizza, sausages and potatoes, lots and lots of tea. Delicious mulled wine with herbs, the recipe of which is kept secret by the owner. Already in the cave we were told about the harmful effects of alcohol on speleologists: it turns out that a bottle of beer drunk underground can completely incapacitate even a seasoned subsoil explorer, so they usually drink it later. Again we plunge into the dampness and coolness of the caves. The air here is absolutely transparent and clean. Lots of fancy shapes. Association - with figurines of Indian gods, cobra tamers in turbans and also with netsuke. The guide shows new and new forms: a thin tall stalagmite - the “Ostankino Tower”, standing on thick deposits of Ukrainian tallow and a row of smaller stalagmites - a line of Belarusians. We kiss in a hall with a vault covered with hearts, look at the Wall of Idiots, lift a huge foam stone, turn off the light for a minute and watch how a translucent stalagmite phosphoresces from a photo flash. Vasya again asks about bats about 20 times. After the cave we can’t leave the cafe. Reason: tea cakes. Along a good path we begin our descent to Perevalny. When the trail disappears, we climb along the calcite bed of a dried-up waterfall and beech thickets down, down, down. Again the path, sheep, a quarry with BELAZ trucks, post No. 5 - a dangerous zone, impenetrable bushes, mountains to the left and right. We climb the first mountain along a very steep slope. This is the height of Khosar. 2 masts standing next to the cave are clearly visible on the adjacent slope. Vasya and I climb the mountain head-on, and Tanya follows Kirill on a long traverse. There is a strong wind on the ridge, capable of deflecting a tourist walking with a backpack with a total weight of about 100 kg from the course. Holding hands tightly, we climb along a narrow rocky ridge, gain another 100 meters in height and find ourselves on a plateau with crooked bushes and “Crimean” peonies. At the same time, Kirill appears on the plateau. I find Tanya not far from the top and help her up. Covered with backpacks, we take shelter from the wind and rest.

I have never seen such an idiotic “descent” from a mountain. Instead of going like other people, we decided to explore new paths, and in order to go down we had to climb a tall mountain. By analogy with Ai-Petri, Ai-Alexiy, etc. I called this mountain Ay-yay-yay-Kirill (Ai-Kirill in short), because... It was because of him that we climbed there. In the last meters of the climb, I was already completely exhausted, given the strong wind and constantly crumbling stones. If I hadn’t brought my backpack, I probably would have remained on the slope.

The gorge, which we did not go through because of the bushes, is overgrown for only 300 meters. Then there is a wide dirt road with a tunnel cut into the rocks. But don’t go back! On the plateau we find the Ishachya trail and quite calmly go down it to the trolleybus stop in the village of Perevalnoye. On a good bus at 16:00 we leave for Yalta (about 1 hour). From there 15 minutes. by minibus to the cable car. (I expressed to Kirill that after the “amazing descent” from the plateau I no longer had any strength to climb the mountain and he had the bright idea of ​​using the cable car.)

It’s already getting dark, we’re hungry and tired, we have enough impressions for today. I want to go to bed and explore the mountain tomorrow. We bought 2 pies and 2 bottles of Morshynska mineral water. We drink, we drink, we drink. Near the cable car station there is a bazaar where dark personalities ambiguously offer everything - from shells to a cheap taxi to Ai-Petri, and quite persistently. I don’t want to pitch a tent here, but I can’t rent a room. Having refused the services of the driver twenty times, we left up the cable car right before it closed. Houses, clearings, highways, gnarled rows of vineyards float below us. Glazed cabins, 4 seats and 36 standing places, a conductor with a walkie-talkie is required. In the wind there is a strong sideways motion. The cabins fly along the cables at high speed and brake sharply in front of an obstacle. “Save your tickets until the middle station!” We transfer to another cabin, bright yellow, and a dizzying takeoff along a steep rocky wall, to the top of Ai-Petri. The last meters we move vertically upward. It looks like we're about to crash into a rock. On the plateau there is not snow and scorched grass, as we thought before, but something completely different. The first thing a happy cable car passenger sees when he gets out onto a high-mountain plateau is the “Museum of Medieval Torture Instruments,” surrounded by a dirty plank fence. At the entrance sits a Tatar dressed as an executioner, who is probably a master of these very tools. And there are also only Tatars all around. There is also a whole town of cafes and souvenir stalls, a lot of horses, cars and camels - in short, the situation is quite criminal. For some reason, behind the cable car building there are two old German cars, along with uniforms and machine guns (extended museum exhibition?). The Trident with its top rises above the station. Ignoring the paid entrance, we climb up to the geodesic sign. There is a layer of fog 300 m below. Ahead is the sea, below is a tiny forest and scurrying yellow cable car cabins. From the top you can see part of the plateau. It is hilly, with good asphalt roads, a weather station, spherical antennas and a shelter hidden behind the horizon with food and lodging. Having descended from the top, we find “Vitalik with Sokolina” next to Kirill, who for 40 UAH offers to take us “to the 5th km, to the forester’s house, 25 km along a winding mountain road.” Imagining a chopped-up hut caulked with moss in the taiga wilderness, we agree. And now the “six” is already carrying us down from the plateau, dashing into the steep serpentine mountain road, catching the limiting posts with its headlights and dodging the bumpers of oncoming cars. We arrived at the 5th km in the dark. There is no forester, the house is locked. But behind it there are already two tents, 10 UAH per piece. With difficulty we stick the pegs into the dense grassy lawn. We are very tired, we have experienced so many impressions that we are afraid to forget or confuse. We haven't eaten anything since the morning, except for pies. We stumble into a summer cafe under the mysterious name Sary-Su. An oriental man in an oriental robe feeds us pilaf and shurpa, salad and tea. And a meter from the table there is the sound of a fast mountain river with a winding rocky riverbed. After 3-4 cups you feel even more thirsty. All absorbed moisture is absorbed. Desperately shining our lanterns, we return to the tent (50 m from the cafe) and go to bed. Almost no wind, warm, 23:30.

May 6, Thu

It rained at night, the whole tent was wet. We woke up, got dressed and went to breakfast. Then the forester arrived. We agreed to move our things into the house - so that the tent could dry out - and went to the Grand Canyon. The first point was “Blue Lake”. This lake was really blue. The water was very clean, transparent and blue, Depth - 1.5 - 2 meters. Then we reached the Pania karst spring. It flowed from a cave in which there is no entrance from Mount Ai-Petri. Then we reached the Bath of Youth. Water temperature: in winter from -5ºС to +2ºС, in summer from +10 degrees. in C – up to +15 degrees. along S. Dad took a swim and we went back. We came, changed clothes, had lunch and went to the Silver Falls. We walked along a muddy road, it was very slippery and wet. But finally they came. There was a small cave there. I climbed first. There was a stream flowing there, I climbed up and found myself on a rock near the wall of the waterfall. Then we went back and began writing diaries and reading books, then had dinner and went to bed.

It rains heavily all night. For some reason, moisture appears between the sleeping bag and the mat. Backpacks hidden in the tent also become damp, as they touch the awning. Having thrown our things under our beaks, we sleep until 8:00. Damp, cool. A forester appears with workers who begin to concrete the floor of the house. In the pouring rain we quickly go for breakfast. In the Volga, located opposite the forestry station, I tasted homemade wines – dry red “Lidiya” and “Cabernet”. The second one turned out to be incredibly tasty, and I took 1 liter for 20 UAH. After one sip of wine, you become terribly happy, you forget the rain, wet things and the hopeless gray sky. And simply delicious. We wake up the cafe staff, order a pot of tea and a pot of boiling water. After having breakfast with our favorite “Gala-Gala”, we return to the forester. After sitting on chairs under a normal roof, where there is no rain and nothing gets wet, we decide to move into the house. Tanya and Kirill agree on a room. If a tent costs 10 UAH/day, then the room is only 4. True, there is nothing there except the floor. Even doors. The only exception is the ferocious stuffed boar standing in the corner. Having collected all our things in a heap, we move into the house, leaving the tent to “dry”. In a light drizzle we set off for the Grand Canyon, which begins right behind the forester’s house. Along rocky paths and beech-covered slopes we walk along a mountain river with a bizarre rocky bed, at times climbing over stones, rising 5-10 m above the water. The rain is gradually ending, and the wet Sun is peeking through the clouds and beeches. There are many tourists in the canyon, with and without backpacks. Overcoming the spell of Cabernet, I go up. However, after the first ascent (the Postal Oak, in which they put notes; the oak is now burned down, but they still put notes) there are no sharp drops. Below us is the Blue Lake - a large turquoise bath with pebbles at the bottom. A little higher is a smoothly curving stone monolith of an ocher-colored stream bed. A path goes up from the lake to the left. It rises to the level of steep cliffs and ends in a parking lot with an observation deck. The trail is steep, difficult, 1 hour 20 minutes long, we didn’t go there. On the left bank of the stream is the unique karst spring Pania with a water flow of 370 l/sec. Flows from the thickness of Ai-Petri. The path along the stream ends with the Bath of Youth, the water in which does not rise above 9 degrees in winter and summer. In general, oddly enough, the water in the stream is not cold. We washed ourselves several times both in the stream itself and in Pania. The Bath of Youth is a deep stone pool under a small drain, with blue-green, very clear water. The bottom is visible, but not felt. And I want to jump out right away. But then it’s warm for a long time! In general, after swimming I was left with the impression that the day was not in vain. All the joy was ruined by two 15-year-old girls who jumped into the bathtub from a rock with a wild squeal. And then a man jumped from a three-meter cliff - he jumped powerfully, we were even surprised that he fell straight into the water. Nearby, two businessmen sit under an umbrella with four wine barrels and a bunch of glasses. Own recipes of youth. On the way back, Kirill got lost, and half an hour later he was found on a rock, which immediately received the name “Oh-oh-oh, Kirill.” The sun has been shining for a long time, and the rocky path in the beech forest is very beautiful. On the way there we saw a beetle - black, with blue-green specks, about 5 cm long. Kirill said that this is a relict Crimean ground beetle that shoots acid from its butt. To be honest, the Grand Cordon did not quite live up to expectations. I wanted high cliffs rising straight out of the water, but the cliffs were far away, there were a lot of trees on the banks, so somehow there was no impression of a canyon. Cordon. The tent is dry. Sun. But our room is wide open, there are bicycles and construction workers are having lunch. We carry our things into the tent, take out “Gallu-Galu”, tea and, as usual, order a kettle of boiling water at the cafe, which does not charge hryvnias. After lunch, we climb up the stream to the Silver Waterfall - another attraction of the Fifth Kilometer. The waterfall has a height of 7-8 m. Under it there is a grotto, inside there is a cave with a stream, after walking along which you can find yourself on a ledge in the middle of the height of the waterfall. This waterfall seemed more beautiful and interesting to me than Jur-Jura, although it is much smaller, but there are very nice little caves there and it looks very picturesque. Vasya and I also climbed above the waterfall, saw the confluence of two streams and, sliding over mud-covered stones, crossed one of them. Tomorrow we will have to walk this same road with backpacks towards the Tea House. What is behind this name? I remember Dersu Uzala, the hills of Manchuria, Feng Shui and Chinese lanterns. Before dinner, everyone in the same cafe exchanged rubles for hryvnia (100 rubles = 17 UAH). Now we have 340 hryvnia, to celebrate we order pilaf, salads and tea and finish the homemade wine. In the neighboring cafe (house on the hill) we saw new Russian tourists. We go in to find out about the exchange, and in the house there is a rocker of smoke, hysterical songs, a table littered with kebabs and a table laden with cognacs, and tourists sipping thick Havana cigars. And their tents are located higher up the stream. 22:30. Lights out. We've been writing a diary for a long time. Very warm night.

May 7, Fri

We woke up, got dressed, got ready and went. We decided to take a short cut and got into such a mess, and then it started to rain. Then we passed the Silver Falls, had breakfast and went to the Tea House cordon. We walked for a very long time. After the rain it was very muddy and wet. They finally arrived. We climbed into the partisan cave and I got a headache from the change in weather. We returned back to the “Tea House” cordon and spent the night there. And in the evening we went out to the helipad and began to look at the stars.

What a blessing that we are not sleeping in the forester’s house - a white stone barracks that resembles a Turkish prison. So what if heavy short rain knocks on the awning several times! We are smart now, we hid our things and not a drop of water gets into the tent. In the evening a night bird howled, and from dawn the morning birds chirped. I want to get up, quickly put on my backpack and happily walk to the Tea House through the fresh beech forest. The food is not completely dissolved in the body; yesterday - for the first time during the campaign - she found a way out for herself, but Tatar pilaf and numerous salads are probably to blame for this, and not the good old “Gala-Gala”. We leave at 9:00. Having had our fill of evening pilaf, we decide not to have breakfast in the morning. The sun is shining. The forester charges us only 10 UAH. With the saved hryvnia we buy delicious red wine – 0.5 l of “Muscat” and 0.5 l of “Bouquet” (“Isabella” + “Muscat”, according to the recipe of Catherine II). Of course, we tasted everything beforehand! While I was taking farewell photographs, Kirill replayed the route: we go to the waterfall the long way, through a passage in the steep wall - the Syyuryu-kaya ridge. We stomp along the highway for 20 minutes to the “Lipovaya Polyana” parking lot (the map shows the “Kokozka” parking lot, which we never found). We climb up a path known only to Kirill, and when it ends, we go straight up the mountain, through a sparse beech forest. Higher and higher, with great difficulty and several large breaks, we reach the border of the forest and see above it a completely sheer 100-meter rock wall. The wind is blowing so hard that the tops of the beech trees are bending and we are freezing. We walk along the wall parallel to the highway and again towards the Fifth Kilometer. After 10 minutes we see the end of the ridge, a pass between the ridge and the high rocky Falcon Mountain. The climb is steep and the rain is pouring heavily. Under the beech trees it is even stronger, their trunks act like drainpipes turned inside out, placed between heaven and earth. From the pass you can see the village of Sokolinoe and the villages following along the highway. The rain has stopped. Thick steam rises along the high cliffs, and all around are forested cliffs, all the same. On the opposite mountain, very high, I see an excellent road, tourists and – below – sheer cliffs. How close and how far! We walk along our slope for some time without losing height, but dense wet bushes soon make this impossible. There are no trails. We go down, the slope becomes steeper, the bushes are denser, there are many stones of different sizes, some of the branches are covered with thorns. Deep below you can hear the sound of a waterfall. When the backpack clings tightly to the branches, we mentally mother the slopes, stones, bushes, Kirill. Kirill falls on some stone, but everything turns out well, we move on. Having spent a lot of time and energy, we finally went down to the Silver Waterfall, the one where we were yesterday. It's raining. The adventure took 3 hours. In general, this was Kirill’s Ay-Yay-Yay option, after which there was a firm decision to go only along the paths marked on the map and for which there is an articulate description. At the waterfall, a fat hairy man with a bunch of children is squealing and taking pictures. We climb higher along the stream, to the left of the waterfall. Vasya has a headache and is hungry. For some reason, everyone else doesn’t need food. We stop in a picturesque place near a stream, in front of an artificial round pool with a waterfall about 20 m in diameter. This is Lake Yusupov. Water breaks out through a meter-long gap in the stone wall and falls from a height of 5 m. The lake is fed by a stream that flows nearby from the mountainside - karst. 13:00. Using dry alcohol, we quickly light a fire and just as quickly have lunch. Hearty portions of food plus extra meat, garlic, delicious nutmeg and black crackers. The bottom of the stream is made up of round stone bowls located at different heights. Water flows from one to another, complete feng shui. Along the stream there is a clayey path, broken by the feet of tourists, a very steep and slippery path, which can only be climbed with the help of hands. To our surprise, a GAZ-66 drives along it slowly but surely. After an hour and a half climb, we come out to a clearing with grazing pigs. Tea house. During her trip to Crimea, Catherine II stopped here and drank tea. Grechko also rested here, and a forester also lives here. The surrounding area is a nature reserve, and the forester fines you 50 UAH for bonfires, but you can stop and light bonfires near the helipad, and everything is free. The hairy man from the waterfall somehow miraculously ends up in the forester's house, occupies a room there, is dry, cheerful and happy. There are several tents in the forest. Next to the helipad is an obelisk to the partisans and a cave 20 meters deep and 70 meters long. There is a small bath with water and tiny stalactites on the ceiling. Water is used by tourists for cooking. It is tough and quite muddy. After examining the cave, we walk through the forest along a gravel road. No rain, but very cloudy. A cold fog creeps along the ridge. Both Kirill and I, dressed in shorts, are freezing. Strong wind, despite the beech forest. We missed the turn. According to the map and compass, it turns out that we are going in the opposite direction, to the mystical Fifth Kilometer. 18:00. Vasya has a severe headache. We return to the Tea House, fortunately it is 15 minutes away. Together with Tanya we lead the suddenly ill Vasya by the arms. He's feeling sick. Cold. Wet feet and everything is damp. We stick ourselves between other tents and make a fire. Having changed into dry clothes, we gradually take on human form. The boots are damp and dirty. The backpacks are also all damp and covered in clay. It's even hot by the fire. We drink “Bouquet”, eat the first and second with the addition of meat. Vasya, changed clothes and sleeping in a sleeping bag, resurrects and plays with lanterns. True, for dinner I only drank tea with crackers. Even Kirill got his fill of “Gala-Gala”, he smiles and laughs for no reason all evening. Night is falling, thousands of bright stars. Clear. After smoking our socks over the fire and admiring the constellations from the helipad, we go to bed. 23:00. In the swamp near the forester, frogs are croaking madly.

May 8

We woke up, got dressed, had breakfast and walked past the village of Kolkhoznoye. And they came to the “Skelskaya Cave”. We were taken on a tour. It was very beautiful. The first hall was called “Altar” - it looked like an altar. The second “Fireplace” is a ledge (very beautiful), similar to a fireplace with red lighting. The third hall of “Fairy Tales and Ghosts”. There were: a dolphin, a mask from the horror film “Scream,” a bear and more ghosts. And a big hole to 5 underground lakes. If you shout, it is believed that the sound reaches underground lakes. Then we went to the Karadag forest. Then we stopped for the night. We pitched a tent and lit a fire, had dinner and went to bed. To be continued in diary No. 2.

I sit on a cape skirted by a mountain stream, listen to the sound of the water and feel the hot rays of the spring sun with every millimeter of my skin. A heady aroma emanates from the juniper smoldering in the fire, and barely noticeable flames fly up from time to time over the rocky hearth. We just had a double portion of soups for lunch. We woke up this morning under the blue sky in a tea house, quickly had breakfast and made the trek to the Ai-Dmitry parking lot with a forestry and weather station. The paths have dried up. The forest contains maple, thuja and juniper. After Ai-Dmitry, we climbed to the saddle and went to photograph the rocky Uzun-Dzha canyon. At this time we were resting, and I found a tick crawling on me. Then all the time we smoothly descended along a path that went through a ravine to a rocky, ocher-colored stream with rocky banks. As I approached, a dozen frogs jumped into the clear water and buried themselves in last year’s oak leaves lying at the bottom. There are many nimble green lizards on the rocks. We had lunch and took a dip in the deep stone baths. Nearby is the village of Kolkhoznoye, through which our route lies. Kirill stopped laughing this morning: he thought that today was the seventh, but it turned out to be the eighth. Therefore, our minimum goal is the Karadag Forest parking lot. And the kilometers here, I must say, are special, longer than usual. To avoid confusion, we gave them a special name - hryvnometers. Or kilohryvnia – as you like. In the morning we left at 9:20, from 13:30 to 15:30 there was lunch. One tiny tick was found on Kirill and Tanya, they were removed and treated with hydrogen peroxide. The stream led to a huge clearing, surrounded on all sides by mountains. On the slopes there are bright green patches of beech and dark green thujas. Thuja trunks are dry and cracked, as if dead. The branches bear dark blue berries, like those of juniper. There are rare houses in the clearing, surrounded by high stone walls. Here is the Gornaya base, an elite cottage community, a meadow with horses, cows, geese and pheasants. A picturesque asphalt serpentine road descends from the village. The road is separated from the cliff by a neat wall made of natural stone. A fast stream roars below. The opposite slope of the valley is high sheer cliffs to which the thuja clings. 1-2 km after Kolkhoznoye, a dirt road with a sign “CAVE” leaves the highway to the left. 100 meters away is a clearing, a 408 Moskvich (one of the most common cars in the Crimean Mountains), a fence with an iron trailer, a rickety table with souvenirs. Speleologists live here. For 44 UAH they promise to show us the Skelskaya Cave. 16:30. The cave was equipped 2 years ago, the entrance is at the foot of the mountain. The staircase from the manhole leads not down, but up. Rising from hall to hall, we see many formations in the form of organs and ribs, hollow inside. They play them for us, like a tam-tam, very beautiful and loud. In the first - fireplace - room, according to tradition, there is the Guardian of the Cave. In Skelskaya this is a Gnome, you need to greet him and be friends with him. Behind the Master is a huge, red-lit fireplace, surrounded by vertical formations of various sizes and shapes. The cave was discovered 100 years ago by a local teacher. In 192..., a huge clay block fell from the vault due to an earthquake, but did not destroy anything, but hung on several points between the halls. Above the boulder is a staircase. The height of the entire cave is 40 m. There is an unexplored part and unequipped halls. In the Hall of Ghosts there are four wells leading to two lakes, one of which is forty meters deep. In snowy spring, the water rises to the Hall of Ghosts. In the Skelskaya cave there are smooth and peculiar sintered forms of white and pink shades. She charmed us, she was not at all like the previous ones. Kirill takes a lot of photographs. 17:00. We must go to the mythical Karadag forest, of course, up into the mountains. I have no strength at all, but I have to go, otherwise we won’t get to Foros tomorrow and Kirill won’t go home. From the cave we go up first along the path, then along the ancient (I-III centuries) Roman road. It runs along the bottom of the Karadag forest creek, is lined with large boulders and resembles a staircase. The walls are sheer rocks up to 3 m in height. The beginning of the road is marked by a dilapidated ancient bridge. The soft evening sun shines through the foliage of young beeches. We walk, methodically rearranging our hooves - up, up, up. An hour, an hour and a half, two... We see a landmark: a stone step with a red inscription “Enjoy your steam!”. We eat 2.5 squares of our favorite chocolate “Svetoch” from the Carpathians and, tormented by thirst, continue to climb. Kirill and I carry 1.5 liters of water each from the Skelskaya cave, just in case. But it’s better not to drink it raw. The sun turns golden. The Roman road ends with a stone with the inscription “OAK”, near which, of course, there is not a single oak tree. The path goes steeply upward and rises onto a forested plateau. After some time, the forest gives way to apple trees, sparsely standing in a lush meadow. There are white flowers and fluffy young leaves on the branches. The damp, cool air resembles the air in the Khosar and Mramornaya caves. The absolute sterility and transparency of this air, the smell of apple trees and moisture, the blue sky with light strokes of clouds, the green peaks of the neighboring mountains... I walk and understand that I am absolutely happy! The garden gives way to a warm beech forest. Another slight climb and we see two very swampy lakes. Nearby there is a five-meter deep well, several fireplaces and a monument. Chilly. We take off our wet T-shirts and sweaty socks, and dump our things out of our backpacks. Two men emerge from the thicket, with a Canon DSLR and a video camera. Speleologists. They climb local caves and call each other on their mobile phones. I pull the tick out of Tanya. She wants to carry it with her in chocolate foil. The speleologist amuses us with a story about medical anti-tick care in Yalta. Vasya lit a fire, we are warming ourselves. The speleologists stand somewhere nearby and soon leave. Kirill films a tick running along his leg. The well is 20 m from us, but the water is deep. It’s good that there is a nylon rope tied to a stick nearby. Kann had to be secured and drowned with the same stick in order to scoop up water. There is no wind. Cozy fire. We savor the “Bouquet” and boil 2 cans of water - we’re thirsty and still need to fill the bottles for tomorrow. Tanya gave out 2 servings of puree with liver. We also have garlic and black bread crumbs, very tasty. Two steps from the parking lot, hordes of frogs are croaking frantically. The crimson sun sets behind the mountains. A little later, thousands of stars light up in the black sky. Night birds scream. I am writing a diary, sitting with PETZL on a wide half of a log, in front of dancing flames. Tanya calls into the tent: Kirill found a tick in the groin, it takes a long time to pull it out. Take tweezers with you - it will save a lot of pleasant minutes! We carefully examine each other and our clothes. Kirill finds a tick running around the tent. All of them are very small - up to 2 mm, so it’s hard to notice right away. Vasya talks with Kirill all evening about Star Wars, Harry Potter and Scooby Doo. The night will be cool, but what is cold when you are lying in a PLACID (BASK) sleeping bag!

May 9

Diary No. 2. We woke up, got dressed, washed, ate and went. We walked for a very long time. Through the spur of the Byuzyuki mountain and the Byuzyuki river. Through passes and valleys, we finally came to the “Baydar Gate”. We passed the Orthodox Church and descended into the town of Foros. Bought: BOUNTY, TWIX, JUICE “Favorite Garden”, BIO-KEFIR, ICE CREAM – 2 pcs., MINI CROISSAN APRICOT – 4 pcs. And we went to the sea. We ate, rested and Uncle Kirill ran to the minibus (he had to go to work). Then mom stayed on the shore, and dad and I went to see who was renting out the rooms. And we found a very good room for 10 dollars. In the evening we went to a cafe. Then we went to the park and there were plants of subtropics and subequatorial forests. Ponds with fish. We looked at the park and went to bed.

At 6 am, the cracking of branches and the strumming of canals can be heard from the street. Kirill hurries to catch the train. How reminiscent of the Carpathians! Near the parking lot there is an obelisk to the partisans of the Balaklava division. We lay a bouquet of yellow buttercups growing here in abundance. We walk for a long time along the most traveled road. The beeches covered the ground with leaves. The leaves have dried up, stained the slopes of the beams red, covered the stones, paths and rustled underfoot. You need to walk 10 km to the highway and 5 km down the highway to Foros. We suggest that Kirill put one gas cylinder under the ties of his backpack and, like Superman, fly to Simferopol. However, we are moving quite quickly. We walk along the Byuzyuk Beam, cross the Byuzyuk stream, and climb Mount Byuzyuk. The beeches give way in front of the abandoned forester's house. It is typical, like all Crimean foresters. White, stone, one-story, in the forest. There is a pond with a well, but we have not seen the monument indicated in the description. The sun is hot. Kirill and Vasya ran far ahead. Having stopped to undress, I immediately find 5 or 6 microscopic ticks on myself - up to 1 mm long, which are pulled out very easily, but the fact itself is unpleasant. We rest on the open hills. A woman with a seat comes up and gloomily says that “you may reach the monastery in the evening.” Firstly, there is no monastery on the map, and secondly, by this time Kirill should be on the train. Thinking about Turboman again, we continue on our way. At the next stop (Devil's Staircase) we conduct a total anti-tick inspection. These examinations are done regularly - in the morning and evening, and now also many times during the day. Each tourist inspects his or her arms, legs, armpits and genitals, then becomes the letter “G”, spreads his buttocks and asks another tourist to look for ticks. At the same time, the second tourist also examines the back, and at the same time the arms, stomach and legs - for control. More often than not, there are no ticks. We see geodetic signs on all the surrounding peaks. We are already on the teeth of a steep stone wall running along the coast. Below are tiny houses, roads, a tunnel and the city of Foros, the huge Black Sea. Climbers have just climbed the wall. We go up the renewed Roman road, still paved with stones. The next section is a descent through a beech forest. After a leisurely conversation and smooth movement through dense foliage, we suddenly find ourselves on the asphalt. It turns out that you don’t have to go down, but 20 minutes up the highway - to the Baydar Gate pass. These gates were built in honor of the completion of the construction of the Sevastopol-Yalta road. Our highway is a wide serpentine with comfortable stops, springs and viewing platforms. The Baydar Gate is gray, similar to the Arc de Triomphe. They offer a view of the church, standing in full view on the ledge of a huge rock. Along a narrow pedestrian path cutting off the serpentine highway, we quickly descend to the temple. It's very festive there. A priest baptizes a child on the street; pine trees, tiles, a cast-iron fence of the observation deck, mosaics on the floor, icons with a heavenly background, dazzling white walls and spiers burning in the sun. The church is located approximately in the middle of the height of the rocks. We stomp down the serpentine road. Our hooves unusually click on the asphalt, expensive fancy cars rush past, pine trees, junipers and cypresses rise behind the stone curb. At a dizzying height, Kirill notices rock climbers. Relax, looking at the climbing technique through binoculars. Kind people point out a short path and, balancing on steep paths, we shorten the path again. A rare relict strawberry tree grows here. The exposure meter fails during shooting. Trying to fix it, I fall behind the group. My path exits onto the highway 100 m above where the others exited. Hurry to Foros, to the sea, to the wild beach! We swim in cyan water among huge brown boulders, eat buns and say goodbye to Kirill - he runs off to the minibus to Sevastopol. We rent a room in a cozy residential area - “in the village” - in a 9-story tower, on the ground floor. The house is surrounded by quaint trees and bushes, benches, little shops, little bars and shops. When we go for a walk, we secretly pitch a wet, rotten tent in the room and open the window wider so that it doesn’t smell so bad. At the tray we purchase a map of Crimea 1:50000 with hiking trails, like Kirill’s. We have dinner in a neighboring house, on the open area of ​​a half-empty cafe. The bartender treats us to delicious Crimean wines: dry red “Rubin Khersones” - “Inkerman”; red semi-dry “Bastardo Stary Krym” and red sweet “Muscatel” - “Massandra”. We liked everything, but the most delicious, perhaps, was “Muscatel”. The pork chop with potatoes, pilaf, and salad of herbs and fresh cabbage did not go unnoticed. We stocked up with water, binoculars, seats and a flashlight - we go to Foros Park. This miracle was built by the tea king Kuznetsov. So much money was invested in the park that, they say, its entire considerable area could be covered with royal hundred-ruble bills. There are cascades of ponds with bridges, waterfalls, gazebos, ladders and many plants from all over the world. For example, sequoia-dendron, yew, Italian pine, cedar, strawberry tree, thuja, cypress, boxwood, palm trees and much more. When the stars began to appear above the sharp peaks of the cypress trees, we moved to the embankment and, listening to the sound of the waves, reached the cape with the locator. It offered a view of the lighthouse of Cape Sarych - the southernmost point of Crimea (260 km to Turkey). Having rested our tired legs and butts on a coastal bench, we inhale the iodine aroma of the sea, listen to the sound of the waves and watch the lights on the masts of distant ships. At home we drink tea for a long time, write diaries and read books about local attractions given by the hostess.

May 10

We got up, got dressed, washed, and had breakfast. Then we went to the park to photograph these unusual plants. Then we went to the sea. Then we bought souvenirs. We took a minibus and got to Yalta, and then got into a car to Simferopol and the driver told us a lot of interesting things. Driver's stories: 1. The legend of the two brothers' rocks: Once upon a time there lived two brothers, one day they caught a goldfish and she said that she would give them a ring so that they would do good things with it for everyone, and if they did it for themselves, they would be petrified. The brothers released the fish and took the ring. For a long time they did good things to others. And then we met two ladies and gave them a ring so that they would love them. They got into the carriage and drove off, suddenly the road narrowed, it turned out to be the sea and the brothers turned to stone. 2. There is another legend about Bear Mountain: there lived one girl and she somehow ended up among the bears. And when she grew up, the bears fell in love with her, and she found herself a groom, and the bears did not want her to leave them. And one chased after them and then the couple had an idea. They jumped into the boat and swam away, but the bear could not do anything and became so angry that he turned to stone. 3. A story about the museums of “Sevastopol”: There are many museums in Sevastopol and there is a panorama and diarama. There is also a museum of marine animals: there are small sharks from the Black Sea, cod, herring, rapana, snails, various fish, moray eels, crabs, crayfish, dolphins, jellyfish - and there is also a jellyfish from the Pacific Ocean. If it stings, the blood of any creature turns into foam and it dies. We reached Simferopol and began looking for a cafe. We found an Indian Cuisine cafe. But we couldn't eat much. Everything was terribly spicy. We had a train soon. No. 104. 12 car – reserved seat compartment. We bought: on the road – WINE, in Simferopol – a “Crimea” loaf, water – 2 bottles, tea – 1 pc.

The owner has a cat, and although she didn’t sit in our room, there’s probably a lot of her fur here. Vasya begins to develop allergies, he coughs and breathes quickly. I give him a pill at night. In the morning it’s the same thing and we quickly go for a walk. Everything will get better on the street. Cloudy. We have breakfast in the same cafe, under a giant pine tree with long needles and huge cones. They serve an omelet and a local attraction - the mullet fish. Today we are trying Massandra’s “Ai-serez” (sweet red) and “Pino-gris” (semi-sweet pink). I liked “Ai-serez”. In any case, during the tasting process there comes a moment when the whole creature soars into the heavens, and the heavens make a three-dimensional turn with a reversal, pouring out onto the sunlit southern land with myriads of multi-colored iridescent sparks. The sun begins to peek through and we take pictures of the park, the city and the beach. There is a cold wind on the embankment. A naked cast-iron man sits on the edge of the breakwater - another local attraction. Many people take him for real and we also fall for this bait at first. I say goodbye to the sea, swimming on yesterday’s stones, but with a bigger wave. In the park near the post office we buy souvenirs made from Crimean juniper - bracelets, pillows, spoons and necklaces. For the uninitiated, they sell starfish that do not live in the Black Sea and corals that do not grow in the Black Sea. Vasya chooses a composition with crab and rapan and carefully guards it all the way. I call my parents on their mobile phone from the post office. You can hear it very well and everything costs 2.5 UAH. They advise flying from Simferopol by plane, since there was an explosion at a military warehouse in Zaporozhye and trains are running late. Having returned home, we feverishly pack our backpacks and are just in time to catch the minibus to Yalta (6 UAH + 2 UAH luggage/person). The wind sweeps through already familiar places. At 13:00 - at the Yalta bus station. We don't have enough tickets for the 13:10 bus. In general, there is some slight confusion reigning around: there is no minibus schedule, the bus station ticket offices are located deep in the basement, and only hordes of bloodthirsty private traders are walking importantly around the station square, jingling the keys to their cars. Desperately bargaining, we negotiate with the station mafia for 50 UAH. The driver turns out to be friendly and talkative. All the way he tells legends about the Twins and Ayu-Dag, takes photographs of us against the backdrop of Mount Bear and takes us to the company store of Crimean wines. We find ourselves in a small cellar, surrounded by barrels with taps. We buy 1.5 liters each of Black Muscatel, Bastardo, Pink Muscatel and Livadia Port, having, of course, tasted everything first. At 14:30 we leave in Simferopol and purchase a guide to Crimea, in the hope of returning to this beautiful and hospitable place more than once. It is not possible to have a tasty and cozy meal near the station. We eat the hottest pilaf at the Indian Cuisine establishment, buy mineral water with the remaining hryvnias and board train No. 104 “Evpatoria-Moscow”. Due to the disaster in Zaporozhye, the train is sent in a roundabout way, through Kherson. Possible delay time is 8 hours. A reserved seat car, a “compartment” in the middle of the car, normal (not side!) shelves, good neighbors and a cheerful conductor. The guide, in a conversation about our lateness, advises everyone to lie down on the shelves so as to eat less and not sweat. We go, eating “Gallu-gala” with Simferopol bread and “Crimean” mineral water. Perhaps, when reading the diary, I got the wrong idea about “Gala-Gala”. Know: this is not true! Here are just some of the names of the products used during the trip: freeze-dried omelet with butter, freeze-dried omelet with mushrooms, oatmeal with apples and lingonberries (blueberries/blackcurrants/blueberries), buckwheat with chicken, buckwheat with mushrooms and sour cream, Volzhskaya fish soup from pike-perch, beef soup with rice, beef soup with potatoes, chicken soup with rice, soup with porcini mushrooms, mashed potatoes with liver and onions, mashed potatoes with beef, freeze-dried beef. Such diversity. “Gala-Gala” is prepared simply: the contents of the bag are poured into a bowl and filled with one mug of warm water. After 3-4 minutes you can eat, but the bag should be thrown into the fire - soon it will completely disappear there. During our journey, despite the monstrous transportation conditions, not a single one of the Galli-Gala packages was damaged. And if you see an emaciated Kirill in the photo, don’t believe it: it’s just a cheap trick fabricated by ill-wishers in a version of Photoshop!

From time to time we are scared that we are 10 hours late, which risks arriving at 2 am and spending the night at the station. We cannot buy cookies or anything like that at any station; passengers are expected to drink beer and eat roach or ice cream. In Tula, Igor and Vasya finally buy gingerbread. In the end, we are only 8.5 hours late and arrive at 00.30 and catch the metro. We are near the house at 1.30. Fortunately, neighbor Anya is not sleeping yet - the window in the kitchen is lit - otherwise we forgot the key to the intercom. Slightly surprised by our call, she opens the door. All. We're home. And it seems like we were gone for at least 3 weeks.

Igor Lipin, Moscow.