Scarlet Sails

The group meets at the Feodosia railway station. After distributing food and equipment, we will go to the bus. On the way, we will visit the ruins of the medieval Genoese fortress, or rather the Tower of Costantina. Just 30 minutes by minibus and we are at the foot of Mount Klementyev, a favorite place for all Crimean paragliders. This is not even a mountain, but a long and smooth ridge along which we will go. From the height you will be able to clearly see the mysterious endorheic valley of Lake Barakol, numerous vineyards, the smoky peaks of the Kara-Dag massif, as well as Koktebel and the warm Black Sea. Tireless paragliders will entertain us with their pirouettes in the warm sea wind. And at the end of the journey we will have a photo session on the rocky cliffs of Mount Koklyuk near the snow-white colonnade “Starfall of Memories”.

Among the deep wooded gullies and sun-scorched hills, an ancient trade road winds, connecting the once Crimean Tatar capital Solkhat (Old Crimea) with the coast. Now everything has changed, the rich capital has turned into a modest village, and the busy road has become a forest path, A. Green's path. It was along this road that the great romantic went to visit his friend, the poet of the “land of Cimmeria” - Maximilian Voloshin.
Once on the high bank of the Starokrymskaya Valley, we will stop briefly to admire the minarets of numerous mosques, the majestic Agarmysh mountain range (on the slopes of which Bondarchuk filmed “9th Company” and “Inhabited Island”) and take a deep breath of the amazing healing air of the Old Crimea.
Then we will go deep into the forest again. There, on the slope of Mount Hrytsia, nestled a very ancient and very beautiful Armenian monastery, Surb-Khach, attractive with its unique stone carvings and healing mountain springs. We will set up our tent camp not far from the monastery.

This day will take place in the dense shadow of the Old Crimean forest. Only occasionally will we go out onto the bald mountain peaks to once again make sure that the edge of the forest is still far away. It becomes clear why these places were so loved by monks and partisans. As if to confirm what has been said, on the way we will look at Surb Stepanos - the romantic ruins of another Armenian monastery. The next point on the program is a place called "Forest Wilderness". The name speaks for itself. We will be breaking through this very wilderness until evening. And if we don’t “slow down”, then before settling down for the night, we will go to the top of Mount Frank Mather. Several “stone boxes” have been preserved here. This is the name of the burial structures of the Tauri, a semi-legendary tribe that inhabited the Crimea thousands of years ago.

Today we will visit places that just a few decades ago (during the Cold War) were surrounded by an impenetrable veil of secrecy. Climbing the stone dome of Mount Sandyk-Kaya, far below we will see a charming village with red tiled roofs. But look closely and you will notice numerous rows of barbed wire surrounding the valley. Even here, on the mountain, everything is covered with rusty sheaves of thorns. What is all this for? It's simple. The nuclear arsenal of the Black Sea Fleet was stored under a nearby mountain. Today the village of Krasnokamenka has been declassified, and after getting lost a little among the defense lines, we will descend into it. Along the way we will visit a sacred spring in a cave near the Kizitash monastery and picturesque red rocks surrounding a small canyon (Kizil-Tash is “red stone” in Tatar).

Traditionally, the closer the end of the hike, the busier the days become. This day will begin in a wide clearing of the gas pipeline. It’s convenient to walk here and comfortable to look at - trees don’t obscure the view. And we have a view of the stone lens of Mount Rhinoceros, the jagged “fortress” Taraktash ridge and Mount Sleeping Beauty. The forests surrounding the Sudak-Koktebel highway will hide us from the midday heat. And towards evening we will “surface” on the Echki-Dag ridge. Sitting above the abyss on the top of the inaccessible Kush-Kaya rock, we will get acquainted with new stunning landscapes from the arsenal of Eastern Crimea. On the one hand - the Sun Valley and the sun-scorched Meganom peninsula, on the other - the beautiful Karadag shining in the rays of the evening sun. We will spend the night near a spring on the southern slope of Echki-Dag. Far below the sea splashes and the drums of the “Indians” from Fox Bay hum.

Today we will get up early to go down to the sea, to Fox Bay, before the heat sets in. This famous wild beach is a favorite place for hippies, yogis, nudists and other peace-loving informals. We will walk Liska from end to end, observing the life of this cheerful motley group and periodically plunging into the sea to cool down a little. We are heading to the foot of the Karadag massif to the so-called Biostation (a garden with exotic trees, a Dolphinarium, a zoological museum and an excellent beach). There we will hire a boat to take a short sea voyage around the extinct Karadag volcano and in one go see the famous Golden Gate up close. The boat will drop us off at the Koktebel embankment, where our tour will end. In case of a storm, instead of a boat trip, you can take a 4-hour walking tour to Karadag. From Koktebel, where we will be around 16:00, there are direct minibuses to Simferopol (2.5 hours), Feodosia (30 minutes) and Sudak (30 minutes).