Lost heaven. Myths and reality. Part 3 (last)
To be continued. Start here:
Forecasters are wrong oncebut every day (folk wisdom)
The forecast stubbornly showed partly cloudy and +20, so I dressed accordingly - sandals, light white trousers and a thin denim jacket with holes and 3/4 sleeves. Went outside. There is no sun at all. Steam comes out of the mouth. Something somehow... And I was sunbathing yesterday! But I didn't want to go back. Let's go for a walk. The body has not yet fully rested, and today was a holiday of labor and peace. Having reached the former grocery store along the embankment, we looked at the thermometer hanging on the building - +13 air, + 10 water! Yes, it was warmer in NG - fifteen for both! Only now I was shod not in sandals, and the jacket was somewhat warmer. Okay, it might work out. Having reached Oreanda, I had to seep through the crowd with balloons and flags - the people lined up for a demonstration. A brass band in white jackets blew its pipes. We have long lost the habit of such events, since we spent all the holidays in nature, so we did not linger, but proceeded further in the direction of Livadia.
The Sunny Path and Vorontsovsky Park are included in our mandatory visiting program, and if there are no other activities, we can walk there more than once. In Livadia, we found a wine cellar (and where was it before? ) With barrels so sweet to the heart, fraught with life-giving moisture. The assortment was good, and they gave me a try. Everything here was real, and we finally bought a liter of our favorite Massandra bastardo for 280 rubles. (in a bottle it cost 600!!!! ). We went along the path. Today it did not justify its name at all - it was foggy, and neither the sun nor the sea could be seen. But on the other hand, trees and rocks acquired mysterious outlines. Still great! And the air! Moreover, we made a halt several times and enjoyed our favorite wine. The path was strewn with gnawed cones, but there were no squirrels to be seen. We probably didn't drink enough! Having reached the end of the trail and then driving up to Vorontsovsky Park, they finally performed the usual ritual - they drank wine on a bench by the mirror pond, watching numerous photo shoots. Oh yes! Another pichalka lay in wait for us in Yalta. We had to eat wine with almonds. Only now the price turned out to be completely absurd - 1700 r / kg! Yes, he grows in the Crimea! Cashew, growing in India, and that costs 1200! And the grannies sold almonds for a cup for 200 rubles. No, I was mentally unprepared to pay 100 hryvnias for a portion of nuts. It was necessary to take walnuts from the dacha. In connection with the above, like true alcoholics, they drank without eating.
When we returned, we had lunch and went to the embankment. On the occasion of the holiday, tables and tents with all sorts of things were set up there. Breathtaking aromas came from the braziers. But the prices!!!!!!! ! Hey Kisa! We are strangers at this celebration of life! Or simply greedy, economical, poor (underline as appropriate). It's good that we had lunch at home and were able to safely pass by. On the embankment there was a usual celebratory movement. Musicians played, children and adults roller-skated, barkers barked. Having walked, seen and heard enough, we went to bed.
Hare go crazy! Two days of rest is pampering. The mountains are calling! Today we were waiting for the Taraktash trail leading from Uchan-Su to Ai-Petri. Bus number 30 departed from the bus station, which, as we knew from the Internet, goes to the waterfall. But here the final stop on it was indicated not at all Uchan-su, but Uzbekistan (apparently, a sanatorium, not a republic). But we didn’t begin to find out, but, trusting fate, we just got into it, paying 15 rubles each. And a miracle happened! The bus drove straight to the foot of the waterfall! From there we started our ascent, passing part of the way along the already well-known Shtangeevskaya trail. The weather was overcast again, but after walking a little, we left the cloud zone. It was much nicer here than down in the city, and the scenery, combined with the clouds, was fantastic. True, the sea was not visible, but below us stretched the white sea, in its own way also beautiful. Almost before the very top we met a group of ten people, real tourists, with backpacks and tents, everything is as it should be. It's us, unfortunate weaklings, who live in an apartment.
After reaching the yayla, we went towards the "civilization". On the way, we met a whole cemetery of construction equipment - about 6 rusty broken tractors and bulldozers. Damn what! "Civilization" was represented by many huts stuck to each other on a relatively small patch of land. When we were here in winter, there were many cafes there, as well as ski equipment rentals, since there was also a ski lift and some kind of simple ski run. We were immediately offered to dine, but after learning the cost of the lagman (200 r), we refused. Firstly, we were already smart and finally took sandwiches with us, and secondly, 200 r is too much even by local standards. In Yalta I saw for 75 rubles.
"It's only 15 kilometers on foot here" (Disco "Avariya" "Malinki")
After estimating the rest of the budget, we decided that theoretically we could afford to go down on the cable car (250 rubles each), but then we thought, what a joy it is? We are not yet tired, and there is food, and it is still quite early. Therefore, we did not go to the cable car and Ai-Petrinsky teeth, but went down the asphalt road, because it was not interesting to return the same way as we had come. And it was a long way to go! Judging by the sign, it was 15 km to Wuchang-Su. But it's on the highway! And she is very serpentine. They hoped to shorten the path along the paths. But the sections between the loops of the serpentine were absolutely sheer and did not give the slightest chance of profiling. So we walked the first couple of kilometers along the road. Then it became a little more gentle, and then, in general, we found a wide path, which, however, took us somewhere away from the track. Well, you think, for the first time, or what? It is better to breathe needles than exhaust gases. Having already dropped a decent height, and once again being in a cloud, we believed that we were already somewhere not far from the Sevastopol highway. This was indicated by the ever-approaching rumble of cars. To the left, behind the trees, I thought I saw something bright turquoise. I thought that someone had grabbed a T-shirt here and surrounded it with a fence of such a beautiful color. But getting closer, we were just stunned! Did the path lead us to Croatia? It was a lake, the color was in no way inferior to one of Plitvice. Class! Only now I didn’t want to swim. It was cloudy and chilly here, and the bank was muddy, I would smear my legs. Let's skip it. Having gone further, we found another reservoir, already of the usual greenish-hazy color. But the toads were flooded with might and main here, and it was quiet on the previous lake. Even lower, already behind the barrier that closed the entrance to the reserve, there was another one, but already quite fu - halabuds were clinging around, there was construction (and not only) garbage, and people were having picnics in cars. We finally got to the highway. A poster in three languages (Russian, Ukrainian and Tatar) thanked us for the clean roadsides. But where are we? After walking a kilometer along the highway, we found a sign "Yalta 3 km. " Clearly, somewhere over Livadia. We jumped into a minibus that was dropping someone off and soon we were already at home.
Last day. The morning was overcast again. I didn't want to get out from under the covers. Radio Day was shown on TV and I didn’t want to go anywhere. The saturation has come. This eighth day of "rest" was already superfluous. A standard week would be enough. But you need to go, wind up the mileage! And where to go? On the trail, where else! But for the sake of variety, we went through it the other way around - we got off the minibus at Yasnaya Polyana and walked back to Livadia. There was pandemonium outside the palace. Also in the wine boutique. Taking a liter of cahors (250 r) and splurge on samsa and khachapuri (60 r each), we found a quiet shop in the depths of the park and indulged in quiet alcoholic and gluttonous pleasures. Local cats pulled up, some ugly, grimy and shabby. They probably have such an image that they serve more. Having torn off a few pieces from the heart (more precisely, from the stomach), we shared them with them. The animals ate indulgently. Minibus. Yalta.
Departure. And back to Mariupol we did not go by bus at all. At 9 am, our good friend, who was driving home by car, picked us up in Alushta, where he was staying, and we drove off. But they didn't go far. After a dozen kilometers, it turned out that he had forgotten his purse with documents! I had to return. And to my surprise, I didn't even bother. The state was calm and relaxed. After picking up the documents, we went again. The friend decided not to go through Chongar, but through Armyansk, where, according to him, there are no such queues. True, I had to make a decent detour, more than a hundred kilometers, but it was worth it. At the border, we were the first and whistled it literally in 30-40 minutes. Fantasy! There were also only 5 cars and a few trucks at the entrance to the Crimea. The rest of the road also passed without delay. Of the eleven checkpoints, we were stopped at only one and offered to open the bag a little. But the muzzle of the machine gun did not stick out of it, but on the contrary, an empty plastic bottle from Goan rum lay peacefully on top, in which we brought cognac for convenience. Asked whether we collect them or something, we were released in peace. At six o'clock in the evening we were already at home. And the comrade even refused the 2000 rubles offered to him. for the road. And they say it's a bad omen to come back! Think positive and you will be happy!
Pysy. Thanks to my frugality (read stinginess), we managed to save an additional 2 tr. (in addition to those 2 tr for the road). Thus, in 8 days we spent 14.000 rubles on housing, food and travel around the place. (7000 UAH). However, at the same time, we drank 2, no 3 times less wine than usual, not a gram of beer, did not eat almonds, rapana, sea bass, and did not try red mullet. : (((((. Only bad luck! The 2 kg of my live weight sentenced to disposal remained, for some reason, with me. Yes, eating after 6 (which I never do at home) is simply unacceptable if you want to have an anorexic figure .
Well, we'll have to come back, especially since we have a couple of completely new routes left in reserve, an untried red mullet, and most importantly, a great love for a beautiful corner of the world!
