ON THE LITTLE SADDLE. THE VALLEY OF ROSES AND THE VALLEY OF NARZAN
So, Elena Valeryevna and I are in Kislovodsk. Not just in it, though. We have created a rich program, but we do not regret it at all. The beauty, legends and people of the North Caucasus are amazing. It's great, but it's not over yet.
Read - who has not read the first, second, third and fourth parts. And there she is, fifth.
september 7, 2026
The muscles in the legs are much less painful after yesterday. Although I think it's not just about yesterday's climb and descent. I just really walk a lot. My pedometer on my phone says that here, on vacation, I walk seventeen to twenty thousand steps a day.
Where was I last night?
Ay, on the fact that we reached the “rope” and got in line to get the trailer that will rush us up to the height of a thousand two meters above the sea level.
I'm definitely not very high, especially when you climb a small stubby boat into the mountains in the company of twenty people who are huddled in this trailer and ach - some with fear, others with admiration.
I keep silent and smile as hard as I can, trying to show that everything is happening to me somehow... right. One place.
That's not true.
The Valley of Roses at the top is magnificent... I will definitely write about it separately.
The sights are breathtaking.
And here we are finally docking. Little Saddle Mountain.
The top of the park. Right in front of us is the Kislovodsky Olympic Complex.
It is the only one in Russia that is so high. It was built in 1979 for the Olympics-80 in Moscow.
By the nineties he was in complete decline. Then, before the 2012 Olympics, some unprecedented money was injected here and, like, brought the Olympic base into the divine form.
In fact, now this object resembles a military base rather than a sports one: a solid fence, almost a trace strip and Egoz wire. There is only a shortage of watches on the towers.
.. . It's time to go to Narzane Valley. I'll write to you tonight.
At least I hope so.
... Have a warm evening.
The Narzanov Valley was visited by a small but very handsome group of comrades from Kazan. People are extremely self-sufficient: they joke themselves, laugh at their own jokes and sometimes switch to Tatar.
Driver Andrew is also a good man. With humor and life experience. I told a lot about the roads of the North Caucasus and about us, tourists.
We went to the Hasaut tract to talk.
Elbrus, Kabardino-Balkaria. 1,300 meters above sea level.
Here, by the way, everything is so administratively intertwined that you are amazed, just drove through the Stavropol Territory, look - and you are already in Karachay-Cherkessia. I only understood this, and they tell you - and we are already in Kabardino-Balkaria katim.
So that's what you are. Narzan Valley!
Here, literally one by one, springs with the cleanest and coldest narzan beat.
And again, I can not do without an ancient beautiful Caucasian legend.
In ancient times, sarts lived in this valley - powerful and good heroes. They defended the civilian population, bravely fought enemies and were generally very positive people. When the sarts were wounded and tired in battle, they came to the springs. Washing wounds here, drinking water. Wounds healed, forces were restored and they again went to protect civilians from evil.
Very beautiful valley.
And narzana is not necessary, from this very beauty you become healthier. But from every source that came our way, we tried a little water. The green is delicious water!
In the Soviet years, there was a popular tourist base throughout the USSR.
What remains of it can still be seen.
There are narzan baths. But when we arrived in the Valley, only one of the three was filled with narzan, and it was very cold. They didn't get well.
There is one in the Narzan Valley and another attraction.
But tomorrow about her, tomorrow.
They breathe in the mountain air so that their eyes stick together.
september 8, 2026
Good morning, everyone! I woke up to the usual moans-cries of peacocks - am I not in India? - they were added to the chirping of other birds, more pleasant in the voice sense, and dogs bark somewhere else.
While Elena Valeryevna has something for breakfast, I will write - as promised - about another attraction of the Narzanov Valley.
I hope it's interesting.
Let's start.
There are miracles in the Narzan Valley.
It is not for nothing that the magic heroes of sarts lived here.
But this miracle is clearly not magical, man-made. But still a miracle. Right next to the narzed springs in the tract stands a gloomy castle. A powerful building with teeth, thick walls, with its observation deck from which wonderful views open. On this site leads a steep spiral staircase, which is in all respectful castles.
But the thing is, this building is not an ancient castle. The castle is not ancient at all.
It started in 1934 and was completed in 1936.
Actually, it was supposed to be a hotel for foreign guests and VIPs.
The hotel is gorgeous! Cozy halls, comfortable rooms... It's great.
Except for one thing: it was awfully cold. Those who built it did not think that in the mountain gorge almost all year round the air, to put it mildly, cool. And thick stone walls are not heated by the heating system, which was mounted in the "castle". And the fireplaces are no longer there... Anyway, the project was ruined. I had to forget about the tourists.
But do not lose the same good, decided the then head of Kabardino-Balkaria Betal Edikovich Kalmykov, a person legendary in these parts, although contradictory.
So Betal Edikovich decided to adapt this failed hotel to the dacha. Mine. Fortunately, everything there - except heat - was at the highest level: interiors, furniture, service.
Here his friends came to him: Kliment Efremovich Voroshilov, Budyonny Semyon Mikhailovich visited, he met here and Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria ...
Since it was as cold as it was there, and what they warmed up there - both the host and the guests - one can only guess.
In 1938, Kalmykov was arrested as an enemy of the people and in 1940 he was shot in Moscow.
The unlucky building was again empty, although the interiors, furniture, servants - everything remained in place. Sometimes someone even lived here.
But it was said that at night in the halls, corridors and stairs heard shuffling steps and quiet long sighs. Some even saw an emaciated mountaineer with a small mustache in a papach and a Circassian whispering to those who were petrified with fear: "What, do you not recognize Betal Edikovich?" And it was cold.
Well... The cold here always faded, but the ghost of Betal Edikovich Kalmykov is not accurate.
After the war, they tried to make a hotel again, but again failed.
In the nineties, it was just stolen to the ground. Good neighbors-mountainers snatched everything possible from the interiors, all the furniture, all the plumbing. They say that someone even took the ghost of Kalmykov as a rarity.
But there are still windows, balconies, some chandeliers. The halls are not destroyed. Surprisingly, the building isn't dirty. It's pretty clean. Only here are the inscriptions on the walls... But without them. On the spiral staircase, you can still easily climb to the observation deck and admire the views of...
... Before I fall asleep, I will finish about the Valley of Roses in Kislovodsk Resort Park.
Let me tell you right away: this Valley of Roses by all laws of nature should not exist at all.
The fact is that it is at an altitude of nine hundred meters above sea level and although this place is considered one of the sunniest in the world, the temperature difference at night and daytime is very high here. Roses cannot grow in such conditions.
They're growing!
A unique team of specialists created this miracle. And the second very important thing.
For some reason, I always thought that the Valley of Roses was a legacy that we inherited from pre-revolutionary times.
That on this territory, very similar to the parks of Versailles, walked all sorts of ladies-in-waiting, princesses and chamberlains, as well as merchants of the first guild.
Nope!
This miracle appeared in 1972 and the author of it was, as it is now called, a utility worker.
Soviet utility man. His name was Ivan Zakharovich Shishov. And he worked as the head of such an organization as Kurzelenstroy.
He really turned two hectares of the Resort Park into something beautiful and elite.
Just one fact. Today, this beauty is recognized as an object of cultural heritage of federal significance.
Cozy alleys with intimate corners. By the way, Elena Valeryevna and I witnessed a wedding photo shoot. And these photoshoots here one after another go on in warm times.
What kind of roses does not grow here? English varieties, from Germany, France, America. The rarest varieties, the most beautiful varieties.
All right, my friends, good night!
CONTINUATION TO FOLLOW
