Happy Traveler's Diary. North Caucasus. Part seven. Farewell

Yes, friends, it all ends someday. And good ends, and bad ends. Good things always end faster than we would like. Elena Valeryevna and I had a wonderful trip to the North Caucasus, but... so far it is an honor to know.

All previous parts of my journal can be found here.

september 11, 2026

It's amazing that you're still here, but the suitcases that are almost packed create a sense of transience and unreality in which you are now.

You're still here, but you're not here yet.

But you go outside, you reach the sleeping peacocks, who are already ready to earn their food by taking photographs, you go down to the pump room already familiar to the last faucet ...

No, we're still here and we'll be here until next morning.

Especially since today we have a tour around Kislovodsk. This mini-journey we left "for sweets".

When we arrive, I will write about everything.

... Yes, the last full day of our trip was a great one. We have to acknowledge this and thank God for making this happen.

Location one. Berezov Gorge. The far vicinity of Kislovodsk.

Actually, birch trees are not here now at all, but once they were. At the beginning of the last century, the chief gardener of the Kislovodsky or Resort Park decided that birch trees should grow in this gorge.

And he planted a whole grove here! But somehow the birch trees didn't like it much, and they didn't survive.

But here - on the slopes - freely grow oaks, alders (or alder, how right?), robes (or robes?), and maples. Moreover, local residents collect mountain herbs here.

They say a lot of flowers bloom in spring.

It's an insanely beautiful place. Now I found myself thinking that there are probably no ugly places in the North Caucasus. Dangerous, yes! You haven't seen anything ugly.

Actually, the Berezovsky gorge owes its education to the river, which is also - uncomplicated for the simplicity of the soul - called Berezova. She's been punching her way through the rocks for centuries, and she's punched so hard that you can't see her from above. Well, of course: the height is more than a hundred meters! I can only hear the river a little.

And here at an altitude of one hundred meters, on the edge of the gorge, Elena Valeryevna boldly stood and photographed something down there. Because of my chronic fear of heights, I did not take risks and watched the beauty from a safe distance.

Two more touches to the story of this magical place. Berezovsky gorge is liked not only by modern tourists. It was also used by the ancient inhabitants of these places.

Here they found burial grounds that date back to the VI-VII centuries and even traces of an ancient fortress. And in this gorge in the first half of the XIXth century, narzan springs were found. To these sources, a water supply was attached, which now regularly pumps a mineral to city sanatoriums. In short, a very soulful place.

And we went to another gorge, it is very close to the city. And the legend. Oh, what a mess!

This is the second location.

Deep Gorge... Almost a kilometer deep. It's called Cunning Gorge.

Well, once again, a beautiful ancient Caucasian legend will have to be told.

In this gorge lived a rich, domineering and very wayward prince.

He loved his beautiful daughter, whose name was Dauta.

And Dauta, despite her very young years, fell in love with the local herdman Ali - some say his name was Ali Kohn, some say he was Bulat - and was ready right now to surrender to him on the stone floor and marry him.

In that order.

But Dauta's father learned about the forbidden love of his blood-blooded man and said his resolute "no!"

And, mind you, he did not kill the self-styled groom, did not skin him alive.

The humanist was a prince. I just told them not to meet.

But Ali, aka Ali Kohn, aka Bulat, decided to radically solve the problem.

He suggested that Dauta climb the rock and jump down the rock together!

We're not going to get to anyone!

"OK." Douta said. "I agree, my love..." But I will watch you jump, and then love will burn in me so that after you, my Bulat, I will jump

Bulat-Ali believed Dauta, kissed her innocent cheek and blinked!

And Dauta sat down on a stone and thought, “I’m still so young...”

I didn't jump for my lover. I went back to my dad.

She married a rich, but old, his partner in the princely business, bore him a lot of children.

The river that flowed along the gorge was named after Ali: Alikanovka. By the way, we've been there before. At Honey Falls in Karachay-Cherkessia.

Already in Soviet times it turned out that there really was an ancient fortress in which this dull prince and his daughter could live.

And in Soviet times, a tourist complex was built here. Hotel, restaurant, entertainment... In castle power.

The restaurant is said to be good... Delicious and expensive. But in the restaurant we have not been, but nearby bake wonderful chins and brew delicious coffee.

Ate and drove on...

Location three. Let's call it church.

Kislovodsk our wonderful lies as if at the bottom of the bowl, and the walls of this bowl are mountains.

And from the tops of these mountains Kislovodsk is visible as in the palm of your hand.

We admired the view of Kislovodsk from the top of the Maloye Sedlo mountain, from the cliffs of the Berezovsky gorge and here we visited where the city is also perfectly visible.

But first, the Armenians.

In Kislovodsk, the first Armenians appeared almost as soon as the city was built - in the first half of the XIX century. Trade, business, construction...

Since then, the Armenian diaspora has become an integral part of the urban population.

Now more than eleven thousand hundred Armenians live in the city. This is almost ten percent of the total number of citizens.

In 1992, Kislovod Armenians began to build their own church on a high hill on the outskirts of the city.

When it was built in 1997, it was consecrated in honor of St. Vardan Mamikonyan. He is a national hero in Armenia, an outstanding commander, who in the fifth century bravely fought the Persians for independence and the Christian faith. It's called Surb Vardan.

To consecrate it came personally Catholicos of all Armenians Garegin I. And the church is good and the views from its terraces are stunning.

We ended our journey today where Kislovodsk actually began.

But that's tomorrow.

Suitcases packed.

The only thing left is "to eat." And sleep.

The plane is tomorrow at noon...

september 12, 2026

Moscow time is seventeen hours and thirty minutes.

Our luggage and I Elena Valeryevna in our native Petrozavodsk apartment.

Home!

This morning, the son of the owner of the “Eagle’s Nest” Olga Fedorovna took us to the Ministry of Waters, to Lermontov airport.

You won’t believe me, but I took you home. Handsome Elbrus!

Halfway through, he suddenly appeared before us in all his glory. It was great, it was unexpected!

In fact, this is where the magic of the North Caucasus stopped flowing.

Finita!

The plane to Petrozavodsk took off on time, landed also on time.

And here we are.

Yes, just a few more words as we finished our last evening in Kislovodsk yesterday.

So, from the Church of Surb Vardan we went to the place where Kislovodsk and began: Kislovodsk fortress.

So, in 1803, the Kislovodsk fortress was founded by the Decree of Emperor Alexander the First.

Here's what's interesting.

Yeah, highlander war. Yes, everything here hung “by a thread”, but ... the resorts still went “to the water”.

And historians write why this fortress was laid at all: “Its construction was dictated by the need to protect vacationers at mineral springs from raids by mountaineers.”.

Here! And you say strategy. Rest, vacationers!

In the fortress, as in a fortress: barracks, houses for officers, an infirmary, a powder cellar and a small hotel. First, Alexander Pushkin slept in it, and then Mikhail Lermontov also watched dreams.

General Yermolov was engaged in its modernization, and forty years later - in 1862 - the fortress was closed as unnecessary. It wasn't good at the bricks.

Under Soviet rule, a historical museum was opened here.

Elena and I were there last time, so we didn’t go this time.

From the beginning of the XIX century, only one tower and a piece of defensive wall remained unchanged.

Yeah, we didn't go inside the fortress. We did.

But with complete pleasure walked through the fortress yard, where it is now arranged. Lapidarium.

Lapidarium is the kind of thing where artifacts are stored in the open air. And they are presented here in many: fonts, ancient stone crosses, mill circles, tombstones, sculptures that are hundreds of years old... Interesting, anyway.

On the territory of the fortress recently painted graffiti! Quite modern. Funny, by the way. Not the alien mosquito, not the mutant Zoomer.

We said goodbye to this magical city in a special place.

It's right next to the fortress.

When the Great Patriotic War began, it was here that they saw off and said goodbye to the men who went to the front of their women - mother, wife, daughter.

Six thousand residents of Kislovodsk died in that war, did not return home.

And on this place in October 1978, a monument was opened, the money for which was collected by the citizens themselves.

A woman kneels and three cranes fly over her head - the souls of her sons who died. It is written on the pedestal: “He who lives before you in eternal debt.”.

Next to the obelisk there is a wall of memory with the names of those citizens who died defending their Kislovodsk and the whole world from the Nazis. Eternal flame. And that memory is forever...

... You know what good Russia is?

It seems to me that each corner of it is its own world, it is a separate planet, if you will.

Elena Valeryevna and I traveled around the North Caucasus.

How wisely and, as always, appropriately, Elena Valeryevna remarked: “Everything was cool!”

Kislovodsk - Petrozavodsk. August - October 2026.