Almaty – Kurtogai – Charyn Canyon – Valley of Castles – Temirlik River – Ash Tree Grove – Sarytogai - Almaty
Crimean mountains feature mind-blowing landscapes of the Grand and Small canyons, medieval cave settlements Mangup-Qale and Chufut-Qale as well as pine groves and oak thicket. Also the Ai-Petri mountain from where one can get an amazing view from the height of 1200 meters, overlooking the expanse of the Black Sea as well as the South Coast of Crimea. Also tasting the most wonderful chebureki (Tatar meat pastry), amazing wines from the Massandra Winery… and much, much more!
Dates: April, 2-6 2016
Price per person: 19 000 RUR
Minors (under 18 years of age) get a 15% discount only if they take the trip with a parent.
Group consists of 6-12 people
Initial meeting place: city of Simferopol
Day 1
Arriving in Simferopol we depart from there to the south of the Crimean peninsula. For a start, we shall take a swim in the Black Sea at Alupka, a resort by Yalta. After which we shall ride the cable car to the top of Ai-Petri mountain (1234 meters above sea level).
Walking westward on the plateau and leaving behind some small cafes and vending kiosks, we shall enter the forest. Slowly going down the mountain we shall reach the site where Crimean partisans had their camp during the Great Patriotic War. We shall set up our camp nearby.
We shall spend the whole day in wooded areas where oak thicket alternates with pine groves while giant beech trees tower above them. Spring and fall are ideal for a trip through the Crimean mountains. It does not get too warm, as can be the case in the summer, nor is it too humid as during winter.
In the evening we shall set up our camp at the foot of the ancient fortress Mangup-Qale.
Today Mangup-Qale features some ruins at the top of a wide and flat mountain which eventually becomes one of the sides of a large canyon. Several fortified towers still exist here, along with the citadel, some walls, the foundation of the princely palace, some churches and artificial, dug-out caves. In the 14th century, however, this was the capital of Theodoro, a Christian principality and an ally of the Byzantine Empire. Theodoro could withstand the attacks of the Tatars and the Genoese for some centuries, but it succumbed to the onslaught of the Osmanli Turks in 1475.
Most of the day we shall spend visiting the fortress, and we shall stay for the night to the north of it.
.Walking on the mountain path for some 10 kilometers we shall pass rock pillars having a strong resemblance to the sphinxes of Ancient Egypt and finally arrive at another medieval fortress called Suyren fortress. It hails from the same period and it belonged to the same principality as Mangup-Qale. Theodoro builders erected a citadel on the edge of a sheer cliff that marks the boundary between the mountains and the steppe. This fortress could stop attacks of the Tatar cavalry. A great view opens from here over all valleys and settlements of this area—this was exactly why medieval observation scouts were constantly on the look-out in the tower.
After trekking through yet another gorge we shall spend the night not far from Bakhchisarai.
.Chufut-Qale is the best preserved cave town in the Crimea. We shall ascend it in the first part of the day. In its narrow, overgrown streets we shall locate the kenesa (the Karaite synagogue) and the mausoleum of Dzhanike-Khanym, the daughter of Khan Tokhtamysh. We shall also get inside the dwellings of Chufut-Qale’s medieval inhabitants who dug them out in the rock.
Our trip ends in Bakhchisarai, the Tatar capital of the Crimea. Here we can taste traditional Tatar cuisine as well as visit the palace of the Tatar Khans from where they ruled the Crimea until its affiliation with Russia in 1783.
From Bakhchisarai we shall return to Simferopol.
* Trek program can be changed due the weather conditions, physical conditions of participants, other reasons
Meals are to be made from food that is provided by the Wolfin Survival School and will be distributed among all participants.
Required equipment: a rucksack, a sleeping bag, a carry mat, suitable clothes and shoes, poncho (rain suite), a field knife, matches, a spoon, a bowl, insect repellent, a flask or plastic bottle, a personal first aid kit, personal care items, and a torch.
Price includes:
- all transfers on the route
- food
- instructor’s service
- rent of common equipment (tents, cooking equipment, GPS, etc.)
Additional expenses: travel expenses to and from initial meeting place, rent of personal equipment, personal expenses
Photo report of our trip in May 2015 you can find here
Photo report of our trip in November 2014 you can find here
Have any questions? Call +7 916 1765430 or send email on info@wolfin.ru