With a kindergarten in Crimea

Review of a hike with children in the Cave Cities of Crimea (May 1-6, 2011).

This year, none of my friends went anywhere to the May celebrations. With our topographic cretinism, we ourselves did not dare to go. Therefore, for the first time in their lives, they decided to go on a commercial trip. To be honest, this circumstance embarrassed me very much. But the choice was to go here or not to go at all. As a result, both the trip and the group turned out fabulously well. In general, I liked everything except, perhaps, the cost.
So first things first.

May 1

We meet at the station in Simferopol. We are going to Bakhchisarai. There I push Temka to Sasha (instructor of OutdoorUkraine.com) because Temka doesn’t want to go anywhere and I’m going with the St. Petersburg people on a tour of the Khan’s palace. Despite the fact that I was there for the second time in my life (usually running through Bakhchisarai and past the palace) and for the first time in my life with an excursion, I really liked it. And I was very lucky with the guide.

Then we go up to the parking lot near Chufut-Kale. On the way, those who wish enter the monastery. We throw things there and Sasha guards them. Tyomka quickly decides to stay with Sasha, and Demka with Tyomka. In general, Sasha again remains the teacher of our kindergarten, and we go to see the cave city. In the end, it turned out well that the children stayed because... at the entrance to Chufut-Kale we are again offered an excursion (and again it turns out to be very interesting) but the children could not stand it.

On the way, we lose Tanya and Peter, who stayed to listen to the local cave flutist. When we left the city we were going to call Sasha (I took my mobile phone and turned it on especially for this purpose). And then it turns out that the number Kirill sent me back in Kyiv is not valid... In general, we hope that there is nowhere to get lost - we go to the camp without Tanya and Peter. We've arrived. Sasha got ready to run after them and meets them at the exit from the camp. Everything is assembled. We have dinner (the children had dinner for the second time - the first time they dined without us).

May 2

In the morning we get up, have breakfast, and move to the next cave city of Tepe-Kermen. They ran towards him radially without backpacks, leaving Sasha with the backpacks.

This time, the still untired children rush in with pleasure. The older ones are already interested in climbing. Temka seems interested in climbing, but he is more interested in lizards. But for some reason they climb the steep walls of the cliff, and the evil mother does not allow them to be caught. Therefore, the child returns somewhat upset.

We go down to the stop. We make our way to a small store. Everyone buys goodies despite the paucity of assortment. We drive up a few kilometers by minibus. Let's go out. Those who wish can go to the grotto in the mountain. Me, Natasha and Temka remain downstairs. I leave the darkness deliberately because He’s almost no longer walking and we have to climb. We sit and watch rope jumpers and parachutists. Temka is busy with snails.

The people descended from the grotto. We cross the road (and there is such a river and a dog is swimming in it... And why weren’t we waiting for them there?!?) and go up the gorge. We rise higher, right up to the plateau “from the foresters’ zone,” but they compost Sasha’s brains and are there all evening and all morning. Darkness for further advancement has to be stimulated by gnomes. With whining and periodic pushing of his backpack, Sasha still crawls. People accept Sasha’s idea of ​​standing in the grotto not only without enthusiasm, but sharply negatively. Therefore, we climb the plateau and stand in a beautiful clearing with a beautiful panoramic view from the cliff. Tyomka won’t let us sit down to rest – we urgently go in search of the treasure. After finding the treasure, Temka calms down, the children find each other, and we get to work on the camp.

May 3

We'll get together in the morning. Very slowly, but still spurred on by the foresters literally walking on their heads, we move forward. In the morning and on the plateau, the children scratch well. Taking into account the catching of living creatures along the road (and, as usual, the periodic pushing of Sasha’s backpack), even Temka is moving.

We arrive at the Chelter-Koba cave monastery in the evening. Again, for free, we decide to stand above the monastery in the grottoes (or rather, Sasha suggests, the people, as usual, are categorically against grottoes, and we go up to camp a little higher into the forest). Tanya and Peter are going to the monastery, and we are postponing the trip until tomorrow. Due to the already cool evening, no one took a swim in the font, which everyone was eager to get into.

Temka finds the treasure again. And then some “kind soul” shows him that vines grow along the trees. It is clear that my monkey cannot miss such an opportunity and hangs on the vines all evening and all morning, climbing higher and periodically screaming that he can no longer get down and will now let go of his hands.

May 4

In the morning we return down through the monastery. There is no interesting monk (novice?) in general, a servant whom Sasha promoted to us and who could tell us a lot of interesting things, therefore we limit ourselves to an independent inspection. For the first time, Artyom became interested in the church premises. I’m trying to convey to him in a language he understands what the church is and the rules of behavior in it.

Next we go towards Mangup. On the way to the village we decide to have lunch (so as not to have lunch in the village). It is not clear when, but the people managed to get hungry. Sasha, like a true guide, sits honestly and spreads sandwiches. The rest eat them. Because The speed of eating exceeds the speed of spreading, Sasha is left without sandwiches...

We go down to the store. It starts to rain. We hide our backpacks at the bus stop and “have a blast” with whatever we like. The rain doesn't stop. We decide to drive up to the lake near Mangup so as not to walk in the rain. We're approaching. Sasha agrees on parking near the shelter (since the rain has not stopped). But the people are “eager to fight” and we decide to go around all of Mangup along the road. Again to the grottoes :) . We trudge for a long time, Temka lags behind and bores us. Moreover, I have the feeling that without a backpack it’s even worse than with it. As usual, Sasha finds a free grotto, people reject this idea and we stand in a clearing in the fog in the rain. Let's have dinner.

While tea is being prepared, the Pitertsev tent falls asleep. Sleepy Tyomka is trying to get me to read Pinocchio. But I want some tea. Therefore, he shuts his mouth with chocolate, and Tanya, Peter and I go to Sasha’s tent to drink tea. We have philosophical conversations about the Russian language (Peter doesn’t speak Russian very well yet). For example, we are trying to explain to him the phrase “no, probably not.” After many attempts to understand, Peter abandons this idea.

May 5

We wake up like hedgehogs in the fog. Sasha suggests going to the 5th beam because... there, according to him, there is more firewood and you can dry it out. I have no desire to pack up tents even in the drizzling rain. We are waiting for the others to wake up. The rest want to at least watch Mangup in the fog (it’s still better than not watching it at all). But because we also need to run for water to the same Mangup, then we leave Tanya and Peter in the camp, take Sasha with bottles and go upstairs. At the top, Sasha decided for some reason to first take everyone to the spring.

We don’t get there from the first round. We abandon people at the remains of the fortress, and the two of us go in search. Found. While I was picking up bottles, Sasha brought the group. The children, all three of them now, do not want to go further. We give the water and children to Sasha, and we ourselves fall on the tail of some kind of excursion.

We pass with them one “finger” of Mangup with fortresses. The clouds even stretch out a little, and views appear.

The guy's story is very interesting (to me). Maybe not always on topic, but interesting. The group sits down to eat. We decide to go to the main wall for now and wait for them there.

We wait about 40 minutes. We don’t wait, and we move towards the “cave finger” on our own and in the fog. We walk, take pictures.

On the way back, Sasha calls to find out how we are doing. We say it’s normal and go down. I express a desire to take a walk here myself if he copes with Artyom. It turned out that three children were left alone in the camp, Sasha came again for water, and Tanya and Peter went for a walk. While we are walking and talking on a mobile phone (fortunately, communication is free), we find each other :).

All the people are rushing down because The fog has completely returned. And it's taking me somewhere. But apparently, with my topographical cretinism, I don’t inspire Sasha with the slightest confidence. After thinking, he gives the backpack with water to Igor and takes me on a personal tour of Mangup :). Moreover, I am carried to the wrong two fingers where I have already been 100 times. And the “caveless” ones, where I haven’t been, but from where there are also beautiful views. We conduct philosophical conversations that flow from rock climbing and smoothly flow into issues of life and death. At first I attributed the difference in views to the difference between the sexes. But because The subsequent journey reminded me more and more of my youth, and I later became inclined to believe that views change with age. We start wandering slowly, but Sasha gradually picks up the pace. As a person who has never had anything to do with extreme marathons and, in general, who hasn’t really been walking for the last 7-8 years, I’m starting to fall behind. In general, when we approach the descent from Mangup, the client is “ripe” and ready to go to the camp :)

We go down, have lunch, and lie down to read. All the people, except Temka, who had slept off in my absence, fall asleep. And we, having re-read all the books we have with us and the ones we bought at the monastery, decide what we want to eat. It’s clear that I can’t cook – I go looking for cookies in the tents. I find cookies, they offer me many more different things. Nobody wants to come out ;) .

And then Sasha, possessed by the guide’s conscience, says, “Would anyone like some tea?” It’s clear that everyone wants tea (everyone is just too lazy to do it). Sasha honestly crawls out of her warm sleeping bag and into her wet clothes and shoes. All of us (except for St. Petersburg at first - he was lured with chocolate ;)) gather in a huge tent of St. Petersburg residents and have a farewell dinner-evening.

May 6

We wake up as hedgehogs, not in the fog, but in the drizzling rain. We set up in tents, have breakfast in a large tent, but the weather does not improve...

Igor gives us a sensible idea - to call the guy who drove us to Mangup. A man can only come down to the beginning of the ascent. We set a time for him in 2 hours and get ready.

The descent is slippery, but most importantly very dirty. Temka comes down in the state of a real pig crawling out of a puddle. To be allowed into the minibus, he has to take off his jacket, turn it inside out and tie it to his trousers. We're going to the bus station. Although we pass the turn to Balaklava, where we need to go, we decide to go for bus tickets because... We have a train on the 8th from Simferopol. It was not in vain that we went. We took the right bus to the middle and on the 8th people couldn’t leave at all.

We warmly say goodbye at the station and scatter in different directions.

A huge thank you to everyone for their patience with Temka. Because he lacks attention in general, and especially male attention, he hangs on everyone. And everyone was VERY tolerant of him, including Syoma and Dyoma.

Special thanks to Sasha, who seems to know how to unite and lead any group without conflict.