Day Schedule: Blossoming Crimea

➤Breakfast

➤Jeep tour to the Valley of the Ghosts

➤Travel to Eastern Crimea

➤Novy Svet

➤Sudak: Genoese fortress

➤Overnight in a local Crimean Tatar guest house

The day begins with a jeep tour to the Valley of Ghosts, a place of ​​bizarre rock clusters on the slope of Mount Demerdzhi in the Crimean mountains. In Turkic, "Demerji" means "blacksmith." There is a scientific hypothesis that the conglomerates that form the basis of the massif contained iron ore. Therefore, forges were built along the trade route that once ran from Alushta. The Greeks, who lived in this area in the Middle Ages, held a different opinion.

After the jeep tour you hit the road to the eastern part of Crimea along a scenic mountain road with a stuning seaviews. Make a stop at the town-resort Novy Svet to admire the views of Mount Chaliapin. Here, the guide will recommend a place for a lunch, serving fresh seafood.

Upon arrival to a town Sudak you will visit the largest Crimean fortress, built by the Genoese in the 14-15th centuries.

Sudak was founded in 212. A.D. Its original name is Sugdei (from Iraqi Sugda - immaculate, holy). Its founders were the Iranian-speaking Alan tribes. The Italians called it Soldaya, Greeks Sugdea, Slavs Surozh, peoples from the east Sudagios, Suadag and, finally - Sudak. Its modern name translates as su- "water," dag- "mountains," i.e. mountains by the water.

Overnight stay at the authentic Tatar guest house at famous Cape Meganom to embrace the local spirit and feel the warm hospitality of the locals. Enjoy traditional SPA and verandas with seaview after the long day.

The rock, nicknamed the "Head of Catherine," is perfectly visible at the very top of Southern Demerji. There is a legend that Potemkin himself, the brightest prince of Tauride, gave it name. Returning after the end of the Russian-Turkish war campaign to Moscow, he drove along the massif and noticed a mountain. It became clear to the prince that the outlines of the stone block resemble the profile of the Empress Catherine. In honor of the great victories of Catherinec the Great, Prince Potemkin gave her name to rock.

Relict juniper grove is part of the New World botanical complex. Two thousand years ago, the tavers made a staircase along which you can now get into the reserve grove, where millennial specimens of juniper trees grow now.

In the air there is a unique aroma of juniper, which has a preventive effect and a beneficial effect on people with pulmonary diseases. Convinced of its healing properties, Catherine II ensured the safety of this unique reserve.

The history of the origin of juniper grove goes far into the past, into the era of dinosaurs. Some of the trees reach 15 meters in height and are intentionally associated with roots with rock soil, so they can comfortably grow on the slopes of different terrain.