Hello everyone! I am Varvara Dubrovina (@varwarock). This summer I was able to take part in the Kudablin project.
Watching how my subscribers voted for Mineralnye Vody, I smiled insidiously, because I had wanted to go there for a very long time, but it didn’t work out. And now comes an amazing chance to do it thanks to OneTwoTrip.
Mineral water, delicious food, and, of course, mountains… The Caucasus was waiting for me!
However, the joy was short-lived: when I saw which task my subscribers overwhelmingly voted for, I became despondent. The fact is that I am an introvert. And I had to drink mineral water at a brotherhood event with ten strangers! I finally had to look fear in the eye and step out of my comfort zone.
After such a long day, I sat down to edit a video with the completed task and was very upset! Only one stranger was missing, although I was sure that we scored the coveted ten! At that moment I felt sad, I realized that the next day I would have to once again overcome myself and talk to strangers.
However, the next day it was much easier – I quickly approached the lonely girl and asked for brotherhood much more confidently than the day before. As a result, the task is completed! Hurray!
It’s time to talk about the trip itself.
Initially, we had a plan to travel through all the resort cities, try each type of mineral water and make our own rating, but something went wrong.
While I was preparing for the trip and looking for the necessary information, I accidentally saw a photo that made me radically change my plans and the entire route. It depicted an asphalt winding road at an altitude of more than 2500 meters, winding like a snake between the hills against the backdrop of the majestic Elbrus on the way to the Djily-Su tract .
It was very difficult to fit all our “wants” into this small three-day trip. Therefore, we decided not to visit Essentuki and Zheleznovodsk (where, as subscribers wrote to me, the most delicious mineral water) and boldly added Elbrus to our plan.
Mineralnye Vody we ran in an hour and a half. Then we took the train to Pyatigorsk, where we even had time to walk around the old city and admire the preserved ancient mansions and galleries. By the will of fate, we found ourselves at the cable car leading to the mountain Mashuk and decided to go up. We were just in time for the sunset, one of the most beautiful of my life.
The next day, early in the morning, we rented a car and left for Kislovodsk —it was on the way. And then we went to Elbrus in search of that very treasured location that I was passionate about. Spoiler: we didn’t find it, but along our entire route there were many incredible passes, valleys, cliffs and serpentines.
Kislovodsk we liked it. It has the spirit of a typical resort town. From time to time we came across ancient buildings that looked so much like merchant estates and castles. Cute houses alternated with each other on the winding streets. I wanted to walk there longer, but I had to go further.
This is how the circumstances developed, but Elbrus was covered in clouds all day. We were about to return with nothing, because we absolutely didn’t want to drive along serpentines in the dark, but literally a moment before sunset the clouds disappeared, as if they had been blown away by the wind. snow-white Elbrus appeared before us, and we happily ran to take the cherished photographs.
A couple of hours later, tired but happy, we drove towards the hotel and thought that this was really great luck. We were lucky from the very morning in various little things and details that could have turned out completely differently.
Well, to put it briefly, the Caucasus is love. The warmth, landscapes and atmosphere of Caucasian Mineral Waters hit my heart. And I already want to go back.
Tip: If you want to see Elbrus, know that it casts off its blanket of clouds only in the early morning and at sunset on a fine day.