Hello! My name is Sasha Kaminer (@sashakaminer), I went alone to the Caucasus, saw the Elbrus region and Nalchik, cooked Khychin in the village, and all this thanks to the “Kudablin” project.
I adore mountains and have long wanted to see the Elbrus region. It can be visited from two sides – from Mineralnye Vody or Nalchik.
The flight to Nalchik takes about two hours. There is no official car sharing or car rental in the city. And in order to rent something decent not for crazy money, you need to prepare for the trip in advance.
I was lucky enough to join a jeep tour with a women’s company, and I strongly recommend that you follow my example. There are many jeep tours around the Elbrus region; locals will show you “delicious” places and take you to all remote points. There are a lot of hiking tours in the mountains in the summer, and I definitely want to go back and be on one of them.
So, our adventure began with the fact that we stocked up on khychins and drove through the rainy Nalchik to the mountains. We were unlucky with the weather, all our excursion points were covered in fog, but this also had its own romance.
I stayed in Terskol at the Moon Hotel. This is a famous village in the Elbrus region, with a beautiful view of the mountains, just ten minutes from the ski lift and an hour and a half from Nalchik itself.
The Azau lift leads to the Mir station, where, it seems, everyone who comes to Nalchik strives. I climbed for 600 rubles to the very top, and did not appreciate the snowy view. But the first stop, where the snow had not yet covered the mountains, captivated me. Ocher colors and textures of the mountains, wind in your hair and a red trailer waiting just for you. I was lucky to be there before the heat at 10 am and had the most atmospheric descent and ascent.
Another mandatory activity in the Caucasus is horse riding. As it turns out, riding a horse in the mountains is as common an experience for Kabardians and Balkars as riding a bicycle for Muscovites who grew up in dachas. In Terskol, I came across two equestrian clubs for tourists, where I was put on a horse without experience and taken for 1000 rubles along an eco-trail through the forest as part of a small group. It was beautiful, but not very varied.
When I returned to Nalchik by taxi, I had to wait until the road was cleared by donkeys, sheep, cows and horses. The local taxi driver cursed as usual, and I enjoyed this colorful spectacle.
I was in Nalchik at 5 pm, and I had to complete a task. My subscribers chose for me to cook khychin with one of the locals, and I was terribly nervous! I didn’t have any friends in Nalchik, I haven’t traveled alone for 7 years, and I’m an introvert.
But everything turned out great, it was tasty and fun. I really want to come back in the summer, go to the mountains, eat khychin and drink wine and visit all the lakes, waterfalls and gorges on my list!
