Attractions of Krym AR region

Cape Meganom is the sunniest point of Crimea, a popular place for "wild" recreation and diving.

The cape is located between Sudak and Koktebel. The nearest settlement is Soniachna Dolyna.

Meganom is a long limestone rock with many traces of erosion that form bizarre shapes.

The lighthouse (early 20th century) is visible from the New World. The modern Buddhist sanctuary was built in the open air in 1992.

The Melek-Chesme Barrow is a monument of funerary architecture of the heyday of the Bosporan kingdom.

It got its name from the river that flows nearby - Melek-Chesma, which means "Royal River" in Turkic.

The Melek-Chesme mound consists of a burial chamber with a pyramidal vault and a corridor (dromos) leading to it, made of smoothly hewn blocks. It is considered to be the most technically and artistically advanced among the Bosporus concession crypts.

The most valuable finds: a twisted gold hryvnia with figures of equestrian Scythians on the ends, a gold cup, rich pendants with medallions depicting the head of Athena in a helmet, a famous vase made of electro (an alloy of gold and silver) with scenes from Scythian life, and others. The treasures were taken to the Russian Hermitage.

Miskhor Park is the oldest landscape park in Crimea, a monument of 18th century landscape architecture.

It was created in 1780-1783 on the territory of the estate of Counts Vitt according to the architectural designs of Marko and Kebakh. The basis was a relict forest. The park included exotic corners of the relief and untouched nature - trees, rock outcrops, accumulations of stone blocks, bays. Over 150 species and garden forms of exotic trees and shrubs are concentrated on an area of ​​23 hectares. There is a color-music fountain on the territory.

Since 1960, Miskhor Park in the village of Koreiz has been a reserve.

Mount Ai-Petri is a mountain peak of the Ai-Petri mountain range, the most famous Crimean mountain (1234 meters), the territory of the Yalta Mining and Forest Reserve.

It rises above Alupka and Koreiz. The white teeth that form the unique silhouette of Mount Ai-Petri consist of four large (12-15 meters high) and a number of small vertical peaks that were formed during the weathering of heterogeneous reef limestones.

Until the 15th century, the Byzantine church of Saint Peter, from which the name comes, was located on the top of Ai-Petri mountain.

A high-altitude weather station, founded in 1895, is located here, as well as the Ai-Petri meridian - a metal globe on a granite base.

The viewing platforms offer the largest panorama of the Black Sea coast of Yalta.

Tourists arriving on the mountain are served by a semi-legal business: excursions to the "Yaltynska" and "Tryochochka" caves, horseback riding, and teahouses with Tatar cuisine. Skiing infrastructure is being developed.

The cable car "Mishor - Ai-Petri" with the longest unsupported span in Europe was built on Ai-Petri. A road with a steep serpentine leads from Yalta, further to Bakhchysarai.

One of the most characteristic and picturesque landscape sights of Crimea is a mountain that resembles a silhouette of a cat ready to jump.

It is located between Simeiz and Katsiveli, on the territory of the Simeiz-Alupka amphitheater-like forest landscape. The name comes from the Tatar Kosh-kai - Falcon Mountain. This large limestone massif with a height of 254 meters was formed about a million years ago, breaking away from the Yalin ridge of the Main Crimean Ridge and gradually moving down the slope to the sea.

In ancient times, this natural barrier that separated the South Bank was supplemented in gaps by a stone wall. On the plateau of Mount Cat, the remains of the Tavr settlement Limen-Isar (VIII-I centuries BC) with fragments of buildings and defensive walls, as well as a large necropolis consisting of a hundred dolmen tombs (so-called "Tavr boxes"), were discovered.

In the 1960s, the South Coast Highway was built through the ridge of Mount Cat, which changed the natural landscape. The accumulation of stones to the southwest of the mountain is closed by the picturesque Krylo Lebeda rock, which is popular with climbers.

Mount Kastel, 439 meters high, is located on the southern outskirts of Alushta, behind Professor's Corner.

The dome is covered with a forest canopy, but chaos has formed on the eastern slope of the mountain - stone blocks, sometimes reaching 3-5 meters in diameter.

The name is related to the fact that in ancient times there was a fortress (Greek - "kastel") on the top of the mountain, the remains of which have been preserved on the slopes.

According to legend, this fortress served as the last refuge of Queen Feodora, the ruler of ancient Sugdaya. After the capture of the capital of the principality by the Genoese, Feodora hid in Castel, where she, devoted to her brother, died in a battle with enemies.

Mount Mithridates in Feodosiia is the highest point of the old city (55 meters). It is one of the spurs of the Tepe-Oba mountain range.

In ancient times, one of the city's fortifications was located here - the Foma Tower, the ruins of which have survived to this day.

The mountain was named by the artist Ivan Aivazovsky in honor of the Pontic king Mithridates IV Yevpator. At his own expense, he built a museum of antiquity in the form of an ancient temple on the top (destroyed during the Second World War, restoration is planned).

The observation deck on Mount Mithridates is open for City Day in 2012. From here there is a view of the entire Bay of Feodosiia and most of the city. Right under the mountain - the church of Saint Sarkis and the port; on the right - a view of the old city: the Kafa fortress, the church in honor of the icon of the Mother of God of Iver; on the left - residential buildings.

The Bulhanak hilly field with mud volcanoes is located 5 kilometers north of Kerch, near the village of Bondarenkove (formerly Bulhanak).

Bulganak volcanoes are located in a basin with an area of 3 square kilometers. The most powerful in the Bulhanak group is the Andrusov volcano, or, as it is also called, the Andrusov hill. The crater of this hill reaches 50 meters in diameter, but there are also many small hills there. All of them are constantly raging, throwing out dirt and gas. And in the center of this breathing basin is a lake that constantly changes its size and contours.

The Mufti-Dzhami Cathedral Mosque was built in Feodosia in 1623-1637 during the reign of Sultan Murad-Khan III.

In appearance, it resembles the mosque of Istanbul. Made of rubble and brick, it is a square with an area of ​​40 square meters. The temple has three entrances: northern, western and eastern. Through the door in the western wall you can climb to the octagonal minaret, made of hewn limestone.

After the capture of Crimea by Russia in the 18th century, the mosque building was transferred to Armenian Catholics - it housed the Armenian Catholic Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

In 1975, the mosque was restored.

After Ukraine gained independence, in 1990, the Mufti-Dzhami mosque building was returned to the Muslim community. Since 1998, prayers have been held there every Friday.

The protected tract of Panahiya is located next to the village of Zelenohirya, surrounded by majestic mountain ranges.

On the outskirts of the village there is an amazingly beautiful mountain lake with clear turquoise water. There is a paid parking lot 100 meters from the lake, there is a small tea house, and there is horse rental.

6 kilometers to the east is a valley with several more lakes, in one of which the water has a bright blue color.

To the north of the village is a picturesque gorge with a cascade of small waterfalls and baths. The largest is the Arpatsky waterfall (10 meters). Water from the mountain river Arpat is considered healing.

By mid-July, the springs dry up, and the lakes become very shallow.

The ruins of the ancient city of Panticapaeum are located on the top and slopes of Mount Mithridates in the center of modern Kerch.

Panticapaeum was founded by the Greeks from Miletus, until the 6th century it remained the capital of the Bosporus kingdom. The Pontic emperor Mithridates VI Eupator, who fought against the expansion of Rome, spent the last years of his life here. In 63, he committed suicide in the Panticapaean citadel, having learned that his son Pharnak II was in command of the forces besieging it.

The city occupied an area of about 100 hectares, the ruins of the magnificent building of the temple of Apollo Ietra and other buildings have been preserved (they are being excavated). Access is free.

The Great Mithridates Stairs (1833-1840), consisting of 428 steps, lead to the top of the mountain from the city center.

The Perekop Shaft is a powerful earthen fortification that crosses the Perekop Isthmus in its narrowest part.

The height of the embankment reached 10 meters, along it ran a canal connecting Perekop Bay with Lake Sivash.

The exact date of construction of the Perekop Shaft is unknown, but already in the 1st century Greek sources mention the Tafros fortress with a defensive rampart and a canal laid along it.

During the Crimean Khanate, Perekop defended Crimea from the continent. The earthen embankment was fortified with stone towers, the ruins of one of which still rise 15 meters above the waters of the Karkinit Bay of the Black Sea on the western side of the embankment. In the center was the Turkish fortress of Or-Kapu, of which only the ramparts now remain. Since then, Perekop is often called the Turkish rampart.

In 1736, it was stormed by Russian troops, and in 1920, Wrangel's army stubbornly defended itself here during the Red Army attack (the city of Perekop was completely destroyed), battles were fought during the Second World War. Monuments and obelisks remind us of this.

The Yevpatoriian pyramid is a small glass structure that has become a modern business card of the city.

The archeological complex "Northwestern Suburb of the Ancient City of Kerkinitida of the 5th - 2nd centuries BC" is covered with a transparent dome. Most of ancient Kerkinitida was located on the current territory of the sanatorium of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, so only a small fragment of the ruins has survived. The excavation is the remains of the western defensive wall of Kerkinitida, residential premises, a round tower with a slab battlement and an altar, which were located outside the city.

Every year, in the summer, various exhibitions of archeology items from the museum's collections are arranged inside the pyramid, which complement the archaeological complex.

Saky Lake is a giant natural laboratory where natural medicines are produced - healing mud.

In ancient times, the lake was a bay of the Black Sea. Table salt has been mined here for a long time. More than 5,000 years ago, gray and steel-gray silt with layers of salts began to accumulate at the bottom of the lake. They were covered by a layer of salt up to 3.5 meters thick. Black and dark gray silt formed on top of the salt. The top layer is healing mud. It began to be used for medical purposes in 1827, when the first mud clinic in the Russian Empire was founded in Saky.

At present, Lake Saky is divided into two parts by a dam. The western pool serves as a raw material base for a chemical plant, and the eastern one is used for mud treatment by Saky sanatoriums. Medicinal and cosmetic products are made on the basis of mud. The strong salinity of Lake Saky ensures a high density of water, creating the effect of the Dead Sea, where it is impossible to drown.

The park of the Saky resort was artificially created almost a century and a half ago in the middle of the bare steppe.

The resort park is located on the shores of the famous Saky Lake, at the bottom of which there is healing mud. It occupies an area of 50 hectares, has 80 species of trees and shrubs.

On the territory there is an old pumping station with "Krymska" mineral water. In the 1960s, a sculptural group of dinosaurs was installed over the pond next to the pump station.