Baba Yaga behind enemy lines. Part 5
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It was Friday. On Monday, the forecast showed rain for that day. But thank God he wasn't there. Let's go for a ride! Oleg said that yesterday he had to travel by bus. We forgot to leave Edik's phone number for him, and taxi drivers with checkers broke the price of 1300 rubles. for the car. But today Edik was at our service.
There was no rain or snow, but the sky was overcast.
On this trip, I took glasses with a strong reflection. They are designed for very sunny weather, preferably with snow. How I managed to buy them, I do not know. Even in the summer you couldn't see a damn thing in them. But in the mountains in the sun - that's it! Just not today. My glasses were dark. And without glasses - sucks. The snow still fell. The relief is not visible. It's good that I thought to take a ski mask today as well. I can't stand wearing it. Once she took it and sweated, and I began to wipe it with a glove. And the condensate has already frozen. And I managed to scratch the glass. Since then, she has not sweated, but the visibility was so-so. The scratches got in the way. Worn only in the snow. But this is rare. We were lucky with the weather and simple sunglasses were enough for me. Wearing a mask with yellow lenses, I felt like a sighted person. Vadik said that yellow color is optimal in this situation. He can't see shit without a mask.
Oleg dragged us to the southern slope. He used to criticize him a lot, but while we were chilling in Abkhazia, he discovered there absolutely beautiful tracks for himself. Confused, they agreed. We drove up. The route is marked as red. It is affectionately called so - "Primula". But, damn it, the first reset from her is blacker than black! Route 5-A in Bukovel is resting. But wide and sparsely populated. But she led us to the ever-memorable Edelweiss lift, which is usually crowded for half an hour. Surprisingly, almost no one was there, and after 5 minutes we were already sitting in chairs.
Vadik was, to put it mildly, uncomfortable riding with such visibility, and he stayed in the cafe. Arriving for a bite to eat, I found it with mulled wine for 500 re! Ha! Spender!
After lunch, the sky began to stretch.
But it was too late, shadows had already fallen from the mountains, and visibility was already lousy anyway. Therefore, having moved out one more time, Vadik completed the 2020 season. And soon so will I. There is no need to tempt fate. I've managed not to fall over these days. But as compensation, I banged my kneecap on the armrest of a sun lounger as I made my way to our table. For a minute she came to herself from wild pain. And Oleg, having already changed into sneakers, earned skis on his toes. Vadik accidentally dropped this, "sweetening" his life in this way. The world balance has been restored.
They started calling Edik to pick him up. But he was already on order. After trampling at the barrier, after fighting off checkered taxi drivers, we found a man who agreed to take us with him, because he was going to Adler anyway. Or rather, he found us. Oleg opened the right door and wanted to plop down on the seat, but the driver was against it, because it was his place. Then Oleg sat down on the left and said that he had never driven in a driver's seat without a steering wheel.
The name of the driver was… Edik! He was of Armenian nationality. And his car is Japanese. And it was made for the Japanese. But on Armenian numbers. Edik was very proud of her. Well, of course! Front seats with armrests! Passenger doors on both sides! (this is in a minibus). Eat, really, a lot! Both petrol and oil. And Edik took us purely to justify the gasoline on the road. In Adler, by the way, we saw many more clean Japanese women with right-hand drive on Armenian and Abkhaz license plates.
We only have one full day left, and we haven't seen anything besides skiing yet.
I was able to find out from experienced people what interesting things can be seen in the vicinity of Adler. From a small list, the most accessible place seemed to me, called "Agur waterfalls". There we decided to go together. Mishan made us company. Oleg was still eager to go skiing, while Nastya and her kodla stayed for a walk in Adler.
We looked at the map, the distance to the designated sights is 20 km. This is half as much as before Rosa Khutor. So, a taxi driver can be offered four hundred rubles for three. Suggested. The checkered taxi driver just snorted indignantly. Well, our business is to offer.
Let's go by public transport. First, take the 50th bus to the Khosta-most stop. It was the driver who told us to get off here. They left. They began to ask people, where are the waterfalls? Nobody knew. They tried to send us to a boxwood grove located nearby. But the guide Tatyana told us a terrible story that before the Olympics some overseas plants were brought in for planting, and with them some kind of butterfly arrived, which destroyed the entire boxwood not only near Sochi, but also in Abkhazia. Indeed, from the bus we watched the sad spectacle of bare trunks. Therefore, they did not go to the boxwood grove, but continued questioning. Some told us to cross the road and return by another bus a couple of stops. There we were sent back. Finally, one of the drivers told us to get on the 48th bus and drive on. Me too! They don't even know their sights!
After a few stops, we got off. The policemen were asked where to go? We were shown. The road went past a river with water of a strange color, as if it had been drained from a washer.
We met a glade of Vysotsky with a life-size monument to him. Why did they decide to perpetuate it here, x. z. There were no memorial plaques.
Let's move on. The reserve has begun. Paid at the box office for 100 rubles. and listened to instructions. We were ordered to complete the hike near the second waterfall. There seems to be no further path. Vadik told me that he had read that the third waterfall was the highest and most beautiful of the three. Abidna!
How beautiful it was there!
The first waterfall was not bad. Mishan could barely crawl, so I, leaving the men, ran ahead. There is only one path, you won't get lost!
The second waterfall was even more beautiful than the first. There were several picnic tables and barbecues around. And here was a convenient entry into the water. In complete desolation. Why not swim here? True, there was a sign forbidding diving, but I was not going to dive. I'm on the sly!
Oh, if it were summer, I would swim to the very waterfall and stand under the jets! But even so it was very good. And in the summer, it’s probably not overcrowded here! I managed to get dressed when, finally, my companions approached. They sat down at one of the tables. And I decided to try to go further. And the path was quite decent, even with handrails. Well, maybe a little worse than the previous one. Why didn't the aunt in the booth let us go on? Decided that it would be hard for us, grandma and grandpa?
I met a young couple. I asked them if it was far to the third waterfall? No, not far. Then I asked them to tell those two to go too.
God, how lovely!
But the path led even further, and I ran.
It was also beautiful there, but a cloud was creeping over the gorge, and I was afraid that it would rain, so I dragged the men urgently down. And it didn't rain! People began to come across, loaded with sumars with food and drink. Apparently, they decided to have a picnic at the waterfall. Well, what? Saturday is! I got scared in time!
The reserve ended, and as if by magic, the flowers on the slopes also ended. Povyryvat, probably, lovers of beauty.
I wanted to stop by Sochi, but the nasty men said that it would be a long time, and evening was already approaching. It is better to sit on the embankment in Adler. Drink beer. I could not object to such a proposal. We spent even less money on the way back than there. From the 48th bus, we were told to get off at all and not on the Khostinsky bridge, but in Kudepsta. And already there they transferred to the 50th bus. Paid, it seems, 25 rubles. in everyone. Maybe a little more. I forgot already. From Adler, the driver of the 50th took a little more. But it doesn't matter, anyway, if we had taken a taxi, we would have paid many times more.
On the embankment they took draft Maykop beer for 90 rubles. For such a place, I think it's just a gift. A similar bottle in the supermarket costs 55. It was overcast and rather cool. Therefore, we went to catch up in the "hotel" in the common kitchen. They went through the underpass. Here they are, snowdrops with hellebore! Grannies in the transition sell them! And no one will give in the head! All captured, I suppose!
Oleg returned from riding, and the rest began to slip. After conferring, we decided to thank Nastya and her husband for bringing us to this place. Everyone agreed that it was the best fit. Unless, of course, you're a ski fanatic. Housing on the mountain is more expensive, and food too. Once, that way, twice. And God forbid, did you get sick or injured? What's next? You don't really walk there. There is a water park though. Petya advertised heavily.
I can't say for sure though. On the way home, I saw at one of the hotels (very decent in appearance) an announcement of free rooms for only 1300. However, it was somewhere on the outskirts of Krasnaya Polyana or the Heliport. On the other hand, living on a mountain, you can save on taxis. It was possible to ride on Gazprom. There, a ski pass costs 2500, there are two ski areas (Laura and Alpika), the slopes are also good, chairs are also with caps. Only the discount does not come from 60 years old, but from 65, which did not suit us. In general, see for yourself. And the two of us spent somewhere around 43 thousand rubles, or about 17 thousand hryvnias. Together with the road - it's almost a piece of bucks.
If we flew to the super-cheap Kayseri (Erciyes), we would still not meet this amount. It's half board and beer for dinner is not included. Yes, and plus the road to Kyiv. But, in truth, we spent relatively little on food. The meat, lard, cutlets that we took on the road ended up eating up all week, and even left for the return trip. Only once did I buy a kilo of pork stew (150 rubles) and vegetables and cook borscht for kastrulyaka. And so we bought only eggs, buckwheat, bread, oranges, tangerines, kiwi, beer and smoked fish for beer. Pickles were also brought from home.
I was hoping to find Massandra wines and Novosvet champagne here. And found. Sherry cost more than 600 (in Yalta up to 500), port wine was only "Alushta" without medals and was also expensive. Didn't buy. And there was no New World champagne at all. But I didn’t want Abrau Durso.
In general, everyone was satisfied with the trip. The ski resort is excellent. I liked it more than Andorra. And this is how the summer resort Adler is worthless, in my opinion. Abkhazia is preferable.
We planned to leave home at 15.00 in order to have time to drive through the stupid serpentine before dark, but our owner, Volodenka, decided to die of us early. Agreed at 12:00. Anyway, since the evening it started raining and there was absolutely nothing to do. I was going to swim in the morning, finally, in the sea, but this fad remained unfulfilled.
Rain on the road is a good omen. And it didn't hurt to leave. Before leaving, I bought two packs of dumplings for 800 g each. It turned out to be a bit too much. In addition to "their" men - Vadik, Mishan and Oleg - I had to feed Nastya's feeble husband. But there were still a lot. Overeat.
At first, Nastya got sick on the serpentine, and she urgently moved to the front seat, next to me. Let it go. Then Vadik got sick. The raw foodist Petya gloated that dumplings were to blame. Maybe dumplings. But Petya was malevolent, but it was in his interests to take us alive. Therefore, he gave Vadik some kind of tricky capsule with some kind of enzymes. Helped.
There were no accidents here (thank God, not with our participation). Too sharp turns (often 180 degrees) were not mastered by everyone, flying into the oncoming lane and colliding head-on. Well, at least without casualties.
When the road leveled off and the tension subsided, they again laughed at the local names. In addition to those already listed by me, there were a lot of different "slots" - Rusina (well, let's say), Anchor, Matrosskaya (hmm) and Mamedova (very interesting).
We passed Krasnodar. Petya did not save money and we drove along toll roads. But if at night we paid half the amount, now the nightly rate has not yet been applied. After paying once again 200 rubles, we stopped at a gas station. Leaving from there, Petya turned somewhere in the wrong direction and we drove onto the flyover. In one direction - Krasnodar, from which we have just arrived, in the other - some kind of Oktyabrskoe. We don't need to go there either. And there are no other options to go to Rostov. We turned towards Krasnodar, hoping to turn around somewhere. But it was decidedly impossible - continuous chippers! Poor Petya almost tore his hair out. Is it that, after eleven kilometers, you will have to go back to the toll road, pay another 200, then, God forbid, turn around and pay again? Awesome! (Petya safely threw away the check)
You ask, what about the navigator? And the navigator carried some kind of nonsense. According to him, all this time we were driving in an open field and he (more precisely, she) barked endlessly “You left the route! ”. I don't know what the point is. Has the data been updated for several years? Although the aunt claimed that "the connection with the satellite is established"! What was this pirate satellite, h. z.
As a result, after driving 15 km, we returned to the payment point. There the fenders ended, but there was a locked barrier. Petya parked and went to the "road commissioners". Thank God, they took pity and opened the barrier for us without further ado. Apparently, we are not the first such suckers.
At the border, everything went more or less. Things, however, again had to be taken out of the trunk. But this time, thank God, only partially. For some reason, Petya was noticeably nervous about this. Maybe he was carrying something, and we were just a cover? : )) Our new migration cards, issued at the Abkhazian border, were accepted silently.
And the native road began!
But you can turn around wherever your heart desires! But we did not, although we wanted to.
Thanks for reading!
