Pyatigorsk, Stavropol Krai, Russian FederationMIR Trip Notes - Day 2: Mineralnye Vody, Pyatigorsk
Pyatigorsk is the administrative center of the North Caucasian Federal District, the region that encompasses the Russian republics that you are viiting.
The city is one of Russia's oldest health resorts. The first spa was opened here in 1803, and Russia's wealthy classes joined the convalescents bathing in and drinking the abundant mineral water. Fashionable sanitoria and resorts sprang up, many of them still in use today.
Visit the mud baths in nearby Essentuki. Some 11 miles est of Pyatigorsk, Essentuki is a city of 100,000 where more than 20 natural mineral springs have been highly valued since the 19th century. Hot springs, mineral waters, and sulphide mud baths are popular here. Take a walk around the resort area and enjoy lunch at a local restaurant.
Return to Pyatigorsk and embark on a city tour. Pyatigorsk is inextricably bound up with the memory of Russian Romantic poet, writer, and soldier, Mikhail Lermontov, author of one of Russian literature's important works, A Hero of Our Times. The city figures prominently in one of the book's stories. Exiled two different times to Pyatigorsk, Lermontov was killed at the age of 26 in a duel with another soldier at the foot of nearby Mt.
Mashuk - visit his tomb. Time may permit a ride by cable car up the mountain for wonderful views of the city.
Dinner at a local restaurant and overnight at bristol Hotel.
Bristol Hotel: Sobornaya ul., 19,Pyatigorsk Russia 357502,Phone: +7 (8793) 0-00-65,Fax: +7 (8793) 33-31-39
Meals: B,L,D
I have really enjoyed Pyatigorsk - not that I haven't thoroughly enjoyed the mountain scenery we had been through as well.
I got up after my first really good sleep - maybe it was the open windows that helped - around 6 am. That meant I had nearly two hours before breakfast. I ended up going through my last photo file to turn photos and delete bad ones. I packed my tote bag for our morning excursion to Essentuki for a mud bath. There were quite a few of us going - mostly the women minus Kay plus Jerry. Kay was dubious after her banya experience where she heard a snap and felt a sharp pain and has since suffered pain and restricted movement in her arm. We had our ordered breakfast sans caviar because we mis-ordered - we were supposed to circle the topping of our choice - not get all of them as we had assumed.
When we asked about it - we were only told of our error - no caviar forthcoming. These are the cultural differences we must be aware of.
The drive to the spa was longer than I thought it would be. The spa is located in a suburb or town separate from Pyatigorsk that has a heavier population of Greek and Armenian residents. For this reason, when the spa or sanatorium was designed, it was built with Greek architectural features. There is a whole campus of related buildings - or maybe they are not part of a single complex, but related by function.
We entered the N. A. Semashko Mud treatment Center behind the statues of Asclepius and Hygieia, his daughter. Olga got us settled. There is a corridor with treatment rooms off each side. There were three of us in our room: Dana, Judy (who just joined us last night), and I. We were sent to the back room which is the dressing room and told to strip. Then we waited while they filled the beds with the mud. I had expected it to be viscous or thicker, but it was more syrupy.
I compared it to chocolate syrup. Olga took photos of us duing the process. I am not sure I like the ones of myself that much except for the ones where I am covered up. So once the attendant filled the bed with mud from the pipe, she spent a lot of time smoothing it out with her hands. I think she was cooling it more than anything else. Then, when it was my turn, she asked me to test the temperature with my hand so that it didn't feel too hot. She asked repeatedly as I first sat on the bed, then lay down. Lying down in it - it seemed at first a bit too hot but then I got used to it. It was not nearly so hot as Vlad's banya. After I lay on my back, she spread the soupy mud on my arms and the top of my body, then she folder the covering over me and covered me with a blanket. I had expected my head to be out of the mud, but she had me rest the back of my head right on the mud. I lay covered this way for 15 minutes. Olga took some photos with my phone. Then we got up one by one and showered to get the mud off.
I thought I had done a very good job but saw streaks of mud left on my towel. I expected my skin to feel silky but it didn't - it seemed kind of rough. Now around 10 pm, it feels a bit smoother. But the whole thing was fun to try - we'll see how much it does for me....
From the Mud Treatment Center, we walked through the park, passing a prototype fitness center and some other buildings until we got to a big square with the restaurant where we ate lunch. I had a Greek salad and lemon juice drink. Both were good. I also had a slice of Betty's pizza. We ate out on the porch - which was very nice - it overlooked a fountain where children played.
On our way back, we stopped at the park where there is a memorial to the 19th C Russian writer Lermontov. He died in a duel here at the age of 26 and he is buried here as well.
We then returned to the hotel where I had enough time to get my camera and change clothes and switch to my daypack for our afternoon city tour. I am sure I will miss things but we visited several of the city's sights - the mineral water museum at the end, the funicular on the highest mountain - Mashuk; Tvertnik Park, home of Diana's grotto by a theater building moved from a city starting with N, and I know there were other places too.
We visited the lake in the cave and the sulphur pools on the hillside overlooking the city, nicknamed as the "shameless bath." Then there was the Aerolian harp - a specially designed pergola that made musical sounds when the wind blew through it. Oh, we also visited Spassky (Savior) Cathedral and went inside - it was stunning. We would have walked more and ended by the restaurant we were going to in the evening but it was too early. So we went back to the hotel for an hour or so. Maybe this is when I changed clothes to my longer skirt.
The restaurant was nice - Armenian I think. I had a grilled vegetable Armenian salad and dolma which were smaller than I am used to. Both were good. I shared Georgian dry red wine with Dana and Jerry and Michel. Poor Rami was at the end of the table with no one to talk to but me and he said he couldn't hear me because the music was too loud. He commented on two young women looking at their phones all the time before their food arrived.
We walked back to the hotel after our meal. Michel got a cab for a few of us. I was in the tail end of our procession and wondering if I would be left behind, but Olga waited at the corner so no one would be lost. We got back around 9:30 pm. I opened my windows and now I can hear the loud music from somewhere really close. I hope I don't have to close the windows when I go to bed.
2025-05-22