ski resort Tsey, North Ossetia–Alania, Russian FederationMIR Trip Notes - Day 3: Pyatigorsk, Drive to Tsey
Continue into North Ossetia through the mountains, stopping in one of the region's oldest villages, Chikola, for lunch and a taste of the famous Ossetian stuffed pies.
The drive to the mountain resort of Tsey includes some of the most spectacular scenery in this region, with craggy peaks, waterfalls, and medieval stone defense towers. Enjoy tea in the village of Kamunta, where only seven people live permanently.
Drive off-road up one dirt track to Zgid Pass, at 6,500 feet, and down into Tsey. Situated in dramatic Tsey Gorge some 60 miles from Vladikavkaz, Tsey is a mountain resort that caters to skiers, mountaineers, hikers and photographers. Two ski lifts that run all year afford fantastic views of the steep slopes, the river below, and the little town.
Check in to the rustic Hotel Vertikal for dinner and overnight.
Hotel Vertikal,Tsey Russia,Phone: +7 (928) 065 77 88
Meals: B,L,D
Driving time today in total will be 7-8 hours, including winding mountain roads with rough surfaces.
I have forgotten whether we switched to
the jeeps before or after the border but we left our minivan
driver Juri and moved into 5 jeeps. I was assigned to be with Kay and we
have Michel for today.
He will move around, but I think we stick
with Rustam, whom I like. He is a super Jeep driver and speaks
English. He has been opening the door for me and helped me with my
big daypack when we arrived at the hotel. Our five drivers are all Chechen and I learned later that they are part of some 4x4 club that competes with other clubs and that they also work together subcontracting the transportation piece of tours. You might not think that there is much tourism in this part of the world, but they seemed to have developed some infrastructure judging by what we have experienced.
We crossed the border from the K-B
republic to North Ossetia, another autonomous republic in the
Russian Federation. We had been on a fairlyy major, well-maintained
highway. Now we went to progressively smaller, less major roads
until we were on a track up into the mountains overlooking a large
valley. Soon after we crossed the border and got into mountains,
we saw the statue of wasterzhi, or Uastyrdzhi, the pagan god of Ossetia.
He rides on a
three-legged horse because the odd numbers have better luck than the
even ones. Olga told us that, even though the Ossetians are Eastern Orthodox, there is still a very strong pagan belief system.
We also stopped at a bridge overlooking a stream running
through a deep channel. This might have been the devil bridge. We had to be careful because a road crew was
painting the bridge railing with their rollers and paint brushes.
Once we climbed higher above the
valley, we began to see the stone fortress towers. None of them seem
to be fully intact but some have quite a bit of the original left. They are very picturesque anyway. The
mountainsides are covered with flowers: daisies, geraniums, orange
poppies, salvia, white and pink yarrow, lots of blue belled flowers,
yellow flowers and white flowers. Some were familiar if not
identifiable and others not so familiar. There were also nettles,
burdock and thistles. We stopped at one village (Kalmanta maybe) that had 25 residents, where we visited a
small museum .
A woman in a bright blue dress with
bright yellow hair came out to greet us. She had been born there.
We chased down a group of children who had been picking flowers and
took their photos and photos of Olga with the garland they had made
on her head. We took photos of a number of the stone towers. They only
could be entered through holes on the top by ladders which the people
brought up with them. The watchers stayed for 6 month shifts – or
maybe longer. These watchtowers were quite effective in defeating
invaders.
As we climbed the mountain to the high
pass Zgid, we began to drive on a track. A mist or
fog began to settle. The drivers do not like the fog because it
makes driving harder. Well, it got pretty foggy so that we couldn't
see much more than what was immediately around us but we could still
see where we were going. The hills served as pastureland for beef
cattle. We saw quite a few, but no other animals, except dogs. A
lot of the mountainside was grass and flowers.
We went through a few
sections of scrub and saw a few trees - as in a forest - but I could see
some forest on the other side of the valley. As we rose, the track got muddier.
We had to ford streams in a few places. A few times one of the jeeps
would get stuck and our driver Rustam had to rescue them by pulling
them out. We kept on talking. Kay was talking about all the amazing
trips she has taken and she and Michel exchanged information about
various trips. Meanwhile Michel continued to take photos and edit
the ones he had taken on his 2-year-old Ipad. He takes excellent photos. He has been emailing some that he has taken of us as individuals to us.
It was a few minutes before 8 pm when we
finally arrived at the hotel. I enjoyed the ride and the scenery, the
flowers and the stone towers and other sights, but by then I desperately had
to go to the bathroom. I was not the only one in that condition. A
few had taken advantage of the stops to find a suitable bush but I
hadn't so it was a long ride. Oh, I forgot – when we went to the
market, Olga bought food for a picnic but we had lunch somewhere
along the way (Chikola) . We had salad which was tomatoes and cucumbers with
dill and onions and we had Ossetian pies: cheese, potato and cheese,
and beet greens with cheese. They were a lot like khatchapuri (Georgian cheese pies) and
very good. In the Tsey Valley, we visited the sacred site of Ossetian pagan religion,
honoring Uastyrdzhi, god of men, warriors, and travelers in the
mythology of Ossetian folk religion, where sacrifices take place.
Here we were supposed to have our picnic but it didn't
happen. Before we checked into our rooms, we went straight to the
dining area where we had dinner:: soup, coleslaw salad and a stew
with chicken and potatoes.
We had to carry our bags up two flights
to our rooms. My room is quite OK. None of us could figure out how
to turn on the radiators, but my room is warm enough now. I needed
to get towels because there weren't any in my room. I saw Betty's
room and she has a suite with twin beds in one room and a huge room
with several couches. I have a very large balcony but the view is
not that great.
I have uploaded my lumix pics for the
day. I had quite a few. Now I have finished my blogging, will brush
my teeth and go to bed – hoping I wake up early tomorrow to finish
other chores. Computer is now 100% charged.
* The Republic of Kabardino-Balkharia: MIR website
Kabardino-Balkharia is
the original home of ethnic people called Circassians, many of whom were
exiled to the lands of the Ottoman Empire by the Russians in the 19th
century. Although they have been Sunni Muslims since the 16th century,
the remains of early Circassian pagan shrines dot the Caucasus slopes
in their region.
The Kabardino-Balkharia National Museum in Nalchik, the capital, displays the natural and cultural history of the region. You might even run into a Circassian in full costume wielding a shashka, the original Circassian saber, light, flexible and very effective.
2025-05-22