Derbent, Republic of Dagestan, Russian FederationDays 11-14: Derbent, Makhachkala
Visit the Juma Mosque, built over a Christian church in the 8th
century when the Arabs first arrived.
Continue to Makhachkala, the
capital of Dagestan, a modern town on the Caspian Sea with a lively
beach scene.
Highlights
- UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the “Citadel, Ancient City, and Fortress Buildings of Derbent”
- Juma Mosque, said to be the oldest in Russia
- Lunch in the home of a pigeon-breeder
- Dagestan Museum of Fine Art
Mir Trip Notes: Day 12 - Derbent
Explore Derbent today, taking a tour of one of Russia's least-visited UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the "itadel, Ancient City, and Fortress Buildings of Derbent," Built by the Sassanian Persians in the 5th century, the immense Naryn-Kala Fortress was in continuous use until the 19th century, when the Russian occupied the region. With walls of dressed stone 6-13 feet wide and 30-40 feet high, the fortress encompasses an 18th century khan' palace, cistrns, baths, and guardrooms.
Visit Derbent's Juma Mosque, said to be the oldest in Russia. Built over a Christian church in the 8th cedntury when the Arabs first arrived, its was the biggest building in town at the time.
Inside the three naves separated by sauare columns with lancet arches, During early Soviet tims, the mosu3e was used as a municipal prison, but it has een active again since 1943.
Enjoy lunch today in the home of a pigeon-breeder. This gentleman cares for more than 3,000 birds at a time. Later take a walking tour of the city, including an Armenian church with a museum of carpets, and the rebuilt synagogue of Tat Mountain Jews.
Enjoy some free time before dinner and overnight at the
Golden Beach Hotel: Ulitsa Sheboldayeva, 5а, Derbent,Russia, 368600
Meals: B,L,D
hammam (functioning until 1950s)
Believe it or not, I woke up before 5 am and did not manage to get back to sleep so I checked emails and facebook and then went for a walk on the beach. Just as I decided to go back to my room, I met Betty. We tried to get coffee at the outdoor cafe/bar, but they weren't open yet, so we just sat and chatted by the sounds of the surf of the Caspian Sea. Around 7:30 am, we went in search of breakfast. It was a cafeteria style restaurant with trays and little plastic boxes with food inside and labels outside the compartments that did not correspond. You might not realize that though unless you could read Russian. So I had a hard-boiled egg, tomato and cheese slices and some bread and yogurt and a cappuccino that I had to pay for - tea was free. I went back upstairs to get ready and brush my teeth and then joined the others in the lobby.
We started off in a mini-van that just fit the 15 of us (3 guides and 12 tourists) and was a bit tight.
The aisles always seem too small so you have to walk sideways.
Our first stop was the old Naryn-Kala fortress. It was interesting to hear about how the shah had built the fort and those extra walls down to the sea - some of which still survive. We saw some remains of prison use and some rooms with museum exhibits. There was not much left of the ruler's palace. In a courtyard, we saw a display of ship's anchors made of stone. And a cistern. There were some very nice views of Derbent and the Caspian Sea from the vantage point of the fortress ramparts.
We walked in the old city center to the Juma Mosque, said to be the oldest in Russia. Then we went to the medresseh (school) and peeked into a class. Betty noticed that there were both boys and girls in the class. I looked in afterwards and hadn't even noticed. At some point we visited a hammam that had operated until the 1950's but was now turned into a museum.
Farther along our walk, we stopped in a small inner courtyard where a woman was preparing a meal.
Then her grandmother - and old Azeri woman came out to talk about her pet turtle and the men of the family killed in the war. People here have been very welcoming and friendly. I have a hard time imagining how I would react to a bunch of tourists knocking on my door and asking if they could look around in my house and watch me doing whatever it was that I was doing. From there, we went on to the best bakery in Derbent where Anya bought two kinds of pastry. I had a piece of the crescents filled with the apricot seed paste.
Our next major stop was Kyrklyar cemetery (revered tombs of 40 martyrs) with a mausoleum of kings and a queen. We women had to wear head scarves and there were a bunch of other rules posted, most of which seemed to restrict women. We saw graves with photos in the Soviet style and marked with the deceased profession. I had a camera stoppage and replaced my battery. Soon after I had another stoppage and tried to replace that battery, but no luck so switched to my phone.
I will have to check my phone photos, but I think we went to lunch after the cemetery.
It was a trendy coffee place so I had a latte and sushi. The tables were cafe tables so I had tried to sit at a table for four but Anya said I should sit with her. So I ended up sitting with her, Michel and Vlad. Michel kindly spoke to me in English, while Anya ran around troubleshooting the lunch orders and only got her apricot seed pastry and coffee drink just before we left. I haven't really ever described the different tour leaders roles. Michel is the main man - the tour manager -- and he will have been with us for the entire trip. As local guides, we had Olga who left us in Vladikavkaz, with Anya joining us before Olga left. Anya is from Moscow so she isn't really a local guide. Later I found out that she is in training as a guide and passed the test during our trip. She had worked in some administrative capacity. Vlad is also from Moscow I believe but he has moved to the North Caucasus and he is very knowledgeable about all aspects of the area. He gives us information, guides us on the walks and in museums.
Anya has also led different pieces of our tour but she has mostly ended up doing logistical work - arranging things by phone, scurrying around during mealtimes and otherwise helping things to run smoothly and ironing out problems. Michel, in addition to overall management, gets involved in the smooth running of the operation and manages to take great photos that he has shared with all of us on the trip.
After lunch we visited the Synagogue with its downstairs museum with photos on the walls of congregation members who had survived WWII and those who had died. There were also exhibits of objects from the congregation through history. Vlad and Michel gave us some history of the Jewish community here - called Mountain Jews - who have a separate language called Tat and whose origins are not clear but thought to be Persian - whether they had come from Palestine or been converted to Judaism is not known. We then went to an Armenian church - also a carpet museum with lots of rugs on the walls. We stopped into a barbershop run by two Jewish brothers.
Their business is primarily Muslim men. Women are not allowed as customers. We stopped at a so-called Men's Club where men were hanging out and drinking tea and smoking and a few were playing backgammon. Rami got into lots of conversations with people on this tour. I guess he can speak with Azeris because the Azeris are related to Iranians - Persian background. Finally we visited a Russian Orthodox Church where a service was going on and the priest and women parishioners were singing. It was a lovely sound.
Our last stop was a rug factory in a home with very hospitable women. The older of the two gave a weaving demonstration and I was elected to try weaving. I was hopeless at first but then finally began to sort of get it. Vlad and Michel were rushing us out and the two women were offering us tea. At first we were all refusing because we thought we were being ushered out, but when we got outside, we found Rami, Brian and some of the other men seated at a picnic table loaded with fruit, pastries and tea glasses.
So it transpired that most of us ended up trying the various tea dishes including halvah made from dough, butter and sugar and a phylo type pastry and baklava....and tea. Vlad said the shape of the delicate little glasses holds the flavor and keeps the tea hot. They showed us how to drink the tea given that it is extremely hot. I think it would not have been gracious to come in and then refuse their hospitality specifically prepared for us, so I was glad we stayed for a little while even though a lot of people were anxious to get back to the hotel.
We got back to the hotel at last and I immediately put on my cell phone to charge and started charging one of my camera batteries. I have space on my sd card, so it must have been my batteries that were all dead. I will have to check the time to make sure I don't miss dinner - can't miss a meal. Although I should since I have been eating much too much.
We had a skeleton crew for dinner - only half of us. Betty came but Kay didn't. We went to a restaurant with a French name that I cannot remember now. Michel decided we could each order our own meal since there were fewer of us....it took ages to order, Anya helped us with our orders because the menus were in Russian and then there were ipads for ordering but we got confused with them. We had been told we must order dessert so I saved room, or so I kidded myself. I had ordered sparkling water and eggplant salad which wouldn't have been overdoing it, but then I ordered the Venezia cocktail - which was like a banana smoothie with berries of some sort. So when it came time for dessert, I had to choose from dozens of little pictures with Russian titles so I chose an Italian pane..... which was terrific but very filling. Did I mention that the food - except for poor Betty's, took less time coming than the time we took to order it. Betty's mushroom soup went to Rami by mistake and he ate part of it before rejecting it and it took ages before she got her replacement. Then her kebab order was placed on a plate along with Rami's and he gave extra to Michel so she never got her kebabs. She did get her strawberry shortcake sort of dessert though. There was a bit of a commotion about getting our desserts to go but we ended up eating them there and got back to the hotel around 9 pm. Another late night....when you get up at 5 am.
2025-05-22