The most famous in Crimea and not only Ai-Petri Mountain is one of the main symbols of the Crimean Peninsula. It is part of the Yalta Reserve. The picturesque mountain is considered the windiest point in the Crimea and the place where foggy days are most often observed. You can find out more about where Ai-Petri is located and how to get to it by familiarizing yourself with the information presented in the article.
About the name of the mountain
The name is associated with the long-standing Greek monastery of St. Peter in this place (this is how Ai-Petri is translated from the ancient Greek language). The remains of this ancient structure have survived to this day.
In fact, the name "Ai-Petri" can be called the southernmost point of the plateau - the top of the mountain, and the entire Ai-Petrinskaya ialu (called the "table massif), which covers an area of ​​300 square meters. meters.
We learn more about where Mount Ai-Petri is located after a short description of it.
Ai-Petri: Description
The mountain rises 1234 meters above the surface of the Black Sea. Oddly enough, the top of the mountain is almost flat and even.
There is one misconception about the highest point of Ai-Petri. In fact, the highest peak is not the main peak Beden-Kir (translated from Turkic as “quail mountain”), but the western peak, called the Rock. Its height is 1346 meters. There is also a third peak (eastern) at Ai-Petri, reaching a height of 1100 meters.
Often in the photographs they capture peculiar teeth - the most beautiful views of the mountain range. Since 1947, these protrusions have officially been a natural monument. This unique work of nature covers an area of ​​approximately 614 hectares and it represents 4 huge (height - about 60-80 meters) and many small ledges on the crest. The reason for the formation of this miracle of nature is the gradual weathering of marine reefs (Upper Jurassic age) of limestone rocks.
What settlements are located where Ai-Petri is located? The city of Alupka and the village of Koreiz are located directly under the mountain.
The sea horizon line is visible from the top of the mountain at a distance of about 130 kilometers (for comparison: from the coast of Yalta, it can be traced at a distance of up to 10 km).
Location
Where is Ai-Petri located? All lovers of the beauty of nature must visit the mountain and its picturesque surroundings, located near the resort city of Yalta. The peak rises, as noted above, right above Alupka and the village of Koreiz of the Crimean peninsula, which are part of the Yalta Reserve.
This peak is one of the most visited by tourists who come for a beach holiday in the resort areas of Crimea. The mountain belongs to the Ai-Petrinskaya Yaila (mountain range), which is part of the Crimean mountains.
Ancient legend
Among the people living in Crimea (where Ai-Petri Mountain is located ), many amazing fairy tales, legends, impressive fables and stories go about an amazing and mysterious mountain. One of the most popular legends, vaguely reminiscent of the well-known sad Shakespearean story, is the story of a young couple in love.
Once upon a time, not far from this mountain lived 2 families, quite wealthy. Some had a son (Peter), while others had a beautiful daughter. Young people fell in love with each other with true, bright, pure love, one that happens only once in a lifetime.
Unfortunately, parents on both sides were categorically against this union: for a girl and for a groom, a rich bridegroom and an enviable bride were long ago chosen. Parents, learning about the children’s desire to tie their fate, delivered an ultimatum: either parents, their father’s home and wealth, or shame, poverty and hunger next to their loved one.
Young people, in desperation, made the only right decision, in their opinion, that they should not concede to their parents and not renounce them at the same time. They decided to commit suicide and stay together forever, although not on earth.
Holding hands tightly, they climbed the mountain and stood at the very cliff in the Black Sea. Having vowed for the last time in love forever where Ai-Petri is, they said goodbye. However, the rocky cliff was too small and narrow for the two of them, so some of them needed to jump first. The guy volunteered to do this, and his lover promised immediately after him to do it. Peter, looking at the sky, took his last step and crashed on the rocks. His body immediately disappeared under the surface of dark water.
The frightened girl changed her mind about repeating the jump after him. She threw up her hands to heaven and uttered a cry of despair: "Ay, Peter!" She sat on a stone and began to mourn her lover. At dawn with the first rays of the sun, her tears stopped pouring, the cliff and the sea no longer seemed scary. Birds chirped all around, and the girl decided that she shouldn’t be killed so badly by the departed young man, because she will still have fans and she will meet her second love. She turned around and went home.
Since that time, this mountain has been called Ai-Petri (meaning “St. Peter”), and now Christian men everywhere let women go forward.
To this day, this peak and the surrounding fabulous places remind people of the tragic love story of two young people.
Where is the cable car?
Ai-Petri laid a cable car, recognized in Europe as the largest.
For tourists during an excursion to the top there is the opportunity to take the funicular following the cable car. This path allows you to fully enjoy the picturesque views of the Yalta Reserve and see from a great height the vast territories of coastal land.
In order to take the cable car, you must come to Miskhor (part of the village of Gaspra). There is the first cableway station. You need to go down to Mishor from the South Coast Highway. From Yalta to this station there are bus routes number 27 and 32.
Cable car journey
The rise lasts 15 minutes. The cabins, which are held on strong steel cables, can accommodate 40 people. As you move along the road up, the passengers are very breathtaking from the breathtaking panorama of the sea coast and the surrounding area, which is gradually opening from a height.
In the process of lifting, there is one exit from the cab and a transition to another. This takes place at a transfer station located in the middle of a forest in the mountains, and it is called Sosnovy Bor. It should be noted that the next section of the road is unique - the unsupported stretch is the longest in Europe. Its length exceeds 1,500 meters, and the rise has an angle reaching 46 degrees.
Fabulous, indescribable beauty opens to the eye where Ai-Petri is located.
How to get there
By car you need to get along a rather winding and narrow mountain road ("serpentine"). The winding highway "Yalta - Bakhchisaraysky" leads to the Tuzler site, after which you should go to the Uchan-Su gorge (mountain river) past a pine grove called "Drunk".
The higher the road rises, the cooler and cleaner the air becomes, and the vegetation in the mountain forests thins. At an altitude of about 1 kilometer, a virtually treeless hilly plain opens, where pine and beech groves are only occasionally found.
Further, where Ai-Petri is located, especially at the top (after rising), all travelers are visited by a light and joyful sense of peace and freedom.
Walking on the mountain can also be done on foot along the trails, including the famous Botkin Trail. Also here, at the desired point, you can get a taxi route, departing from the bus station of Yalta. There are several ways to get to the mountain. However, the most comfortable, fast and popular is climbing the cable car.
In any case, a trip to Ai-Petri will also allow you to get acquainted with other natural attractions located in the vicinity of the mountain: the peak of Beden-Kir, the Ai-Petrinsky meridian, mysterious caves and a weather station.
Finally
In Crimea, where Ai-Petri is located, tourists feel some invisible thread connection with the amazing mountain nature, mesmerizing with its beauty and freshness of the atmosphere.
It should be noted that at the most windy place in the Crimea, a record for wind speed of 50 m / s was recorded at one time. And in this place in 1970, meteorologists recorded a total of 215 days a year with fogs.