The Grand Canyon, the famous Ayu-Dag mountain, the Genoese fortress in Sudak, the southern coastal palaces and historical monuments of Sevastopol ... You should not think that the list of Crimea sights is limited to these objects . Belogorsk is a small town in the foothills of the peninsula, which also has something to show the tourist.
The ancient city of Karasubazar
That is what this city was originally called, located 45 kilometers east of Simferopol. This name is translated from the Crimean Tatar as follows: "market for Karasu." Karasu, in turn, is a small rivulet on which the ancient city is located.
Belogorsk appeared somewhere in the middle of the XIII century. A respectable age, isn't it? However, many modern cities of Crimea can boast of this.
The sights of Belogorsk and Belogorsk district are picturesque cliffs, ruins of ancient structures and churches, waterfalls, caves, sage and lavender fields. Traveling to these places is a pleasure! Today, about 18 thousand people live in the city of Belogorsk. There are few industrial enterprises. The largest of them is a winery.
How to get to Belogorsk in the Crimea? The city is located on the P23 highway, connecting Simferopol with Feodosia and Kerch. Accordingly, a lot of regular buses leave from the capital of the republic in this direction every day. In the following sections of our article you will find a list and descriptions of the sights of Belogorsk and its immediate surroundings.
To get to know this Crimean city as complete as possible, we bring to your attention five of the most interesting facts about its history:
- people have settled here since ancient times: numerous archaeological finds of the remains of a primitive man in the vicinity of Belogorsk testify to this;
- according to some scholars, it was in Karasubazar that the “Code of the Last Prophets" was stored - one of the oldest biblical manuscripts in Hebrew;
- Belogorsk has a unique safari park, in which about fifty African lions live;
- from 1620 to 1622 the famous Ukrainian hetman Bogdan Khmelnitsky was held captive in Karasubazar;
- Professor Aron Sorkin, one of the famous natives of Belogorsk, was the attending physician of Leon Trotsky.
Belogorsk and Belogorsk district (Crimea): attractions
Belogorsky district is located in the foothill zone, away from popular sea resorts. Nevertheless, travelers often stop by here. First of all, to see the famous White Rock - the main attraction of Belogorsk. Crimea is extremely rich in geological wonders of nature, and this object is one of the most significant in the list of such monuments.
Within the region, several valuable architectural monuments have also been preserved. Among them are the ruins of ancient caravanserais, stone Armenian churches, orthodox monasteries. In Belogorsk itself, a number of sculptural monuments and compositions have been erected.
Below we have listed all the attractions of Belogorsk in the Crimea, as well as Belogorsky district. The list includes the following objects:
- rock of Ak-Kaya;
- Zoo "Taigan";
- the ruins of the caravanserai of Tash Khan (XV century);
- St. Nicholas Church (end of the 18th century);
- Suvorov oak;
- Belogorsk reservoir;
- Altyn-Teshik cave;
- Cheremisovsky waterfalls;
- Three Saints Waterfall;
- the ruins of the Elijah (Armenian) church in the village of Bogatoe;
- Holy Trinity Convent in the village of Topolevka;
- Catherine’s mile near the village of Flower.
Sights of Belogorsk (Crimea): Taigan Zoo
The Belogorsk safari park called Taigan is the largest nursery in Europe for lions and other large mammals (in particular, bison, mouflon and giraffe). Today, 60 lions and 40 tigers live on its territory. The founder of the Taigan park in Belogorsk is businessman Oleg Zubkov. He is the director of the no less famous in Crimea private Yalta Zoo.
The total area of the park is 32 hectares. It is organized so that visitors can watch predators in natural conditions. Guests of the safari park move on special bridges, being above the habitat of lions. The total length of these transition bridges exceeds 1 kilometer.
The cost of admission for an adult on the territory of the park is 900 rubles, for a child - 450 rubles (prices as of 2017). Reviews of tourists about this unique place are extremely positive. However, to get the most complete impressions, it is recommended to stop here for a whole day to see all the phases of the life of lions per day. The hotel has a hotel, cafe, dining room and bar.
Ak-Kaya Rock
White Rock (or Ak-Kaya) is the main natural attraction of Belogorsk. Crimea is known for its diverse relief and unique mountain landscapes. Ak-Kaya is one of the most popular geological features of the peninsula. This is a sheer rocky wall, located four kilometers north of the city of Belogorsk. It is composed of marls and limestones, which gives it a characteristic white color.
The absolute height of the White Rock is 325 meters. Above the surrounding area, it rises by almost 150 meters. At its foot numerous niches, grottoes and stone talus formed. Steppe vegetation prevails here, and wild rose hives and undersized hornbeams are found separately.
Ak-Kaya is incredibly film and photogenic. This area can be seen in a number of Soviet feature films. The most famous films are “The Man from the Capuchin Boulevard”, “Chipollino”, “The Headless Horseman”, “Mirage”.
Tash han
Caravanserai is a guesthouse for travelers, characteristic of the countries and peoples of the Middle East and Central Asia. In fact, this is a medieval oriental hotel. In Crimea, such buildings were preserved in the village of Old Crimea and in Belogorsk.
Tash-Khan (“Stone Courtyard” in Russian) is a valuable monument of Crimean Tatar architecture dating back to the 15th century. It is located in the city of Belogorsk. Unfortunately, only the entrance gate, as well as a fragment of one of the walls, have survived from this building. According to scientists, the caravanserai in Karasubazar also played the role of a defensive fortress. The building had loopholes and four corner towers.
The area around Tash Khan was the center of the city’s trading life. Here they traded wine, fabrics, clothes, utensils, weapons and slaves. It will not be amiss to note that at the end of the 16th century, due to its favorable trade position, Karasubazar was the most densely populated city on the Crimean peninsula.
Cheremisovsky waterfalls
And now let's take a walk around the outskirts of Belogorsk. So, in the area of the villages of Cheremisovka and Povorotnoye there are a number of picturesque waterfalls formed by the mountain river Kuchuk-Karasu.
There are six waterfalls in total. The largest of them has a height of 10 meters. All Cheremisovsky waterfalls are distinguished by the bluish color of the water. The emerald hue is given to them by exposures of blue clay, which are found everywhere in the river valley. The best time to visit Cheremisovsky Falls, as follows from the reviews of tourists, is spring. At this time of the year they are most full-flowing and beautiful.
Altyn Teshik Cave
This unique object is located on one of the slopes of the White Rock. In fact, this is not a cave at all, but a huge grotto 20 meters high. It was discovered by climbers in 1960 and was called the Golden Hole.
In 1969, the grotto was carefully studied by an expedition of archaeologists. Numerous remains of primitive man, tools of his labor and hunting were discovered in it. Grotto Altyn-Teshik attracts the attention of esotericists and lovers of all kinds of mysticism, and the locals are not tired of composing various legends of fiction about him.
Catherine Mile
In the years 1784-1787, the odious Russian Empress Catherine II made a loud and pompous journey from Petersburg to Crimea. Every ten miles of this path, special stone obelisks - “miles” - were placed. Later they were nicknamed Catherine.
In Soviet times, almost all of Catherine’s miles were destroyed as “symbols of tsarism”. Five such objects have been preserved in Crimea. One of them is located on the 29th kilometer of the P23 highway, near the Tsvetochnoye village. In the summer of 2012, this mile was thoroughly restored.