Velvet season: 10 warm cities near abroad
Opportunity to quit and break for a weekend in Odessa or in Tbilisi, without thinking about visas; pomegranate harvest in Azerbaijan, wine - in Moldova; childhood memories of the dolphinarium in Batumi or of the parents' trip to Gagra - there are many reasons to choose a city in an almost native former Soviet republic for the next trip.
Tbilisi
Georgia
In October, Tbilisi is still sunny, celebrating the harvest of grapes. In addition to walks in the Old Town, shopping for carpets, glass jewelry and wine, guests of the Georgian capital visit sulfur baths, walk around the flea market on the Dry Bridge and ride the cable car to Mtatsminda, from where a peaceful and Mediterranean view opens to the city. But all the Georgian sights, it seems, are just an excuse to come and eat again to the impropriety of khachapuri, phali and hinkali, drink hot chacha and red wine.
Yerevan
Armenia
In Yerevan, they all drink coffee all the time, even it is believed that there are more coffee houses than residents. Mount Ararat rises above them, which changes its color depending on the lighting and the season, so it is interesting to come here at different times - including in October, when it is still summer in the Armenian capital. In the city itself, it is worth visiting the Opera and Ballet Theater, the opening day of antiques near the Ploshchad Respublika metro station, and outside the city, the monastery Noravank, Khor Virap at the foot of Ararat and Echmiadzin, surrounded by rocks. Fed in Yerevan with dolma, kebabs, kebabs, lamajos and hummus.
Batumi
Georgia
Experienced lovers of Georgia offer to rent a car, starting the journey from Tbilisi, and slowly move to Batumi, stopping on the way to the mountain villages for khachapuri and thin sheets of grape juice. A few years ago, Batumi resembled a Soviet health resort, but now it’s such a nice Georgian with sophisticated skyscrapers and futuristic coastal restaurants. The memory from childhood, the centenary Batumi botanical garden with tropical vines, the Japanese garden reddening in October and eucalyptus thickets, is still beautiful. It is here, for example, you can see what a prickly sucker looks like. In the afternoon you can ride a bike along the embankment (bike rental operates here), and in the evening you can walk around the Turkish quarter, where they drink apple tea, smoke hookah and eat Turkish pastry and Turkish delight and real Batumi baklava in the pastry shops.
In October, Batumi acquires the charm of any seaside resort in the off-season: it is sunny here, but already cool, all resort visitors have left, and the city seems unusually deserted. Therefore, it is so nice to walk here: the new embankment - the multi-kilometer boardwalk promenade - stretches almost to the Turkish border past closed summer cafes and an amusement park, rustling palms and a simple pebble beach. In the center it is good to walk past the old and not particularly famous sights: look at the Abashidze house, go to the completely empty, but very beautifully decorated shop "Eastern sweets" (all the attention is on the ceiling), the Cathedral of the Mother of God in the building of the former high-voltage laboratory, on lunch to go to “Jung” - here, as local people assure, the most delicious Adzhar-style khachapuri, and a quarter later, by the way, there is a candy store where they make delicious baklava. And then - in the Turkish quarter around the mosque, for strong coffee. As a long walk, you can go to Gonio-Apsarossky fortress, where you do not want to, but you remember everything that Gasparov read about the golden fleece (in fact, you need to go there only because there are two cutest and tame rabbits living on the territory: Gonio and Apsaros, of course).
Baku
Azerbaijan
In October, grenades ripen in Azerbaijan, and at the end of the month in the city of Gokchay there is even an annual holiday, which attracts gardeners from all over the country. Baku itself is a modern, well-kept city, which is fed by numerous oil rigs. The wealth fell on the city a long time ago, so the entire center is in the mansions of almond stone with wrought-iron wrought-iron balcony bars, which used to belong to Azerbaijani oil barons. The stereo effect occurs when you walk around the city with the novel “Pers” by Alexander Ilichevsky with his memories of Baku childhood: Baku becomes voluminous, characteristic and multi-layered. How does the taste of tea with white cherry jam in a cafe on Primorsky Boulevard.
Sukhum
Abkhazia
Despite the fact that there is a train from Moscow to Sukhum (quite a long time, a day and a half), most often people come to Abkhazia from Sochi: there are minibuses to the border. The most famous sights of Abkhazia - Lake Riza, surrounded by mountains, eucalyptus trees and, of course, tangerines, which hold the economy of the region. In Sukhum there is a magnificent botanical garden with palm trees, with bamboo corridors and dwarf bonsai (by the way, seasoned travelers asked to convey that in no case should you eat the fruits of a soap tree). Cinema-goers go to the open-air cinema in the evenings. You can see how Sukhum looks like from a height by climbing the spiral staircase of a 30-meter lighthouse.
Yalta
Ukraine
In the off-season in Yalta fans like the movie "Assa". Many of them are settled in the same hotel where the shooting of the film by Sergei Solovyov took place - Yalta Intourist. From its windows there is a view of the autumn sea and the yachts moored on the quay. Connoisseurs of the city indicate that the main thing in Yalta is its surroundings: Mount Ai-Petri, Livadia Palace, Vorontsov Palace, Gursuf. The easiest way to walk the forest mountain trails is to take a horse ride. Parents will be delighted if they bring them sweet muscat wines with familiar names.
I usually drive there by car and try not to use the card until recently. So it turns out to find some cool places that are not yet on the map in my head, for example, the Armenian Orthodox Church with a staircase in cypresses, somewhere near the 10th microdistrict. I like local canteens very much: "Crimea", "Lilac" and another one on Pushkinskaya, not far from the church with a lot of cats. Dawn and sunset in Yalta can be literally from any point. From above - on the mountain in the vineyards or the botanical garden; below - on the seashore. Massandra beach is empty, the velvet season is open, you can take any breakwater completely at your disposal. Since the city is not so big, it is ideal for self-study and mapping: the main thing is not to be afraid to climb from the central embankment up the hill, into the courtyards and low-rise streets, in order to get acquainted with local dogs and residents.
Lviv
Ukraine
Despite its ultra-right reputation, Lviv is an ordinary tourist city, where the dislike of the “Muscovites” has become the same tourist attraction as the town hall or Lviv strudel. There is even such a Bandera tavern on the outskirts of the city mayor’s office, in which “moskaley” is allowed only after the password “Glory to Ukraine!” and reviews "Glory to the Heroes!" and thimble gorilki. Lviv is such a compromise: how to find yourself in Europe without visiting the EU. It is no coincidence that in Lviv, the movie “The Three Musketeers” was once shot: in the Soviet consciousness, this is what Paris looks like. Old-timers are always advised to go to the Italian courtyard, sit in a coffee shop near the Dominican Cathedral, climb the town hall, as well as the High Castle, the highest point of the city. Almost in any Lviv cafe they feed Lviv strudel and cheesecakes.
Odessa
Ukraine
In Odessa, you can come as a big get-together there are rapans and gobies in the former sanatorium, converted into a restaurant "Dacha", and to spend a meditative rest alone: walk along the deserted beach "Langeron", go to the opera, look at the faces of caryatids and ride on a scooter along the "Health Track" along the sea. Even in Odessa, wonderful literary excursions are led: from the house of Bunin to the house of Olesha, from the house of Olesha to the apartment of Ilf - and they tell how they were all connected with each other.
Odessa for me is such, you know, pure flavor. And if you think that ironic jokes with an accent remained only in anecdotes, then you are greatly mistaken. It seems there even the kids talk like that. It took me about a month to understand that people just communicate. As if you were in an endless satirical series, where everyone really loves each other. I am sure that Max Black from 2 Broke Girls is from Odessa (at least partially). The city changes outwardly, but there is a feeling that it continues to live by the same rules that Babel also wrote about and Utesov sang: children in the yard are common, prostitutes in the port are always on the ground, left the market without bargaining - consider it in vain . Romance constancy. Only the signs of places in the local Soho - Arcadia district are changing. "In Odessa, constantly eat". These are not my words. But the fact remains: 60% of the time I spend there passes exclusively at the table. With a glass of liqueur in my free hand, while the locals tell me that their city is the cradle of debauchery, where Pushkin was still chasing the spring break. It is best to travel in spring or autumn, when there are fewer tourists, beaches are freer and housing is cheaper. We must be patient, because in Odessa no one ever (underline these three words) is in a hurry, and go for a walk along the routes of Bender, Creek and other notable city characters. And there already anything can happen. Including gop-stop.
Kishinev
Moldavia
Chisinau is not rich in attractions. There are only a few of them in the city: a triumphal arch, a monument to the national hero Stephen the Great and several Orthodox churches of the 18th century with bright color frescoes. But at the same time, in the autumn the city is very cozy: there are many lakes and parks in it. Despite the fact that most residents of Moldovan villages still ride carts, in the center of the city you can meet quite Europeanized bicycle rental and ride a Pushkin park by bike. In October, people come here because at this time the whole of Moldova marks the grape harvest: the wine flows like water, corn mamaliga, Zamu and beanweed are served. Most Russian tourists come to Kishenev with the certainty that they will be understood everywhere, but only older people know Russian mostly.
Samarkand
Uzbekistan
Although the most beautiful city of Central Asia is not the capital of Uzbekistan, here is the main attraction of the country - Registan Square, which has mosaic facades of huge madrassas and Muslim educational institutions. On their first floors there are souvenir shops, and by paying a few dollars, you can climb the minarets, which you should definitely do. It all looks so majestic and bright, as if it was from Samarkand that the princess Jasmine’s palace was drawn from the cartoon about Aladdin. Although if you turn off the tourist trail, you can see the panel houses of Soviet construction, next to which sheep graze and sell roosters in cages. Siab Bazaar is the same mandatory sight of the city as Registan: placers of pomegranates, flatbread, spices and half-sugar, half-honey fruit.
A fast train is going to Samarkand from Tashkent, You can drive from the capital in three hours. The city is the embodiment of a fairy tale. At first you go from the station to the historical center for a long time, and everything that you pass reminds South Ukrainian small towns. Only here women go in traditional pants and robes, and the teahouse is the holy of holies, where all the neighbors meet. At the entrance to all the sights, as in Russia, prices for Uzbeks and foreigners are different. If you want to buy a ticket at the Uzbek price, they will constantly talk to you, narrowing their eyes: "T - Russian!" - or: "Can you trust?" In Samarkand - and this is probably the only negative - they take from foreigners not only triple the price, but 10 times more than from the Uzbeks. Be sure to see the mausoleums of Shahi Zinda (you can go free from the cemetery), Registan, Ulugbek Observatory. This is the city where, it seems, was written "1001 nights". The mausoleum of Timur, very unusual, shrouded in secrets and legends (it is said that it was because of the discovery of his grave that the Great Patriotic War began in 1941).
Photo: cover, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 via Shutterstock