Caucasian holidays with an Italian accent for 4 days

Breakfast at the hotel. 

A visit to the Zander Institute of Mechanotherapy, which houses devices developed by the Swedish scientist Gustav Zander back in the late 19th century.

Surprisingly, 55 of the 70 cars purchased a hundred years ago are currently in operation! 

Exercise machines precisely direct and strictly dose the load on the human body and have a deep therapeutic effect, as you can see by personally testing them.

Departure to the village of Camelogorka, where, reviving the glorious work of Italian winemakers, a hardworking family from the village of Vinsady creates their unique wines with soul and care. 

To the Italian winegrowers who arrived in these places in the 90s of the 19th century, the area resembled their native Calabria, Ticino. 

They brought with them seedlings of Italian and French grape varieties and were very successful in making table natural wines. 

All the energy and warmth of the Caucasian sun, given to the grapes, is collected in a wonderful young drink – muscat, riesling, rkacitelli, saperavi, merlot, cabernet – each drink has its own unique taste, you can fall in love – and not just one! 

And you will have the opportunity to taste everything yourself.

The wine tasting takes place near the young vineyards, laid out on the sunny slopes of Mount Camel, next to the already abandoned capital wine cellar, which was built by Italian winegrowers at the end of the 19th century. 

You will also enjoy a tasting of homemade cheeses prepared using Italian technologies in a family cheese factory, with participation in the very process of their preparation! (the master class is included).

Lunch at a cafe with a picturesque view of Pyatigorsk.

Return to the hotel. 

Dinner on your own.

Breakfast at the hotel.

Today you will travel to the neighboring republic of Karachay–Cherkessia to look at the Caucasus from a different perspective. 

Your journey will be easy and relaxed, with several stops along the way. 

First, we will show you a popular natural attraction – Mount Koltso. 

It is a monolithic arch right in the rock. 

If you go up to the "ring" itself, then through it you can see trees, mountains, surrounding villages and Kislovodsk itself from a bird's eye view.

Your next stop will be the so-called Tea House.

Nowhere else will you see such a variety of herbal tea, honey, tinctures, jams and local sweets (urbech, pastila, churchkhela, etc.)!

And the big bonus is that you can try it all!

For those who want to get even closer to nature and feel like a "horseman", we suggest taking a short horseback ride on a real Karachai horse (there is a rental nearby – an additional fee of 500 rubles / 30 minutes).

The end point of this half of the day will be Honey Waterfalls – Pearl, Secret, Snake, Mill and Honey. 

In fact, the "honey" waterfalls have nothing to do with honey (at least for now – our guide will tell you about the origin of the name of the waterfalls), and there is a whole complex on their territory where you can not only admire the picturesque views, but also visit the Caucasian farmstead with the animals living there, try local cuisine: how would you like to see the "real Caucasus" in miniature.

Lunch with dishes of national cuisine.

In your free time, you can visit extreme attractions (for an additional fee). 

Zipline is a high–speed descent along a steel rope, the longest in Russia – 1050 meters, where the speed develops up to 80 km/h (from 1800 rubles per person).

Transfer and acquaintance with the Zheleznovodsk resort. 

You will have a walk through the resort park, where you:

• you will see architectural monuments of the XIX century: the former summer residence of the Emir of Bukhara, the Pushkin Gallery; 
• make a wish by trying to scroll the so-called Wish Stone; 
• you will walk along the Cascading Staircase, which underwent extensive restoration in 2019, to the also renovated Resort Lake with a picturesque territory; 
• try the mineral water directly from the springs – Lermontovsky and Smirnovsko-Slavyanovsky. 

Return to Essentuki. 

Free time.

Breakfast at the hotel. Room release. Departure for a tour of Pyatigorsk 

During the tour, you will learn about the life and work of the first architects of Pyatigorsk – Italians Giuseppe Marco and Giovanni-Baptiste Bernardazzi. 

They lived and worked in Pyatigorsk for about two decades and are buried in the ancient cemetery "Necropolis", not far from the place of the original burial of M.Y. Lermontov. 

Leisurely strolling in the company of a guide, you will see many sights and preserved buildings created by talented Italians: 

• Nikolaevsky (now Lermontov) baths; 
• the famous "Diana's Grotto"; 
• a stone rotunda with eight columns – the "Aeolian Harp", from which gentle sounds of music can be heard in the evenings; 
• a wide boulevard, now called the "Flower Garden", which at one time became a favorite place for festivities of the "resort public" – on its territory there is also the famous sculpture of the Eagle – the business card of Pyatigorsk itself and all the cities of the Caucasian Mineral Waters.

Lunch. 

In clear weather, we suggest you take a cable car to the very top of Mount Mashuk (surcharge from 400 rubles/person) to enjoy the beautiful scenery from a height of almost 1000 meters above sea level. 

Group transfer to the airport (railway station) in Mineralnye Vody for evening flights after 19:00.