Mountain Cat

On which side and which way you would not be riding in Simeiz mountain cat will always be ahead of you. You can see it from all sides, but only from the west and the east, it really looks like a cat. Even without knowing what it looks like, do you recognize her at first sight - So characteristic of its features, like a giant cat got ready to jump. But if you climb to the top of Ai-Petri, the mountain cat is more like a mouse: passing near the track turns into a giant tail. If we go along this route further, by Katsiveli mountain cat starts to look like a giant rhino. But no matter how you played our imagination, a mountain cat in Simeiz.

Why is the mountain called "cat"? It would seem pretty obvious. But the modern name of "mountain cat" comes from the Crimean Tatar "Kosh-Kai." "Kai" means "rock", "Kosh" - "pair". After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, the name of the Russian population has been transformed into something more meaningful, "cat". But also in shape like a mountain cat, it is not surprising that the "Koch-Kaya" has become a "mountain cat".

Vorontsov Palace

 Vorontsov Palace, and now - Alupka Palace and Park State Museum-Reserve - one of the most visited monuments of the Crimea.

Vorontsov Palace was built as a summer residence of the governor-general of the Novorossiysk Territory Mikhail Vorontsov (1782-1856), designed by English architect Edward Blore (1789-1879). Externally, the building resembles the English castles, while maintaining the architectural elements of different eras: the farther from the gate, the style of the buildings later. It is easy to discern the silhouette Alupka Palace and Oriental motifs chimneys resembling minarets of mosques, registration Southern entrance with an inscription in Arabic reading: "There is no God but Allah."
An unforgettable experience for visitors of the Vorontsov Palace reserves walk through a magnificent park equipment and breakdown which led the German Carl Kebah. Park designed as an amphitheater of two parts: the upper and lower, separated by the coastal highway. A distinctive feature of the palace park is its natural, complementary landscapes, not distort them. Stone chaos, Trout, Mirror and Swan Lake, Moonstone and numerous fields with picturesque names are well remembered and remain in the memory of visitors. Are popular elements of the Lower Park, filled with the spirit of the Renaissance: the Fountain of Tears, the sources of "Cat's Eye", "Teahouse" and rock Aivazovsky. Special interest and attention is drawn to the statue of Carrara marble lions, coming out of the workshop of the famous Italian sculptor Giovanni Bonnani.

Mount Ai-Petri

What is the Ai-Petri? This question is difficult to answer in one or two sentences, even harder to describe the diversity of the mountain range, where each tract and surprises and delights. Talk with mountaineers and rock climbers, hikers and tourists, skiers and cave explorers, foresters and meteorologists, mushroom and berry lovers - each tells of his own, but even put together these fragments do not give ideas about Ai-Petri, yet never been to the top.

Ai-Petri - the pinnacle and the mountain area of ​​300 km2, is one of the dining rooms of arrays (also called yaylami) extending along the southern coast and up the main mountain range. Ai-Petri array stretches from east to west on the 25t km. The distance between the southern edge of the parapet and the northern foot of a 13ti km. Conditional eastern boundary runs along the meridian of Mount Doom, separated from the adjacent array Yalta plateau. In the west of Ai-Petri ends deep saddle Baidar gate.
But most tourists do not remember the array as a whole, and one of its vertices with a palisade of exotic stone pillars, known as teeth. This peak is far to the south ledge nominated array is actually Ai-Petri, gave name to the whole plateau and became a symbol of the South Coast.