The Valley of Stone Ghosts
Demerdzhi-South is a land of ghosts and tourists.
Ihor Galushchak. "Krymska Svitlytsia" Newspaper, 2017, Issue No. 18
The Valley of Ghosts, located on the southwestern slope of the Demerdzhi mountain range near Alushta, was always considered, at least until the Russian occupation, an almost obligatory point of excursions and hiking trips on the peninsula. And the easiest way to reach this area was from the village of Lychyste, which lies at the foot of Demerdzhi-South. In addition to the valley itself, the remains of the ancient fortress of Funa also remain on the slopes of the mountain.
By the way, translated from Crimean Tatar, "demerdci" means blacksmith, and the legends of the Qırımlı show that this hill was named so for a reason. However, before talking about legends and history, it is necessary to say a few words about Demerdzhi itself. The mountain, or rather its slopes, is a unique accumulation of rocks that form the so-called Block Chaos. The shape and size of these blocks are so bizarre that one can guess recognizable figures and silhouettes created by the most brilliant sculptor — nature. Casting long shadows, these figures constantly change their outlines, and one can, if desired, see more and more new images. That is why this valley has been called the Valley of Ghosts since ancient times.
But unlike other massifs of the Main Crimean Ridge, composed mainly of limestones, the ridges of Demerdzhi, formed by conglomerates of the Jurassic geological period, have been weathering for millions of years, forming bizarre columns, pillars, and original stone statues. As for the legends, the most famous of them tells of a blacksmith who once lived on this mountain. He forged weapons here and was so aggressive and unkind that in his spare time he terrorized, like the Russian occupiers do now, the village located in the valley. Once the blacksmith captured a local girl named Maryna.
The girl tried to escape, but stumbled on a stone, fell, and died. The god of the mountain got angry, and huge boulders broke off from the top, destroying the forge, the blacksmith, and the entire settlement, since the fellow villagers of the kidnapped girl did not stand up to defend her.
But the mountain remembers not only the folkloric blacksmith and his captive. Events closer to us and no less interesting took place here in their time. For example, visiting the path where scenes from the cult comedy by Leonid Gaidai "Kidnapping, Caucasian Style" (Kavkazskaya plennitsa) were filmed brought back many warm memories for many tourists. After all, the "impact" episodes of this cult film were staged in Crimea, precisely in the Valley of Ghosts. Here, for example, "Nikulin's Walnut" caught the eye — perhaps the only one of the numerous trees in Crimea that has its own name, since the famous scene of "Balbes" falling from the tree was filmed here. By the way, the branch was sawed in the appropriate way then, the place of fall was prepared in advance... But the branch broke in a completely different place, and Yuri Vladimirovich broke his arm during the fall. And a big break had to be made in the work on the film.
And what was the opportunity worth to take a picture on the stone (for a fee, of course), on which Natalya Varley allegedly danced to "Somewhere in the white world..." (Gde-to na belom svete)?! Interestingly, this stone is not so small. The block has the shape of a regular parallelepiped, and its height is quite large. Therefore, a metal ladder was carefully placed against the stone. However, as it turns out, local tour guides are now openly fooling gullible visitors. After all, in fact, this stone has nothing to do with "Kidnapping, Caucasian Style."
In the film, it is clear that Natalya Varley makes a light jump onto a stone, the height of which is no more than 50 cm from the ground, and she dances at Shurik's waist level. So the migrant guides shamelessly pass off the mentioned block as "that very" stone, even though it is two meters high! In fact, Varley's real stone is located about 100 meters northeast of the "Nikulin walnut" among huge fragments of conglomerate and is a flat block about half a meter high.
However, the ultimate goal of visiting the legendary valley is still the top of Mount Demerdzhi. Being on it, one can see that the outlines of the Valley of Ghosts change constantly depending on the position of the sun. In addition, incredible views of Alushta, the neighboring Chatyr-Dag mountain range, and in good weather even Cape Meganom, which juts deep into the Black Sea, open up from here.