Golden Gate of Koktebel. Golden Gate of Crimea: description of the attraction Golden Gate how to get there

Writes aquatek-filips: Today’s story is about one of the three visual symbols of Crimea - the Golden Gate rock. Along with the Swallow's Nest and Bear Mountain, this rock can most often be found in various souvenir photographs, postcards, magnets in Crimea, as well as in articles and on the covers of magazines telling about Crimea.

One of the favorite places for tourists is a natural object created by an ancient volcano, and then “modified” by sea waves and wind. In ancient times, the rock was called by a completely different name - the Devil's Gate (or Sheitan-kapu), and it was believed that here was the entrance to the Underworld.

Why are the gates golden? Firstly, at dawn they really look golden. Although not everyone can see the sunrise from the right point, because the rock is located on the territory of the reserve and access to the wild beach at the foot of the Lion's Dyke is prohibited and is guarded by the rangers of the reserve.
But the rock becomes “golden” again during the day - at about 13-14 hours. At this time in the summer, the sun is in such a position that the falling rays change the color of the rock to close to gold. She is beautiful even at sunset.

Why is this happening? The fact is that the rock is completely covered with yellow lichens, which play in the sunlight.

The most famous rock of Crimea is located in the east of the peninsula, at the foot of the ancient extinct volcano Karadag.
Volcanic activity many millions of years ago created many incredible formations in this place. One of these formations is the Golden Gate.

The Golden Gate, Lion's Dyke and Devil's Fireplace Gorge are traces of the activity of an ancient volcano.

Minutes when the rock has a golden color.

Dawn at the Golden Gate. Of course, the most famous shots are when you manage to shoot the sun directly in the opening of a rock, but this is only possible a few days a year...

The Golden Gate Rock is a local landmark of Koktebel, a small resort town in the east of Crimea. Every year many vacationers come here and spend their holidays here, but few of them know about the Golden Gate, or rather, about the history of this place, what legends exist and much more. Well, we need to fix this.

Description and where it is located

As mentioned above, the Golden Gate is located in Crimea, in Koktebel, not far from the Kara-Dag mountain range. Some tourists who first arrived in Crimea often think that this is some kind of historical and architectural structure, like the Arc de Triomphe or something similar, because the name is quite appropriate, but no. The object is of completely natural origin. Once it was a solid rock, but over the centuries winds and waves have made a through hole in it, thereby turning it into an arch under which boats and just vacationers sail.

The Golden Gate rock in Koktebel is about 15 meters high and 6 meters wide, and it received the prefix “golden” because of its natural material - yellow balsamite, which shines slightly in very bright sunshine.

How to get there

In order to get to the Golden Gate rock in Koktebel, you must first get into the city itself. This can be done in only two ways: by personal car or by regular bus. Now in more detail about each of them.

Personal transport

Mostly either Crimeans from other settlements or tourists from the Kerch region travel by private transport.

So, to get to Koktebel from Kerch, you need to take the E97 road, also known as M17. It's easy to do. From the crossing you should head straight to the intersection with the intersection of the street. Kirov. Then you will need to turn onto the street. Marshal Eremenko, and from there go to the street. Gorky and then onto the M17 highway, which will lead to Koktebel itself. The total travel time will be approximately 1 hour 45 minutes or slightly less.

As for the road from other places, for example from Simferopol, you can get here by following the P23 road. This will take no more than 2, and maybe less, hours.

Bus

Another equally effective way to get to Koktebel is by bus. From Simferopol, departures go regularly, the only thing is that when the tourist season is nearing the end, the number of flights drops significantly, but you can always get to Feodosia, and from there to Koktebel. Of course, it’s not very convenient, but still.

If we talk about the trip from Kerch, then the situation here is a little worse. Of the direct flights to Koktebel, only 1 bus goes, and then at 9:30 in the morning. In all other cases, you will have to travel with a transfer in Feodosia, which, again, is extremely inconvenient.

That, in fact, is all that concerns the trip to Koktebel. Next on the course is the Golden Gate.

Road to the Golden Gate

Now, after arriving at the place, it’s time to tell you how to get to the Golden Gate in Koktebel. The attraction is located on the territory of the Karadag Nature Reserve. There are several ways to get there:

on foot;
as part of an excursion;
by car.

Looking ahead, I would like to note the following fact - although there are several options, they will all ultimately come down to one.

On foot or by car

To get from Koktebel to the Golden Gate, you will need to walk no less - a little more than 6 km. Of course, the journey can be significantly shortened if you use the services of a minibus or regular taxi, which will take you to the entrance to the Karadag Nature Reserve. There you will need to buy an entrance ticket, which costs 300 rubles, and join one of the tourist groups.

Yes, unfortunately, you won’t be able to enter the territory on your own, only as part of a walking tour, but more on that below.

If we talk about how to get to the Golden Gate in Koktebel by car, then everything is absolutely the same as in the previous version. The only thing that can be done is to get to the entrance, where you can then purchase a ticket to visit the reserve. Entry by personal vehicle is strictly prohibited.

Walking excursions

So, after you have purchased an entrance ticket to the reserve, you will need to join any tourist group. There are always people here, so there will definitely be no problems with waiting time. By the way, the entire walking route is approximately 7 km or a little more, and also requires little physical training, since there are both descents and ascents. Everything is further complicated by the fact that in the summer it is very hot here, even in the early hours. It is recommended to take enough water with you.

On the way, you can admire the beautiful landscapes and a gorgeous view of the Kara-Dag rocks, while listening to the guide’s stories about these places. Honestly, one of the most important disadvantages of any excursion is the limited scope of everything, that is, you only need to move strictly along the route in order to fit within the allotted time frame. Fortunately, during rest stops and small stops you can wander around the surrounding area on your own. Well, okay, not about that now.

The excursion itself is very exciting, and in one such “call” you can completely fill your travel album. The places here are very beautiful, and from some points downright magnificent.

After about half the route, a small parking lot is organized, just in a place where there is a view of the sea and the very Golden Gate. At first it may seem that it is impossible to go down to them, but once you take a good look, the paved path will immediately catch your eye.

The descent is quite normal and does not cause any difficulties. Naturally, you should not talk about your intention to go down, because this is prohibited as part of the excursion.

In general, the main goal has been achieved. The further journey is also quite interesting and allows you to take many more gorgeous pictures, but you need to move on.

Sea excursion

A boat trip is one of the most popular excursions by sea to the Golden Gate in Koktebel. This trip usually lasts 1 hour 30 minutes - 2 hours, it all depends on the place of departure. The ticket is not too expensive - 600 rubles, but depending on many details, such as the size of the ship, its class, etc., the price can vary up to 1200 rubles. and higher.

The route starts either from the pier in Koktebel or from the nearest town of Kurortnoye. As you progress, the guide talks about the history of these places and introduces some of the sights that are clearly visible from the sea. Here, for example, is one of these - the rock or Shaitan Barmak.

During a walk it does not look as impressive as from the sea. By the way, when you pass near this place, equipment (phones or cameras) may malfunction! You can also see the Parus rock, the Roaring grotto, the Mayak rock and the Zmeiny waterfall.

The culmination will be the Golden Gate arch, under which a boat will sail. At this moment, people usually make a wish and throw a coin so that it hits the rock and falls into the sea. Unfortunately, not all excursion boats pass under the arch, so this issue needs to be clarified in advance. After the Golden Gate, tourists are given some time (10-15 minutes) to swim in the sea, after which the boat turns around and goes back.

This is where the sea excursion ends.

Legend

Well, in conclusion, I would like to tell you the legend of the Golden Gate in Koktebel. Crimea, in general, is famous for its legends about various places, so this attraction was no exception. The legend is connected, naturally, with the other world.

Initially, the rock was called Shaitan-Kapu, which can be translated as “devil’s gate” or “devil’s gate.” Legend has it that one day a fisherman was returning home in his boat, but a storm arose and threw him ashore, and the ship shattered into pieces when it hit the rocks. Then the fisherman had no choice but to make a deal with the devil himself.

The condition was simple - to swim under that very arch. The fisherman agreed and immediately did it, as a result of which he immediately lost 20 years of his life. From that very moment, local residents tried not to approach the gate, so as not to bring misfortune upon themselves.

And that's all. Happy travels!

This is Koktebel’s business card. The Golden Gate is a huge rock, standing alone in the middle of the sea, not very far from the Kara-Dag rock massif.

The rock has several features. First: this is the possibility of passing through it. The rock resembles a pointed arch. And a large pleasure boat can easily pass under this arch.

The second feature of the Golden Gate is its color.

At the beginning of summer, the golden glow of the rock is caused by lichen growing on the stones. It blooms yellow and the rock looks golden. But the name becomes much clearer if you look at the rock from the setting sun - it suddenly explodes with a golden glow in the middle of the thick blue. Look at the photo below - isn't it golden?

It is not surprising that the image of the Golden Rock is on a variety of souvenirs, on cups, mugs, on coasters, on ashtrays in bars and restaurants.

In general, I’ll be honest: you can visit Koktebel only for the sake of Kara-Dag and travel to it and along it.

Boats with tourists leave for Kara-Dag literally every hour. Tickets are available from numerous distributors.

It’s good if you come across a good guide: not just smart and knowledgeable, but in love with Kara-Dag. Of course, talking about the same thing every two hours and so on for many days is tiring. And yet, there is a difference between guides and guides.

The boat departs from the pier. The sea, further from the shore, is mesmerizing: the depth literally breathes from under the mass of water, you feel something unusually huge, while peacefully dormant, but can be formidable and merciless. A few minutes of travel - and now the boat is approaching the overhanging formidable rocks. Here the guide will certainly point out one huge rock - from the side it resembles the profile of a person. Everyone claims that this is Voloshin’s profile. The rock is called Voloshina. Well, let another legend live.
Individual rocks stand near the water - they are huge, the size of a house, and bizarre. Each of these got its own name. Everything here has a name: every cove, every grotto.

Kara-Dag from the sea is part of the crater of the volcano. Maybe some fifth. Several kilometers along the sea seem to be inside this vent. And it’s hard to even imagine what a huge, incredibly huge volcano it was! And what kind of power exploded here, throwing down ash and lava in ancient times. What amazing patterns the fiery element left on the walls of the vent. The rocks hang overhead - sharp, tall. Do you remember the movie "Pirates of the 20th Century"? Well, how can we forget him? So from one of these rocks Eremenko Jr. jumped into the sea. Yes, yes, a lot of films were shot in Koktebel during Soviet times.

Looking ahead, I’ll tell you about one disappointment that awaited us at home. We took a laptop with us, in the evening we downloaded photos from the camera and arranged a viewing, as if summing up the results of the day. So, we returned from this trip and sighed: the photographs could not convey even a tenth of the grandeur of the Kara-Dag rocks. It’s all very simple: you look at the stones, but the eye has nothing to compare their scale with... In general, you need to take this into account when shooting in the mountains. Even for the human eye, mountains are very deceptive with their size and distance, and photography cannot convey the full depth of their greatness.

Golden Gate Rock... A very beautiful sight. And at sea, distances are deceptive. It seems quite small, but then you see a boat approaching it - and this boat next to the rock suddenly turns out to be very small, it dives into the arch of the rock, comes out on the other side... Now it’s our turn. The noise stops. It felt like it wasn’t us approaching the rock—it was the rock that suddenly began to grow out of the water and move towards us. It's even creepy.

Everyone takes out coins. This is another Koktebel myth - while the boat is passing through the rock, you need to throw a coin so that it hits the rock, rings and falls into the water. It is important to hear exactly how your coin rings... If you make a wish at this time, it will come true. The boat operates at very low speeds, almost inaudibly.

We leave the cliff, shocked and timid. The guide winks with the air of a conspirator:

– There is one secret: your wish will 100% come true if you dive and get your coin back.

The depth of the Golden Rock is about a hundred meters. It probably decreases by a meter over the course of a year - so many coins fly here. They say, and this is less like a myth, that two guys with scuba gear wanted to profit from these human donations to the god of the sea - they began to dive under the Golden Rock. Both died.

And now - Cimmerian bathing!

There is further into the sea, opposite the Golden Rock, an amazing place. The water there is special. Even in cold weather it is warmer than anywhere else. The ancient Greeks knew this place and came here. This is where Cimmerian bathing came from - swimming in the open sea.

The boat stops at a place known only to the captain. Those who wish to wear life jackets. But most people jump into the water just like that - right from the side of the boat.

The water is an extraordinary blue. Transparent, you can see how it darkens in the depths, saturated with violet. The water beckons, calls with some ancient call, and something long forgotten, ancient, dormant in the genes suddenly comes to life in the soul. We all came out of the water...

And I jump.

To be honest, this was the first time I experienced such a feeling. It was an emotional and physical explosion. In terms of strength and color, the feeling most resembled (don’t laugh!) an orgasm. This is true. And I saw dozens of eyes in which the same delight was read.

I'm not a very good swimmer. But there was not a drop of fear here, the water seemed to support you with the soft shocks of the waves...

Then we swam to the reserve station - after all, Kara-Dag is a nature reserve. A group gathered there, and now we are heading back - along Kara-Dag itself, now we look down as we looked up, now we see other boats carrying tourists. We see the Golden Rock - it splashes with gold, reflecting the rays of the setting sun, and everyone is in a hurry to photograph this spectacle.

The path is difficult, dangerous, but strange: no one complains, even a six-year-old girl stubbornly climbs the mountain path. The guide is cheerful, manages to tell a lot of stories about Kara-Dag, about stones, cliffs, about the robbery of Kara-Dag during the war - one mountain was literally taken from here - the clay shales were used in industry. And the whole mountain was made of these shales. As, by the way, is Cape Chameleon.

7 kilometers of journey. First there is a climb, a path along the top. Devil's Finger Rock. Cliffs. Rocks hanging overhead...

We go down tired, but damn happy. In this part of the bay there are boarding houses, cafes, restaurants, a diving club...

We sit down at a table on the cafe terrace. They bring us coffee and drinks. I light a cigarette with extraordinary pleasure - smoking is prohibited on Kara-Dag. And rightly so...

And Zhenya examines the stones found on Kara-Dag. We still have these stones - stones from the ancient Kara-Dag volcano. And also cups with the image of the Golden Rock. And a hot stand made of juniper wood with a pattern of this rock. And photographs.

We will definitely visit Koktebel again. For some reason it is very important to see the Golden Rock again. And once again experience a feeling of unity with nature, unattainable anywhere else, by jumping from the high side of the boat into the blue depths of the Black Sea at the Golden Rock...

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Today's story is about one of the three visual symbols of Crimea - the Golden Gate rock.
Along with Swallow's Nest and Bear Mountain, this rock can most often be found in various souvenir photographs, postcards, magnets in Crimea, as well as in articles and on the covers of magazines telling about Crimea.
One of the favorite places for tourists is a natural object created by an ancient volcano, and then “modified” by sea waves and wind.
In ancient times, the rock was called by a completely different name - the Four Gates (or Sheitan-Kapu) and it was believed that here was the entrance to the Underworld...

It was later that the storm and the wind expanded the natural opening to enormous sizes, through which even a small pleasure boat could sail. But first there was a volcano. Just look closely at the structure of the rock.
Remember my recent post about the volcano at Cape Fiolent? Doesn't the rock look like anything?

Why are the gates golden?
First of all, at dawn, they really look golden. Although not everyone can see the sunrise from the right point, because the rock is located on the territory of the reserve and access to the wild beach at the foot of the Lion's Dyke is prohibited and is guarded by the rangers of the reserve.
But the rock becomes “golden” again during the day - at about 13-14 hours. At this time in the summer, the sun is in such a position that the falling rays of the sun change the color of the rock to close to gold. She is beautiful even at sunset.

Why is this happening?
The fact is that the rock is completely covered with yellow lichens, which play in the sunlight.

However, recently its upper part has become more white than yellow. This is due to an increase in the number of the red-listed crested cormorant, which nests in these places. And his droppings increasingly cover the surrounding rocks.
Despite its seemingly small size, the rock is quite massive. Its height is 8 meters and its width is 6. Just two years ago, almost all pleasure boats that carry tourists from Koktebel, Kurortny or Feodosia passed through the opening, and tourists threw coins for luck.
However, since the beginning of the 2012 holiday season, by order of the Ministry of Nature of Ukraine, a ban was introduced on the passage of boats under the Golden Gate, and the entire tourist route along the marine part of the reserve was changed, which now passes at least 100 meters from the coastline.
This measure, in my opinion, is quite justified, taking into account the eco-culture of our tourists and the damage that dozens of ships cause in the summer, invading wild nature.
To the opponents of these innovations, I can only say the following: over these few years, which occurred after the tightening of access to the territory of the reserve (and this also affected the mountain-forest part), the reserve has changed a lot for the better. It became much cleaner, dozens of well-trodden paths were overgrown with grass, I again began to see wild animals on the ecological trail with the naked eye, the number of wild birds increased and this is the only reserve in Crimea where I saw absolutely no garbage (!!!). Neither on the shore, nor in the mountains.

The Golden Gate, Lion's Dyke and Devil's Fireplace Gorge are traces of the activity of an ancient volcano.

Minutes when the rock has a golden color.

Dawn at the Golden Gate. Of course, the most famous shots are when it is possible to shoot the sun directly in the opening of a rock, but this is only possible a few days a year...
Who knows, maybe one day you will see this shot in my magazine...

P.S. The filming was carried out with official permission from the Karadag Nature Reserve from a service boat.