Published via Ecency

Greetings, friends.
Christmas Eve, December 2022.
Dagestan. The village of Chalda. Safar Guest House.

It has been a year since my visit to Dagestan, but I am still under the impression of that trip.
One smart man said that only mountains are better than mountains. I completely agree with his opinion.
I want to tell about a small hotel among the mountains, where we spent 2 nights, and in the afternoon we went to interesting places, mostly gorges and waterfalls. You need to understand the peculiarity of visiting these places in winter.
We arrived at the hotel in complete darkness and did not understand at all where we were and what was around us. In the morning I went out on the terrace and saw a mountain in front of me. It turned out that I was not alone when I went out into the fresh air and a girl was already standing on the terrace. She asked me: "Do you see goats on the mountain?" I even envied her excellent eyesight. I could only see the goats through the scope of the camera.

During our visit to this hotel, construction was underway on its territory. Builders were building new guest houses. I looked at photos of this place on the Internet and saw that in a year it had transformed and become more interesting and well-maintained.
So the builders told us that they look at these wild mountain goats every day. But it was something new and unusual for us.

I went outside the hotel and decided to explore the surroundings. I lowered it onto a dry riverbed. In winter, the water level is low. It turned out that a dam was made upstream and a reservoir is located. In winter, the locks are lowered and therefore there is practically no water in the river.

I noticed an abandoned building and decided to go to it. To do this, I went up to the road that ran along the foot of the mountain and walked along it for about 300-400 meters. I saw the village. To understand my location, I took a photo on my iPhone, looked at the GPS coordinates and saw the name of the village. I must say that I did not have a signal on my phone at the hotel, and standing on the edge of a small cliff, I was even able to access the Internet.

Meanwhile, time passed and the Sun quietly rose up, illuminating the territory more and more. Now not only the tops of the mountains were golden, but gradually the mountains themselves became golden from the rays of the Sun.

The houses on this mountain looked very beautiful and interesting. But I talked to the locals and they said that people leave such places for more convenient places. Many people are trying to move to the plain. Life on the plain is quieter than in the mountains and there is work there, there is an opportunity to earn money.
By the way, this village is considered Avar. I must say that people in Dagestan still have very strong clan ties and many small ethnic groups with their own customs and their own language live on the territory of this republic. Our guide explained to us that 2 neighboring villages may have different languages and residents may not understand each other when talking. For this purpose, there is a literary Dagestan language in the republic. Or else people communicate in Russian.

The hotel was already almost completely illuminated by the sun, but I was still in the shade. But the sun began to illuminate the top of the mountains from the opposite side and I decided to wait for the Sun to rise further. I still had time. Our group's plans included breakfast and a trip to the mountains even higher.

The mountains of Dagestan are layered. I do not know what this breed is called, but it looks very interesting. It was as if thin layers of cake had been superimposed on each other and mountains had formed.

Nicely. I do not know, friends, what you think about this landscape, but I really like the landscape. To be more precise, I liked him that morning. Clean cool mountain air, silence and it seems that you need to stop and take your time.
But it's time to return to the base.

I really liked this hotel. There are very sincere people, simple home cooking and wonderful staff, especially the female manager.
Thank you to these people for their hospitality.