Park "Patriot" & Caspian Monster

Greeting, friends.

Recently, friends, I told you about the Naryn-Kala Fortress, located in Derbent, Republic of Dagestan. And I mentioned the Caspian Monster.
So what kind of monster is this? This is the brainchild of the Cold War - the rocket ship-ekranoplan of the project 903 "Lun".
There is such a saying: "Your energy, but in a peaceful way." At the time of its existence, the USSR directed all its technical, creative and economic potential to its defense, which often resembled the "Sicilian Defense" chess opening.
I will not tell the story of the construction and testing of this rocket ekranoplan on the waters of the Caspian Sea. All this can be found on the Internet. But the nickname "Monster" this ship-plane was not accidental. It is impressive in its size.



According to the plans of the Rulers of the Soviet Union and the then Ministry of Defense, it was necessary to build 5 similar ekranoplanes. But after the construction of the first copy and during its tests, the Soviet Union disappeared from the map of the Earth. Where the real ship "Lun" has gone now, no one will say for sure. It must have been scrapped by enterprising people. But the second monster, which was not completed at the time of the collapse of the USSR, quite by chance remained alive.
In 2020, during the pandemic, someone in Dagestan decided that a Patriot park should be built on the seashore. The place for the park was chosen near Derbent. This monster ekranoplan should become the main exhibit.
But it seems to me that he will be the only exhibit of this "park". I will be glad if I made a mistake and the Park really appears and will delight visitors.
Due to the fact that we were at this place at the end of December, we got into a thick fog. From the plane-ship to the sea is literally 100-150 meters. But it was absolutely not visible. The fog came in waves over us and disappeared in the same way. It was very funny.



Where are we? Where were we taken? What's so interesting here?
These were the thoughts I had in my head when we got off the bus, and there was fog around us and only a small house was visible. But after 5 minutes we saw this handsome guy.

Literally 3-5 minutes have passed, we approach the Monster and a new wave of fog covers us. And ... 5 minutes and the wave of fog goes away.



We wanted to climb on the wing of this ship and look inside. We even asked the person who got out of the monster's cockpit. But he showed us a sign - "It is forbidden to climb."



8 turbine-engines. I looked at this creature and thought - why? Why do people spend their strength and resources to create such monsters. Why do people like to build weapons? What did the monkey think, who was the very first to take a stick in his hand to hit his brother with it?
If all the energy and resources were directed to the creation of peaceful spaceships, but even the space of our rulers is primarily interested in as a military object.









While I walked around the ekranoplane, the fog began to creep in again. It looks like he came at us from the sea. Yes, I realized that the sea is located in that direction.






The Caspian Sea is the largest lake on earth. Because of its large size, it got the name "sea". This sea washes the shores of 5 states: Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Azerbaijan.



We got into a windless period. The sea is calm. Local people said that we were lucky in this regard. Really. We spent 4 days in beautiful sunny windless weather. But we arrived from Moscow to Makhachkala in a big fog and when we left, the fog was still over Makhachkala. And the weather was wonderful in the mountains!






But it seems that the fog is walking just over the park, and there is no fog over the sea!
By the way, yes. When we were circling over the airport and we were not allowed to land, I could see the clear sea below us through the porthole, but the coast was not visible. The fog comes from the mountains!

I want to visit Dagestan and this place in 3 years. I would even like to visit this summer, but the eldest daughter is waiting for a new addition to her family and they will not be able to travel anywhere. And I want to go on a trip with my children.
In the meantime, we are returning to our buses and we went to inspect the fortress, which I have already told you about earlier.

All the photos were taken by me on a Nikon D5300 camera.
Next time I will tell you a little about our festive dinner in the best restaurant in Derbent and about our breakfast in a hotel located 100 meters from the shore of the Caspian Sea. A beautiful place.
And we will go with you friends to the mountains!