Kislovodsk is a spa town in the northern Caucasus foothills, among the old resorts known as the Caucasian Mineral Waters, and it carries an air of nineteenth-century elegance. About a hundred and thirty thousand people live here, in a valley sheltered by hills, and the town is famous for its clean air, its mild climate and its mineral springs. The name means sour water, from the fizzy, iron-rich spring called Narzan, which Caucasian highlanders called the drink of the giants.
The town began as a Russian fortress in 1803, and soon the aristocracy caught on to the healing waters. Pushkin visited the region, and Mikhail Lermontov set parts of A Hero of Our Time in the Caucasian spa towns, with scenes of duels and romances beside the springs. The Narzan Gallery, a grand colonnaded hall where visitors sip the water, is a gracious place to see how it was done.
The great attraction is the Kurortny Park, one of the largest city parks in Europe, a huge area of woodland, rock gardens and walking paths climbing the hillsides above the town. Doctors prescribed measured walks along its marked trails as a treatment, and the idea of the health walk, or terrenkur, is still part of the culture. The air is fresh and cool among the pines, and you can reach viewpoints and old pavilions by well-kept paths.
To the south, the high Caucasus rise. On a clear day, the twin summit of Mount Elbrus, at 5,642 metres the highest peak in Europe, is visible in the distance, white against the sky. The road toward the Dzhily-Su valley climbs into the mountains, passing through rolling green pastures and then into rocky terrain with mineral springs and waterfalls. The Bermamyt plateau, a high meadow with views over the whole range, is reached by a rough road.
The surfaces in the hills vary, with some smooth asphalt, rough patches and gravel on the plateau routes, and the weather changes quickly, with fog and thunderstorms in summer. Cattle roam across the roads, and in the villages there are dogs and sheep.
Kislovodsk has fuel stations, shops and many cafés and restaurants, and the local food includes shashlik, flatbreads with cheese and the sweet pastries of the Caucasus. Summer is warm and pleasant, autumn is golden, and winter brings snow to the hills.