Hi all! Today I will talk about a classic Abkhaz excursion, namely a trip to Lake Ritsa. If you haven’t seen Ritsa, then you haven’t been to Abkhazia.
Perhaps I should immediately reveal all my cards and tell you that this is not my first time in Abkhazia. About 7-8 years ago, two years in a row, we quite consciously chose “light” abroad instead of the cramped beaches of the Black Sea coast of Russia. Then Abkhazia simply enchanted and captivated me.
We went to Lake Ritsa in 2006 first. This year I acted as a guide, because one way or another I knew the most interesting points of the route. Of course, you can always choose a standard excursion and not bother too much. But we are not looking for easy ways, besides, we were in Abkhazia.
Especially for independent travelers, I have outlined a rough map of the main attractions. If you think that a trip to Ritsu is limited only to exploring the beautiful mountain lake, then you are deeply mistaken. Feel free to budget a whole day for the trip.
All points on the map are shown schematically, just so as not to miss various points of interest. I don’t see any point in leaving exact coordinates, because in Abkhazia there is a rule - if you see a crowd of people, then you should stop and look around. There's definitely something here!
Waypoints:
Green - "Maiden's Tears" waterfall
Brown - Blue Lake
Blue - Confluence of the Bzyb and Yupshara rivers
Blue - Gegsky waterfall
Yellow – Yupshar Canyon
Gray - waterfall "Men's Tears"
Orange - Lake Ritsa
Krasnaya – Milk waterfall
Violet – Bird Falls
And one more map, but closer to Ritsinsky Park.
There is only one road to Ritsa, so it’s difficult to miss. It doesn’t matter where you’re coming from, from Gagra or New Athos - you get to the big junction of the E97 highway (on Google maps) and rush into the mountains.
The mountain kingdom begins almost immediately. The road offers breathtaking views of the Caucasus Mountains; on the right we will constantly be accompanied by the mountain river Bzyb, which originates among the snowy slopes of the Main Caucasus. Along the way, here and there there are advertisements about the possibility of rafting down the river. This is where the adrenaline and extreme are. Of course, it cannot be compared with quiet and smooth. By the way, for those who are quite tired of the sea (and there are such people!) I recommend diversifying your vacation and just coming to the shore of Bzybi to cool off a little and swim in the cool water.
First stop - Waterfall "Maiden's Tears". On the left side of the road, a motley rock immediately attracts attention. Upon closer inspection, you can see that these are ribbons that tourists tie as a keepsake, making their simple and not simple wishes. It’s hard to see in the photo - small droplets flow from the mountain, like tears, and fall down, forming a waterfall.
Abkhazia is the Country of the Soul, so my photo report will be incomplete without tales and legends of the local people. This is its own special and slightly reverent part of the culture of the Republic.
“A long time ago, the beautiful Amra lived in these places. She herded goats high in the mountains and sang beautiful songs. And she had a lover - Adgur, who reciprocated her feelings. The evil mermaid became jealous of the lovers and decided to destroy Amra by throwing her off the cliff. The poor girl called Adgur for help, but he was far away and could not help her. But the god of water heard the girl’s cry, came to her aid and turned the mermaid into stone. Amra was petrified along with the mermaid. Since then, in the place where the beautiful Amra cried and called for help, the streams of the “Maiden Tears” waterfall now flow.
The site offers beautiful views of the mountains and the Bzyb River.
And we move on. I did not mark the next point on the route. If you wish, you can stop near the hanging bridge and walk along it. A little further there is another bridge, more extreme and not so pretty.
One more stop before Blue Lake. Well, we couldn’t resist the temptation to go down to the river. Here it is - a popular water tourism route. The color of the water in Bzybi is amazing - milky blue.
I found on the Internet two options for translating the name of the river: “river bank/river gorge” and mad.” Personally, I like the second option better.
We are approaching Blue Lake. This is the second (after Maiden's Tears) tourist stop, so there are apparently no people around the small lake. The lake fully lives up to its name.
A “haze” rises over the lake. It's hot outside and the water is piercingly cold. Not suitable for swimming at all, about +10°C At first glance, it may seem that the water in the lake is cloudy. In fact, it is very deep and the sun's rays do not penetrate to the very bottom. Some sources claim that the depth of the lake is 76 meters. It's hard for me to even imagine such depth. This is neither more nor less than 3 nine-story buildings. Hmm..... The lake is fed by an underground river. An interesting fact is that fish do not live here, aquatic plants do not grow, and plankton does not even live here.
Of course, there is a legend among the people associated with the lake. This is Abkhazia! Let me give you a brief recap: “ A long time ago, a kind old man, a former famous hunter, lived in a cave. People respected him and came to him for advice. One day, strangers came to see him and, coveting the beautiful animal skins, killed the old man. But before they had time to take a single step, a powerful stream of water flooded the cave. Since then the lake has existed, its color reminiscent of the blue eyes of a kind old man.”
All their legends are kind of sad, and one feels melancholy. My personal recommendation is to stop near a lake on the way back. Towards evening there will be fewer tourist people and it will be possible to approach the lake in a calmer atmosphere.
In theory, the next tourist stop is the Yupshar Gorge or “Stone Bag”. However, we quite by chance decided to stop at an old bridge and then such an amazing sight opened up to us - the Yupshara River flows into Bzyb. The water line clearly divides the flows.
It is impossible to observe all this from afar and we go down to the water. Yupshara, somewhere in the mountains, got very dirty J.
Once again I note to myself that traveling by car gives a certain freedom of action. Impressed by the two rivers, we once again stop on the banks of the Bzybi (a little higher from the confluence) and now we observe a slightly fabulous picture - rocks, lush greenery, incredibly colored water and a light “smoke” rising above the river.
Well, we reached the Yupsharsky gorge. It is quite long, about 8 km. The narrowest place is the Yupshar Gate. Two powerful rocks rise high up and very clearly make it clear what kind of insect you really are.
I don’t have any good photos from this trip that can convey the full power of the gorge, so I’ll do a little trick and attach photos from my first trip. Believe me, nothing has changed there.
The Yupshara River makes its way along the bottom of the gorge. Please note that it is blue, and not gray-brown at all.
If you don’t rush headlong and make the right stops, you can capture such a beautiful panorama from the observation deck. Down there is the “Stone Bag”.
If you have planned a trip to Geg waterfall, then it is important not to miss the landmark. As soon as you meet a tunnel on your way, it means only one thing - you are at the beginning of the path to Gega. To the left of the road there are UAZ cars with Abkhaz guys who cost 1,700 rubles. (round trip) they will take you to the Gegsky waterfall. But here, on the contrary, I advise you to first go to the waterfall, and then continue your route to Ritsa. On the way back you can be quite tired and simply lazy. Don’t even think about climbing among the rocks and stones in your own car. Feel free to load into the UAZ, just don’t forget to close your eyes. You will be driven at incredible speed right along the edge of a cliff. And if you are a thrill-seeker, be sure to look down. There, far below, through the gorge, another mountain river with a complex character rushes - the Gega. Beauty!
Just next to the UAZ parking lot, it flows into the Yupshara and we can again observe the confluence of two streams - the dirty brown Yupshara and the sky-blue Gega.
I must admit that this year we did not get to the Geg waterfall. However, I have a great opportunity to travel back 8 years and show the waterfall in all its glory.
To appreciate the size of this natural miracle, it’s probably worth attaching a photo like this. The water flow seems to cut the rock and burst out. In the foreground is me, in the background are small figures of people. The height of the waterfall is about 55 meters. The water is icy even in summer.
It was here, at the Gegsky Falls, that a scene from the film “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson” was filmed, or rather, the fight between Holmes and Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls.
On the way to Ritsu we encounter another waterfall - Men's Tears. Here it is, a stingy man's tear.
The legend of this waterfall takes us back to the beautiful Amra and her beloved Adgur:
“...And Amra’s beloved Adgur, while hunting in the mountains at that time, suddenly felt pain in his heart. He realized that some misfortune was threatening his beloved and that he could not help her... Miserly tears fell on the stone...”
That's it, then only Ritsa! At the entrance to the Ritsinsky Nature Reserve you need to pay an environmental fee or simply buy a ticket for 350 rubles. You can leave your car in the parking lot, although it is located quite far along the right bank of the lake.
A moment... and the calm, greenish surface of the lake opens before us, bordered on all sides by mountain slopes. The peaks of the mountains are hidden in the clouds.
Photos cannot convey the full scale of Ritsa; you need to see it with your own eyes.
The lake is quite young, about three hundred years old. If you ignore the legends and turn to science, then the origin of Ritsa is explained by a huge failure into the karst voids. As a result of the collapse, a huge dam was formed. The depth of the lake is 130 meters. The water is clean, schools of fish hunt near the shore in search of a fishing hook. By the way, there is trout in Ritsa.
If you wish, you can rent a catamaran or boat and sail away from the shore. There are several cafes near the lake where you can dine on barbecue or taste river trout.
It’s too early to go back, so we go in search of the Milk Falls. The road leads us along the right bank of the Ritsa further into the mountains. Asphalt is present purely nominally, in places it is badly broken. This route is mainly used by SUVs that take tourists on excursions to the “Seven Lakes” or to alpine meadows. After a while there will be a fork, a road down and a sign “Stalin's Dacha”. It is this sign that you need to follow to the Milk Falls. But we decided to take another look at Ritsu, only now from an excellent viewing platform. We move on without turning anywhere. As soon as you see the waterfall on the right side, you have arrived. This is Bird Falls. Eight years ago it was possible to get closer to him. This year the waterfall is surrounded by a net and traces of collapse are visible. Apparently unsafe.
Well, this is perhaps the best panorama overlooking the mountain lake.
Our hard worker :)
Now we go back and turn to Stalin’s dacha. Milk Falls got its name for its purely visual effect. The water is highly mineralized, which makes it foam and turn white.
If you wish, you can look at Stalin’s dacha and see how our political leader rested.
I hope my short photo report will be useful for travelers who want to visit Ritsu.
Are you planning a big trip to the Country of Soul? Then I recommend it big
Lake Ritsa is without a doubt one of the most popular attractions of Abkhazia in the bad sense of the word, one might say “pop”. They drag all the tourists there first, and there they try to milk them as much as possible. They will scam you for souvenirs, smuggle who knows what kind of “homemade wine”, extort money for parking, etc. At the same time, the lake itself is, of course, pretty, but nothing more. Nevertheless, there is something to see both on the road to Ritsa and beyond. These are gorges and waterfalls, beautiful views from mountain roads, Stalin's dacha, a small and not so trampled forest lake Malaya Ritsa. Along the same road past Ritsa you can get to other beautiful places in mountainous Abkhazia - the mineral springs of Audhara, Lake Mzy, the Valley of the Seven Lakes, the village of Pskhu.
Our plan was this: having looked at the most interesting places along the way, get to Audhara by lunch, go on foot to Lake Mzy, and then return to Ritsa, leave the car there and go to Malaya Ritsa for the night.
The road to Ritsa goes along the Bzyb River: 
The first point on the route is Blue Lake (Tskhina). It’s very simple, but there are plenty of shopping arcades and a large parking lot nearby. 
We, of course, stood right opposite on the side of the road. The traffic cops immediately came up and began to press our driver. Well, I was tricked into buying a bottle of “house wine,” which turned out to be something like a morsica, albeit a good one. But they let me take a picture in a burka and a hat) 
The next interesting place is the Gegsky waterfall, but we didn’t get there this time. We stopped only in the Yupshar Canyon. 
The place is really breathtaking - the rocks on both sides of the road almost close together: 
And one might even say they hang over your head: 
In some places, water has made gullies in the rocks: 
You can go up to them, supposedly for money, but in the off-season there is no one to extort it: 
And opposite it is the “Men’s Tears” waterfall. Frankly speaking, the most uninteresting in those parts, even despite the cool little car nearby: 
A tree completely covered with thick moss: 
View of the road from the Chobgar cornice: 
Ahead, behind Ritsa, the spurs of the Atsetuka ridge are visible: 
And in the west there is Mount Pshegishkhva, due to the collapse of part of which lakes Ritsa and Malaya Ritsa were formed.
Preface. Both my husband and I, returning from this breathtakingly beautiful trip, were disappointed by the photographs. Maybe this was due to my inability to frame the frame correctly, to find the right point for photographing, or maybe because photography is not able to convey the totality of sensations that you experience while in the mountains. The ears are filled with the sounds of nature - the creaking of centuries-old trees, the noise of a stormy mountain river; the eyes sometimes cannot believe what they see - the mountains are so beautiful and we are insignificant compared to them; At the same time, you inhale air filled to the brim with oxygen and the smell of fresh water, snow, fallen leaves, moisture...
But what happened was what happened. I hope you will enjoy.
1. Starting point. Hotel "Alex" in Gagra. Nice rooms, outdoor pool. The sauna and indoor small pool are very popular among local horsemen. Apparently there are no alternatives.
The downside is that the indoor pool smells of smoke and beer (although this can be attributed to my overly sensitive sense of smell :))
3. First stop on the way to the lake. On the opposite bank of the Bzyb there are wild horses. Zhenya says that after the war they divorced here in countless numbers.
4. It seems that they noticed me, despite the noise of the river :) While I was running after the TV, two of them galloped away.
PS. The color of the river is natural.
6. Much in Abkhazia can be called abandoned. Abandoned houses (there were a lot of them along the way), bridges that had not been used for a long time, hidden from human eyes behind dense thickets of bushes and trees.
7. Everything is covered with mold and gives the feeling of a catastrophe that happened a long time ago.
9. Stop. It seems that they sometimes use it, judging by the garbage bag carefully placed in the trash can.
10. Trees... You can look at them endlessly - huge, having lost their leaves, covered with ever-green moss, they sleep, waiting for spring.
11. There are also quite functional bridges.
A billboard near the road offers not only shooting from the bridge at living moving targets, but also crossing the river on a bungee.
It is not clear whether it is necessary to shoot at those who decided to try the bungee, or whether there is a specially trained “target” for these purposes.
12. These are either “girlish tears” or “manly tears”. There are two waterfalls, but I only photographed one. And I don’t remember which one :)
13. Blue Lake. I think there is no need to explain the name :)
14. No comments. As long as there are people taking pictures with exhausted and wounded wild animals and birds, this business will flourish. And the animals die.
17. The road to the lake becomes very narrow in places, almost single-lane. On one side of the road there is a towering mountain, on the other side there is a terrifying cliff with its depth.
18. First snow! (for us - the first)))
19. It took a lot of effort for us to persuade Nina to go further:)
20. A typical tourist photo. The goal is to capture yourself against the backdrop of the beauty of nature.
22. Observation deck, popularly nicknamed “Farewell, Motherland!”
I don't know exactly why. Maybe because there is a deep cliff underneath it. Or maybe not..
23. View from the observation deck on the right:
24. And if you look to the left, then far, far below you will see the road along which we were driving. You see whooooo there in the lower right corner:
25. Lake Ritsa.
In sunny weather, the photos would, of course, have turned out better... But there were almost no tourists - this is very pleasing:)
From Wikipedia:
Located at an altitude of 950 m above sea level in the Bzyb River basin, in the deeply forested gorge of the Lashpsa and Yupshara rivers, east of the Gagra ridge. The mountains surrounding the lake have a height of 2200-3200 meters. Area - 1.27 km², length - 2.5 km, width - from 270 to 870 meters. The average depth is 63 m, the greatest is 131 m.
26. And the lake was formed about 250 years ago. Very young.
27. Finally snow! A lot of snow!
28. I got it too :)
29. The most popular mountain transport. The older the year of manufacture, the more deafening the engine roars.
30. We climbed a small hill near the lake, where the heartbreaking sounds of pop music could not be heard.
The menus in the cafes are the same and lack variety.
The food is harsh, as is life.
Mamalyga (porridge made from corn flour with cheese), freshly caught trout cooked over a fire (delicious!!!), akud (a bean dish - I love it), strong tea with lemon and “mountain” (homemade, hard and salty) cheese.
31. Near the cafe in the snow, Zhenya saw a shell casing.
From AK (spelled correctly?), as a local boy said. He said that we could negotiate with the owner of the cafe and shoot.
Yes, little is changing in Abkhazia.
32. On the way back. The lower we went, the harder it rained.
Car tunnels, of course, are not illuminated. But the longest ones, as a rule, are those with cut holes through which the sun's rays enter. Or they don’t get there if the weather is cloudy :)
33. Ahead is the so-called “stone bag” - the road is sandwiched on both sides by the foothills of the mountains.
34. “Stone Bag”: the ride is both interesting and creepy.
35. Having gone down, in the downpour, we still looked at the ruins of the Bzyb temple of the 10th century. Cows grazed there, slowly crushing blooming daisies and dandelions with their hooves.
But that's another story - I'll show it in the next post.
I would like to hope that we will still see snow this winter...
Due to the Soviet past, we wanted authentic adventures. Sitting comfortably in front of the tablet and studying the trip plan, we realized that we had no options left at all. Fate itself beckoned to Lake Ritsa. We got ready in less than fifteen minutes. A week before my trip to Abkhazia, I shoveled through gigabytes of various rubbish, looking for reliable information about the lake. There are many different beard stories online. One weirdo even wrote that in June it can be very cold there and it would be better to take winter clothes with you.
Road to Lake Ritsa. Be extremely careful while driving. The road will not forgive a single mistake.
I’ll say right away that winter clothes were not useful to us. The heat was so hot that you could even wring out your T-shirt! But first we had to conquer the road to Lake Ritsa. Today I will not write a banter post. Everything will be serious. When you are driving along the shore and enjoying the dynamic picture outside the window, you can relax your buns a little and absorb future memories into your subcortex, but when you turn into the mountains, you need to immediately switch the toggle switch to the “Maximum Attention” position. The road to Lake Ritsa will not forgive you even a single small mistake.
At first, everything looks friendly: the holes are small, the roadside is rocky and safe, really lush vegetation and a mountain river with blue water. They say there are trout in it. But when you approach the barrier and pay three hundred and fifty rubles per person to enter the national park, even the guards themselves will warn you and remind you of the position of the toggle switch. Once again - “Maximum Attention”. The higher you go into the mountains, the larger the holes become, the sharper the turns, and inside the mountain tunnels the light at the end is not immediately visible. By the way, all these misunderstandings do not prevent local horsemen from driving in the oncoming traffic at excessive speed. They really don't care about their safety. It looks like yours doesn't care either.
Road to Lake Ritsa. The water in the mountain river is really blue. It is home to trout.
The curious head turns itself while moving, because the views are simply mesmerizing. In some places you can see Switzerland, and in some places you can even see Thailand. I have already seen similar rocky surfaces in Krabi province. The narrow road to Lake Ritsa is divided into two rows - one in each direction. Overtaking is extremely dangerous. Taking a thoughtless and unjustified risk with the prospect of gaining a few minutes can be costly. In some places along the side of the road there are stone barriers covered with moss. Running into such a bumper is not the best prospect. There is no need to drive there and there is nowhere to go. Lake Ritsa will not run away from you, even if you arrive at the place three minutes later. The road to Lake Ritsa is dangerous precisely because of its beauty. If you turn your head incorrectly, at least material damage is guaranteed. It is much more pleasant to maintain a speed of no more than sixty kilometers, moving from waterfall to waterfall. Even in this mode, you will reach Lake Ritsa in three hours. And look at everything along the way.
The road to Ritsa is beautiful in itself, regardless of the presence of a lake at the end. It passes through a picturesque gorge along mountain rivers, and the landscapes encountered along the way forced us to stop many times for photographs. The road was built in 1936, otherwise we would have had to get to Ritsa along goat paths and shepherd crossings. Now the importance of this route for Abkhazia is difficult to overestimate - during the season tourists are taken to the lake in droves. And this is justified - there is something to look at, there is something to look up and there is someone to give unnecessary money to.
The first part of the path runs along the very pretty Bzyb River, through which there are many bridges and footbridges. This is the largest bridge. The photo was taken from the Bzyb fortress temple, where we are.
But we don't need to cross the bridge. We'll go on this side. Do you see how the mountains meet on the left? Here we go.
Having driven a little towards that very convergence of mountains, we stopped again. What we were unlucky with was the sky. It was cloudy gray, which did not have a good effect on the quality of the photographs.
This is still the same Bzyb River.
Then we stopped at the Maiden's Tears waterfall, ruined by a bunch of ribbons. Well, citizens, if you have an unbearable desire to tie ribbons somewhere, then tie it, for example, to your own ear. Will it be beautiful? Hardly. So why spoil nature?
It's not dripping much here. Really tears.
And again views of Bzyb.
There is also a neat bridge across the river.
A little later another bridge. Decorated like a Christmas tree.
After another 5 minutes I came across this tower, but I don’t know where it came from or why. If you know, please enter me too.
Next stop in 3 minutes. I went out to take pictures of the river.
Of course, I don’t remember how long after we stopped there. I'm just looking at the time of the photos. This one is in 3 more minutes.
A couple of minutes later we saw a bridge. The boards on it have already partially fallen off and there is a good prospect of falling into the river.
When the sky is not visible, the photos turn out normal)
This is the Yupshar Canyon. The gorge is narrower. At its narrowest point its width is only 20 meters. Once these rocks were a single whole, but they were split by an earthquake. To the delight of tourists who can now travel here.
The rocks are high and sometimes falls from them.
And this falls.
To better understand the size of the boulder, I drove my wife onto it. I’m not being cruel, on the other side, someone enterprisingly added steps and hung a sign “50 rubles per photo.” But we don’t know who should send the money.
This is probably the bottleneck.
Another waterfall. Probably someone else's tears too.
The bridge doesn't look very secure. In general, we are already not far from Ritsa.
It looks like there used to be another bridge nearby. But that's all that's left of him.
Well, I'll finish. I’ll tell you about Lake Ritsa itself separately.
