The Chegem Gorge, located in Kabardino-Balkaria, is very unusual. It divides the small republic in half, into Northern and Southern parts. Chegem flows along the bottom of the gorge - a river that gave its name to the gorge and waterfalls.
It's hard to say what is the most beautiful in the gorge. Chegem waterfalls amaze with their unusualness and beautiful views. They do not flow down from the mountains, they break out directly from the rocks. It seems that crystal tears of some mysterious huge creature are flowing down from the stone to the ground. Perhaps that is why the Chegem waterfalls are called weeping.
Each waterfall has its own story, its own legend. A beautiful legend is told about the most powerful of them, which is called "Girl's Braids" ("Adai-Su"). It is said that proud girls with long braids lived in the village above the waterfalls. Once, when the village was attacked, the girls began to jump from the rocks, clinging to the stones with their scythes. They died, but kept their pride. Their braids turned into a thirty-meter waterfall "Adai-Su", their tears - into other Chegem waterfalls. Photos of these cascades of water are usually successful even for a novice photographer: waterfallsbeautiful.
The height of "Abai-Su" is seventy meters, but the water pressure in it is not the same as in "Adai-Su". The waterfalls are surrounded by a pine forest that fills the humid air with the pure scent of pine needles, flowers or melted snow (depending on the season).
I still can't decide when the Chegem waterfalls attract me more: in winter, autumn or summer. In summer it is pleasant to swim there, in autumn the gorge seems golden. In winter, freezing jets of water form fantastic landscapes.
If you go a little further from the waterfalls, you can get to the village of Upper Chegem. The locals call it Eltyubyu. There is a Tower of Love here, which was built by a very real local resident (only he lived a long time ago), about which a very beautiful romantic fairy tale or a true story is now composed.
Eltyubyu is a museum. Not far from the Tower of Love, the Stone of Shame is kept here, there are towers similar to those that helped the Svans defend themselves from enemies.
Even further - the ancient settlement, the ruins of (well preserved) Greek stairs and temples.
Tired travelers can drink real mineral water: not from bottles, but straight from a spring gushing out of the ground. The Gara-Auz Valley provides this opportunity for surprised city dwellers-tourists.
It's hard to list everything that pleases tourists in the Chegem Gorge.
It seems to me that the best here are not historical sights at all, although they are amazingly interesting. For me, the main thing is the feeling of nothingunlimited freedom, the feeling of flight that the Chegem waterfalls give rise to. And I know for sure that I'm not the only one.
Tourists who have visited Chegem enthusiastically describe the intoxicating air of the gorge, a feeling of lightness that embraces both body and soul, a slight romantic excitement. It's hard to convey in owls. It needs to be felt.
As soon as it's time to relax, feel free to take a ticket and go for youth and he alth that the Chegem waterfalls give to everyone who has been there at least once.
