Part 9 of the story of the cruise "Go friends to warmer lands" on the ship "Rus Velikaya" to Kazakhstan: the second day in Kazakhstan.
In this post we will visit: Saur canyon, Kent-Baba necropolis and Sultan-Epe underground mosque.
01. 
May 18, 2015 - the second day of excursion on the mysterious Tyub-Karagan Peninsula. In the morning we will have an excursion to the Saura canyon. The path to the canyon takes only 52 km along the asphalt, 10 km along the country road and 750 meters on foot along the canyon itself. This distance is only one way.
In the photo: the arch at the entrance to the city of Fort-Shevchenko and the route Aktau-Fort-Shevchenko. For it, we need to go 52 kilometers.
02. 
Turn off the road and 10 km of dust here along such a country road. The evil dust somehow managed to get into the salon of our sightseeing bus and fell asleep a little.
03. 
Have arrived. We stand and look at the top of Saur's canyon.
04. 
The canyon goes directly to the coast of the Caspian Sea.
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And at the very beginning there is a fresh lake, to which we now walk along the bottom of the canyon.
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Ecology does not violate!
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The sea and beckons :)
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Let's hit the road!
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In comparison with the surrounding desert nature, the canyon has its own special microclimate with rich vegetation and drinking water.
10. 
Here I manage to photograph a real camel thorn. It is now clear why the camels are so sad :)
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The rocks are so hanging over the edge of the canyon, threatening to crash down at any moment.
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Until the rock collapsed, one must take a picture with her. They like tourists to be photographed next to the sights.
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We go along the bottom of the canyon.
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And here is the fresh lake in the very beginning of the canyon.
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Live here are listed in the Red Book water-marsh turtles.
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Turtles know how to swim in every way.
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Even on the back.
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In the lake there are frogs. Local historians, tell me. What kind of frog? Ozernaya?
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It is interesting, of course. Around the steppe, not far from the salt sea. And here is a fresh lake.
23. 
Photo of fresh lake in Saur canyon without tourists.
24. 
It's time to get out of the canyon. Now we will go to the shore of the Caspian Sea.
25. 
Our excursion all-terrain vehicle :)
26. 
You could walk to the sea for yourself, but why? We also have a bus. On it we drove from the canyon less than a kilometer and came to the sandy coast.
27. 
The coast of the Caspian Sea Tyub-Karagan Peninsula.
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The weather is quite warm, I want to plunge into the sea (some tourists did so).
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I was already starting to take off my sneakers,
30. 
but noticed someone in the water. Go to the sea, which scurry unknown snakes, somehow didn't want to :)
31. 
This is now, having read on the Internet that it is harmless dropsy, I am calm. But then the snakes were everywhere and not only in the water. To find out from their own experience whether they were poisonous or not, I somehow did not want to.
32. 
I walk along the shore. Then here and there I notice another terrible snake and take pictures of it.
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The beach here is sandy, but in one place lay some pink algae thrown ashore.
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Caspian Sea.
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There is also a fishing village.
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But only now it is empty. During the epidemic, people left him and no longer want to return here.
42. 
We return to the base - on the ship "Rus Velikaya" to the port "Bautino", tk. It's time to have lunch. On the way back I pop out of the bus window and take pictures of the neighborhood.
43. 
At the entrance to Fort-Shevchenko, near the road there are cemeteries. Yesterday we already got acquainted with the types of Muslim gravestones, here is the same.
44. 
Familiar to us are the turtles and cumbestham.
45. 
Camels (males) hang out by the road. Probably, they are planning something.
46. 
During the rutting, a red ribbon is tied around the neck with a camel. It is not necessary to approach such a camel, it is dangerous. It can easily fall on you and start skating. Few things will remain after the 700-kilogram skating rink. It is better to stay away from such exotics.
47. 
The Kazakh refueling.
48. 
And this is very near the village of Bautino. There is a salt lake here, but we never got there.
49. 
Immediately after dinner we go to see the next sights. 55 km along such a road, and then another 5 km just along the steppe.
50. 
The herd of horses in the Kazakh steppe.
51. 
Necropolis of Ush-Tam (three houses) - a complex of three mausoleums. Can you imagine?! Here in this steppe, right along the grass, we drove the remaining 5 kilometers.
52. 
Kent-Baba Necropolis is the holy city of dead people.
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The territory of the necropolis has accumulated a large event density, on its territory in ancient times massive open-air services were held in honor of religious holidays and rituals; Ritual actions were carried out, connected with the sending of the souls of the dead nomads. The nomadic tribes who crossed this place stopped here to rest and pray on the road between the nomadic.
54. 
In Kent-Baba the main shrines are the three mausoleums.
The central mausoleum is the oldest, erected on the grave of the saint. This is evidenced by a pole installed inside the mausoleum and surrounded by stones and anthem horns. Many people say that here lies the elder brother of Sultan-Epe, who was a novice of Yassaui. Sultan-Epe, as a teacher and holy man, was very revered, therefore all his family is considered blessed and the burial place of the elder brother is also highly revered. The mausoleum does not have a roof, instead of a roof, a wall of a burial in width in 50 sm.
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Mausoleum to the left of the central.
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Mausoleum to the right of the central.
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Near the necropolis in the past there was a city settlement. And now in the territory of Kent-Baba there are about 130 memorial monuments of the X-XII centuries.
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After a little more, we stop at a unique monument of antiquity of the 9th-12th centuries. - Sultan-Epe. It is not a city of the dead, i.e. Not the burial place of people. Although there are single graves in the neighborhood, but they are not indicative. There is no burial place here and the Sufi Sultan-Epe itself.
64. 
According to legend, Sultan-Epe was the patron of waters. It is believed that here you can be healed of many diseases. Healing gift of St. Sultan-Epe attracts pilgrims here.
65. 
Almost at the slope of the gorge there is a large burial. It is a rounded stone fence, inside which is a stone mound. In the embankment seven steep poles were stuck, twined with white scraps. Since ancient times, the pole symbolizes a tree that connects the world of the dead, the world of the living and the eternal sky. Pieces of matter - a kind of "request" to the saint about intercession. Seven poles symbolize also masts. The fact is that Sultan-Epe for Muslims of Mangyshlak is considered the patron saint of seafarers and travelers. People come here and donate the horns of arhars to the spirits or tie a strip of cloth to the pole, money that the needy can take, asking permission from the saint. For this, money is left to be used for good.
66. 
The curiosity of Sultan-Epe-say neighborhoods is a green gorge with steep cliffs, overgrown with fragrant hawthorn, bushes with white small flowers.
67. 
To the sea (up to the Sarytash Bay) it is four kilometers from here.
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I'm trying to take a picture of the bottom of the canyon, coming straight to the precipice.
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Vadim just caught me doing this :)
71. 
Nearby, just by the cliff, there is an old well eight meters deep from cold to dental water, but tasty and transparent. It is said that the Spirit of Water dwells in this well. Maybe the people come up with it, however, with water everywhere in the Sultan-Epe-sai the water was always abundant.
72. 
What bizarre patterns blurs the water in the rock.
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A little aside from the canyon is the Sultan-Epe mosque. There she is in the photo. Top right.
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The mosque consists of three rooms with stone supports and light apertures, and also from small cells.
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Top of the light wells are visible from above.
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Before the entrance to the Sultan-Epe Mosque we take off our shoes.
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The photos turned out quite bright and everything is visible. But in fact in the aisles of the mosque there is no light, and you have to move around in pitch darkness.
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Well, that all guessed to turn on the backlight on mobile phones. The outlines of tourists were noticeable :)
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If you ever get to the Sultan-Epe mosque, then be sure to take a flashlight with you.
81. 
Light well. Bottom view.
82. 
A few more pictures of the interior of the Sultan-Epe mosque.
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Already in the evening we returned back to the ship. So we did not have time to walk around the local shops and buy Simka to go online.
86. 
Dined, passed the border control (again quickly). And that's all. The ship will depart from the berth only tomorrow early in the morning, but for now sit on the boat and do not go out anywhere, because All the tourists already seem to have left Kazakhstan :)
87. 
Late in the evening I went to walk along the deck of the ship. It's an amazing thing. The decks are desolate! All the tourists for two days so skated on a variety of excursions that immediately after dinner dispersed in their cabins.
88. 
Nothing! Tomorrow we have a whole day to rest. The day will be running.
89. 
After a little photographing the night deserted decks of the ship and the night landing of the Kazakh port of Bautino, I go to sleep.
90. 
Tomorrow we will go back to Russia.
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