Tskaltubo: a spa town where time stood still
People once came here from all over the Soviet Union to be treated. Today the huge sanatoriums are quiet and cows graze in the park.
We came to Tskaltubo without a plan: we simply wanted to wander around a town we had heard a lot about. The first thing that strikes you is the scale. Wide avenues, colonnades, staircases and enormous sanatorium buildings put up with thousands of guests in mind.
Many of the buildings have been empty for years. Greenery pushes through the windows, grass grows on the stairs, and in the halls where treatments were once given only round bathtubs and flaking paint remain. This is not a film set. It is all real, so be careful: in some buildings the floors and ceilings look unreliable. It is better not to go inside and to look from outside or through the openings.
The contrast is strongest in the park. Next to tidy flower beds there are overgrown paths, and local cows walk calmly across the grass. A fountain by one of the entrances still works, and you can easily spend half an hour looking at the plasterwork and the columns around it.
The best time to visit is when it is warm, the park is green and the light is soft in the morning and toward evening. Wear comfortable shoes: you will walk a lot, and the paving is broken in places. Take water and a small snack: there are few cafés around and they are not always open.
We left feeling that we had visited an open-air museum, only without signs or guides. We would like to return in autumn, when fallen leaves cover the steps.
