Gelendzhik (Геленджи́к), Russia

Gelendzhik, Russia
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gelendzhik_View_of_the_city_IMG_8367_1725.jpg
Author: Alexxx1979


Gelendzhik (Russian: Геленджи́к) is a coastal resort town in southwestern Russia. It is situated on the Gelendzhik Bay of the Black Sea in Krasnodar Krai. The city has a population of 55,000 people (2012 estimate).

Museum of Local Lore, Gelendzhik
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gelendzhik_Museum_of_local_lore_IMG_8768_1725.jpg
Author: Alexxx1979


Gelendzhik has been inhabited for over two thousand years. It is said to be a minor Greek outpost. Although it was not mentioned in any Greek writings, it does appear in Roman chronicles as Pagrae in 64 BC. During the middle ages, Gelendzhik was a seaside village called Maurolaca.

During the Ottoman period, Gelendzhik was a source of slaves of Circassian beauties for the Turkish harems. Russian victory in the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829 brought Russian rule to the area, and an end to the slave trade (although showman P.T. Barnum at late as the 1860s exhibited women whom he claimed were Ciscassian beauties who had escaped the harem for freedom in the United States).

To defend its coastal areas, Russia built a line of forts, one of the first was erected in Gelendzhik in 1831. The fort was destroyed at the outbreak of the Crimean War. The town of Gelendzhik was incorporated in 1915.

Visiting Gelendzhik

Gelendzhik is located between Novorossiysk 31 km to the northwest and Tuapse 93 km to the southeast. You can get there by bus or ferry from Sochi and Novorossiysk.

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