The Cave of Saint David. Travel with "Mysterious Uzbekistan" team. Part four

Beginning there:

Millennial chinars (plane trees) Urgut or mysterious Uzbekistan. Part one.

The Devil Plateau. Travel with the "Mysterious Uzbekistan". Part two

Great Tamerlan's Path and Cave of Neanderthal people. Travel with "Mysterious Uzbekistan" team. Part three

In the morning I got up early and while our group was going to breakfast - a little run through the old mahalla (block) and took a few photos of narrow streets, in which two cars could hardly part.

After breakfast, we went to a place called Hazrati Dovud or the Cave of Saint David - a biblical prophet, which is revered by all three world religions. There are two legends about the origin of this place, sacred for Muslims, Christians and Jews. According to one Arab legend, Allah sent the biblical King David to these lands to preach monotheism. However, local residents did not particularly actively want to become adepts of a new god for them and decided to drive out the preacher. They chased after him with very bloodthirsty goals and Daud (David), fleeing from them, prayed to God. He heard pleading, softened the stone and David was able to dig his way through the rocks and hide in a cave. According to another legend, David was looking for a place where he could hide and prepare for the battle with Goliath. But the evil Iphrites (evil spirits, demons) appear to have been Goliath's promoters and wanted their fighter to win this fight of the century (that's straight as a fight between Floyd Mayweather and Connor McGregor). They brought Goliath on their backs, so that he killed David. David was clearly not ready for such a turn of events and to pray to escape from the furious giant he prayed to God. Well and further on the fulfilled algorithm - rocks were softened and David could dig to itself passage and took refuge in a cave. Anyway, but on the walls of the cave there are grooves, similar to the traces of gigantic fingers. It is believed that if you touch these marks, which are supposedly left from the fingers and knees of David, then all sins will be released and the person will receive a blessing. Perhaps that's why there's just a pandemonium here - thousands of pilgrims come here for blessing. Basically, nothing surprising, except for the place where the cave of St. David - and it is located on the mountainside and get on it, you can scrambling up the stairs on the opposite slope, having overcome a total of almost 1500 steps!

So, we arrived at the foot of the mountain, but the car was blocked by pilgrims and local taxi drivers who, for a additional fee, bring people to the gate or help them down the road. We went on foot.

Entering the territory of the complex, I was surprised at how much he was well-groomed and landscaped. At the foot of the mountain, where the cave is located, there are cafes, rest areas and canteens, where you can grab a bite from the road, relax and refresh yourself. But we were not up to this - there was time to spare - it was still time to leave for Tashkent after lunch.

So we immediately rushed to the top of the stairs.

At the beginning of the ladder, the guys with weights stand and suggest that everyone weigh themselves before climbing, and then check after the descent the amount of kilograms lost. But we do not need it - we took pictures, we began to neigh and cheerfully rose. At the very beginning, before the ascent, I was singing the melody of the soundtrack to the movie "Rocky" "Eye of the Tiger" - remember the episode when he runs up the stairs? After the first flight in my ears, blood began to throb, my throat was dry, and my legs began to buckle. And these were the first 50 steps out of the 1300 I had to overcome on the way to the top. Yes, I said that in total you need to overcome 1500 steps - 1300 on one slope and 200 steps on the opposite slope to the cave. In addition, I was loaded with water and as it turned out in vain - along the way there were many covered canopies, under which everything was sold - from cold water to cold Coca-Cola.

But, a second wind slowly opened and I climbed to the top of the mountain.

Actually, it was possible to rent a horse with a guide and climb up the trail sitting in the saddle. But I, first of all, I’m a child of concrete jungle and a typical city dweller - that's why riding wild animals is not for me. And, secondly, my relationship with horses, to put it mildly strained, after my childhood friends tried to drive me on a hot horse. I climbed up on his bony back, grabbed the mane and the horse carried me somewhere far away, and I, clutching at him with almost teeth, yelled with fear. It ended in the fact that he threw me into the thorns and drove away, and since then I have refused to portray myself as an a cowboy.

When we climbed to the top of the mountain, then a little rest. Those who wished could visit the restroom, take pictures with camels (I still cannot understand how they got there) and sit on a horse. And especially brave could be photographed on the trained to stand on a rack horse.

From the top there were picturesque views, and the panorama was capturing.

After admiring, we went on to the cave itself. To her led a narrow path, crowded with people. Local guards were allowed into the cave in small batches of 20-30 people each. Caretakers and mullahs were in the cave. We entered, sat on the cold floor and the mullah read a prayer. After that, we went along the wall along the wall to the end of the cave, joined the "prints" of St. David and went back. The whole procedure took 10-15 minutes.

Unfortunately, I was not allowed to take photos there, so I found some cool photos of this place on the Internet:

Photo source

Photo source

Photo source

I do not quite understand the popularity that this place has -thousands of people are coming here. Up the stairs climb and pre-school kids and deep old men, paunchy uncles and pregnant women. They go and go in an endless stream.

But in any case, I've been there, so my sins are gone))) You can sin again!

Back we went down the same steps. But it was much easier to go down both physically and psychologically. At the top of the mountain there was a small uncle with a small donkey on duty and I was jokingly offered to go down on it. Estimating their size and size of the donkey, I decided not to torment the poor animal, but to go down myself and at the same time burn another couple of calories.

Then we went to Samarkand, had lunch and went back to Tashkent.

My feet were buzzing with fatigue, but I did not pay attention to it - it was very interesting - because I first saw that real and mysterious Uzbekistan ...

P.S. This was the final story of my journey to the Zerafshan Mountains. But not my last trip with the "Mysterious Uzbekistan". Recently, from September 22 to 25, I went with them to the mysterious and beautiful Buddhist Termez. As usual, there are a lot of impressions and photos. I will definitely talk about this trip in the very near future!

!steemitworldmap 39.498610 lat 66.613197 long The myterious Cave of Saint David - the prophet of three world religions d3scr