Old Anapa in an hour

⏱ 1 h 10 min🚶 800 m🍽 1📍 4 stops

🐢 A little — under 3 km

If you’re short of time: the Turkish gate, the church built to mark the taking of the fortress, the ancient excavation by the sea and coffee with a view of the bay from the High Bank.

🏛 History and architecture

🗺 Open in Yandex Maps

1
🏛 Russian Gate
ул. Пушкина, у входа в парк 30-летия Победы
🆓 free entry
The only surviving gate of the 18th-century Turkish fortress, where old Anapa begins.
Walk through the gate; inside is a stele in memory of the soldiers who died at the fortress walls. Old cannons lie nearby.
📖 More about the placeCollapse
© Ирина Мит · CC BY-SA 4.0
© Фил Вечеровский · CC BY-SA 3.0
- The gate is all that remains of the Ottoman fortress of Anapa, built in 1783.
- The fortress had seven bastions and three gates; only the eastern one survives.
- Walls 3.2 km long and 8 m high ran from the gate to the sea, along the high bank to the lighthouse and back along Krepostnaya Street.
- Russian troops took the fortress on 12 June 1828, and in 1829 Anapa finally passed to Russia.
- The gate was named Russian for the 25th anniversary of the capture of Anapa; the slab above the opening reads “Russian Gate 1854”.
- The gate was restored in 1995–1996; inside is a stele in memory of the Russian soldiers who fell at the fortress walls in 1788–1828.
🚶 on foot
2
🏛 Church of St Onuphrius the Great
Соборная ул., 7
🆓 free entry
Anapa’s oldest Orthodox church, founded right after the Turkish fortress was taken.
Across the road is the city’s oldest church. Pop in for five minutes: it is open 8:00–18:00.
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© Ingvar-fed · CC BY-SA 3.0
© Yuriy75 · CC BY-SA 3.0
- The church was founded on the orders of Nicholas I in 1830 and completed by 1837.
- It was dedicated to St Onuphrius the Great because Russian troops took Anapa on his feast day, 12 June 1828.
- In September 1837 Nicholas I attended a prayer service here when he visited Anapa.
- The church was destroyed in the Crimean War; the present stone building was consecrated in 1874.
- In 1964 the church was closed, its domes and bell tower were removed and the building was given to the House of Pioneers.
- The church was returned to believers in 1991 and restored by the late 1990s.
🚶 on foot
3
🖼 Gorgippia Museum
Набережная ул., 4
🎟 ticket · the excavation and the indoor exhibition need separate tickets
An open-air excavation of an ancient city right by the embankment: paved streets, wineries and sarcophagi, with finds from the tombs in the hall.
The excavation is easy to see through the fence from Naberezhnaya Street: a paved street and the cellars of 1st–3rd-century houses. If you have another hour, buy a ticket and go down.
📖 More about the placeCollapse
© MikSed · CC BY 4.0
© Andrey Butko · CC BY-SA 4.0
© MikSed · CC BY 4.0
- Gorgippia existed from the 4th century BC to the 3rd century AD and was part of the Bosporan Kingdom.
- The city was named after Gorgippus, governor and brother of the Bosporan king Leucon I; before that it was the Sindian Harbour.
- Strabo called Gorgippia the royal capital of the Sindi.
- The city, covering more than 40 hectares, was destroyed around 240; most of it lies under modern Anapa.
- The excavation shows paved streets, house foundations, wineries, wells and a stretch of the city wall.
- In 1975–1976, while digging a foundation pit for a house, workers found the painted “Tomb of Heracles” with scenes of his labours.
🚶 on foot
4
🍽 Kapitan café · 🧸 play area
Набережная ул., 3
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Finish at the edge of the High Bank: coffee or a dessert by the panoramic windows. The café is open from 8:00 until midnight.
🍴 A café at the edge of the High Bank with a panorama of the bay and Black Sea food. What to order: rapa whelk escalopes, pike-perch in champagne sauce, aubergines with prawns.