The ice attraction of Kungur. Part two.

The ice attraction of Kungur. Part two. Scientists have come to the conclusion that the creator of the amazing passages and bizarre grottos in the Kungur cave is water. Karst processes are constantly taking place here. Karst is the dissolution of rock by water. By imperceptible cracks, water, penetrating into the rock, dissolves it. So gradually, over thousands of years, she has been sharpening the cave stone, creating unique spaces.

A curious fact. The air in the cave is special – clean, healing. The guide said that many tourists come here not only to admire its stone-ice beauty, but also to be treated and rejuvenated. Clean cave air is useful for people with respiratory diseases. There is a special place here for taking air baths - a speleocamera. Tourists and residents of the city often come to the cave just to breathe healthy air for a 45-minute session. And experts in the cave kingdom claim that after walking through it, people get five years younger!

Of course, we did not notice such metamorphoses, but despite the fact that there is not much space in the cave, it is easy to breathe, the air is moist and pleasant. In this stone underground labyrinth, it is wet, slippery and dirty in places, so when going there, tourists need to remember that it is worth wearing comfortable shoes and dark clothes that they do not mind getting dirty.

By the way, a German princess once slipped and fell on the wet steps here. Once upon a time, Louise von Batenberg came here with her mother on an excursion. On that famous occasion, the very first guide and keeper of the cave, Alexander Timofeevich Khlebnikov, led the special guests.

Princess Louise slipped while walking down the steps of the cave, fell, broke her knee, and cried. Khlebnikov comforted her by throwing the famous Russian phrase "It will heal before the wedding!" As soon as Louise returned to her homeland, the King of Sweden proposed to her. She married him. The marriage was happy and prosperous.

And after that, a belief appeared in the cave - an unmarried girl who slips on the steps here or touches a step with her knees will marry her prince and become a queen. There are several dozen lakes in the cave with the purest, most transparent turquoise water (this color is given to it by the anhydrite stone lying at the bottom, it has a gray-blue hue).

A rare species of crustaceans listed in the Red Book is found in the lakes here. They are very small, so it is impossible to see them even despite the crystal clear water. Copies of crangonyx crustaceans, enlarged many times, decorate the stone arches above the lakes.

I would like to note that experts monitor the safety of all hiking trails in the cave constantly, cruising along them several times a day. In addition, the vaults are periodically reinforced with special columns.

And in places where gypsum is crumbling, tunnels for passage constructed of metal mesh are installed.

In some places of the cave there are very low arches, you have to walk through them only by bending down. Personally, I really like such narrow, cramped, uncomfortable passages, it literally takes my breath away when I have to make my way forward like this.

The guide said that there are also special extreme routes here, along which you can move mainly by crawling. But, of course, they are not tourist sites, they are explored only by scientists and students. I was delighted with what I saw and heard during the tour, and I can say with confidence that visiting a unique cave in the Perm Region will leave a lot of pleasant impressions and memories in your memory, no matter what time of the year you happen to visit it.