This was my favourite Russian Caucus. It took a while to get here as I started in Sochi and headed east towards Cherkessia and Kabardino Balkaria until we reached North and South Ossetia. I was collected by my guide/couch surfer in Vladikavkaz in North Ossetia. Before driving to Grozny we went to visit the Beslan School and had lunch in Ingushetia.
I really liked Grozny. I know that most of the buildings are new but they had to rebuild after the 2004 civil war. Russia flattened Grozny. Even though everyone seems happy and the leader is pro-Russian, the people are just itching for independence. The Chechnyans know that another civil war is imminent and they are ready to fight for independence. The Chechnyans have a strong conviction. They are willing to die for independence. In the meantime their leader spends money on new projects. The next one is to build the Ahmat Tower, no doubt to stand alongside the already new sky scrapers like the Grozny Hotel and Mall.
The next morning I met a local photographer who took me to the other side of Grozny, the part that hasn’t been redeveloped yet. Old houses and buildings left to rot after the war. The most beautiful building was designed by the British and built by Americans. The shell of the building is completely intact but obviously when the rockets landed the insides are just rubble. Luckily nobody died as they were able to evacuate the people in time. The building housed scientists.
Driving around Grozny was pretty cool. I took lots of photos from the car window. Obviously I didn’t take photos of any of the military people I saw. I’m not stupid. On the way to Itum Kale we were stopped by the Police. I heard the sirens and my guide thought he had just passed a red light and cursed himself. The Police asked for his documents and told him to get out of the car. I used to this now so just sat back until it was over. At some point they would ask about me and my documents but they never did. My guide told me that the Police had seen me taking photos earlier and radioed the other Police to pull us over. Basically they wanted to know why I was taking photos and they wanted me to stop. So I didn’t take any more photos until we left the city.
We drove into the mountains to visit Itum Kale. The drive was beautiful and along the way we picked up hitch hikers. My guide loves picking up hitch hikers. To get to the mountains we have to go through a check point. Since the civil war, there are many check points all over the caucuses. Entry and exit from village to village and town to town are mandatory. It does add a lot of time to your journey as I found out. We had to wait nearly an hour before we could enter the road to Itum Kale. Not only did they check my passport but the FSB were called to question me. By now I am used to the FSB questions or as they call it “interrogation” which at first scared the pants of me. Now it is just an annoyance. Didn’t they know I had a football match to get to?
Once we were given permission to drive to Itum Kale my guide picked up another hitch hiker. Most of the Hitch hikers are mainly older women. This old lady was quite chuffed to see me as it’s not common for foreigners to visit Chechnya. We dropped her off at her house and she refused to let us go and invited us to come in for a drink. Well this turned out to be a grand affair. She had a beautiful home with very large rooms. She showed us the way to her dining room with a huge dining table. She then started to lay the table with a table cloth and cutlery and food. There was a lot of food. I actually laughed out loud when she brought in a whole roast chicken. It was as if she was expecting me to turn up for tea. She introduced me to her whole family. It was really nice and totally unexpected. We stayed about an hour and I was conscious that I had to eat all the food but luckily my guide said we didn’t have to. I enjoyed the cake. We eventually left to go on our way to see the watch towers. After this we headed back to Grozny for the football match.
The match was played in the newly built Ahmat Arena. The teams were the local Chechnyan team Terek playing against St Petersburg. When we arrived I was greeted by many surprised fans unbelievable that a foreigner was at their football match. We were about 30 minutes late and Terek was winning 1-0 but unfortunately by the end of the match they lost 3-1. It was a great experience at the match watching the local supporters and the security. As I have been used to all the military presence all around the caucuses, seeing them at the stadium was not surprising at all. After the match I hung around with the local supporters most of them wanting a photo with me. I was looking forward to the next day as we head to Dagestan.
