__NOTOC__ Lake Ritsa ( ka, რიწა, tr; ) is a lake in the north-western part of

Abkhazia Abkhazia, officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a List of states with limited recognition, partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, at the intersection of Eastern Europe and West Asia. It cover ...

, in the

Caucasus Mountains The Caucasus Mountains * * Azerbaijani: , * * * * * * * * * * * is a mountain range at the intersection of Asia and Europe. Stretching between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, they are surrounded by the Caucasus region ...

. It is surrounded by mixed mountain forests and subalpine meadows. The road from the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

coast was built in 1936. The resort of Avadhara lies to the north of the lake. The lake was an important tourist attraction during the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

period. While the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Russia-Georgian war destroyed much of the tourism industry in the country, the lake is still frequently visited by Russian tourists.

Geography

Lake Ritsa is the deepest lake in

(116 m), and is rich in

trout Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...

. It is fed by six rivers and drained by one, the

Iupshara River The Iupshara (, ) is a river in northern Abkhazia, Georgia. The river flows from Lake Ritsa, the deepest lake in Abkhazia (116 m), to the Gega River, a tributary of the Bzyb River. The total length of the river is with a gradient In vector ...

Environment

Lake Ritsa's water is cold and clear. Mountains with heights of 2,200 to 3,500 m surround the lake. The region around Lake Ritsa is a part of the Euxine-Colchic deciduous forests ecoregion with a fairly high concentration of evergreen

boxwood ''Buxus'' is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box and boxwood. The boxes are native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost So ...

groves. Many specimens of the

Nordmann Fir ''Abies nordmanniana'', the Nordmann fir or Caucasian fir, is a fir indigenous to the mountains south and east of the Black Sea, in Turkey, Georgia and the Russian Caucasus. It occurs at altitudes of 900–2,200 m on mountains with precipit ...

, which reach heights of over 70 metres (230 ft), are found around the lake. In 1930 the Ritsa Nature Reserve (162.89 km²) was established to protect the natural state of the lake and the surrounding land.

Notable residents

The Soviet leader

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

had one of his summer-houses (

dacha A dacha (Belarusian, Ukrainian language, Ukrainian and rus, дача, p=ˈdatɕə, a=ru-dacha.ogg) is a seasonal or year-round second home, often located in the exurbs of former Soviet Union, post-Soviet countries, including Russia. A cottage (, ...

) by the lake. Later

Leonid Brezhnev Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (19 December 190610 November 1982) was a Soviet politician who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1964 until Death and state funeral of Leonid Brezhnev, his death in 1982 as w ...

had his summer house nearby as well. Today the dacha belongs to the de facto

Government of Abkhazia The Government of the Republic of Abkhazia governs the International recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, partially recognised Republic of Abkhazia. Executive branch The Republic of Abkhazia is headed by the President of Abkhazia, Pres ...

Climate

The average annual temperature in the area is 7.8 degrees Celsius (January −1.1 °C, August 17.8 °C). The mean annual precipitation is approx. 2,000–2,200 mm. Winters are sometimes snowy, summers warm.

Legends and stories of Ritsa

There are many legends and fairy tales about the lake.

Origin

In ancient times there was a valley and a river at the site of the modern lake. A girl named Ritsa lived there with three brothers

Agepsta Mount Agepsta (, , ''Agh'aphstha'') is a mountain in the Gagra Range of the Caucasus Mountains system located in Abkhazia, Georgia. The summit is above sea level in elevation. Ecology The slopes of Mount Agepsta, up to an elevation of , are fo ...

, Atsetuka and Pshegishkha. Ritsa used to pasture her animals in the valley and her brothers hunted in the high mountains by day and returned to the valley in the evening, where they ate, sang songs, and admired their sister. Once the brothers went too far into the mountains. Ritsa missed them and sang. The forest robbers Gega and Iupshara heard her and decided to kidnap her. Iupshara caught her and rode down the valley, while Gega covered his flank. Ritsa's brothers heard her crying and came to the rescue. Pshegishkha threw a sword at the robbers, but he missed and the sword flew over the river. The valley was filled with water and turned into a lake. Ritsa broke from Iupshara's grip, but fell into the lake. The brothers couldn't save her. Then Pshegishkha threw the robber Iupshara into the lake, but Ritsa's water wouldn't accept him and threw out him over Pshegishkha's sword and the water carried him away to the sea. Gega ran after Iupshara, but he didn't manage to rescue him. Out of grief, the brothers turned into mountains, and today they are still standing here to protect the resting-place of Ritsa.

Goodbye, Motherland!

Several myths have risen up about origin of the name "Goodbye Motherland!" given to cliff and observation deck on the road to Lake Ritsa. It appears the name was coined by tourist guides, as the area's real name is "Chabgar Cornice." One story goes that in the 1930s, during the construction of Stalins's

, soldiers had to transport building materials along the precarious, narrow mountain road. During one of these trips, in one of the most precarious spots, a truck fell from the edge. As the truck was falling, the driver cried: "Goodbye, Motherland!" ("Прощай, Родина!"). Another legend says a truck with captured Germans fell into the abyss. Some of the Germans, who had fallen in love with Abkhazia as a native country, shouted: "Farewell, Motherland!" Yet another says there were not prisoners in the truck, but soldiers retreating along the road at night. On a narrow road, the driver lost control and the truck fell into an abyss.

Gallery

File:Road to Ritza.jpg, Road to lake Ritza File:Ritsa2.jpg, Tourists boating at Ritsa File:Greater Ritsa Lake.jpg, Ritsa Lake in 2013

References

Lake Ritsa - Secret World
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ritsa Mountain lakes Lakes of Abkhazia