Karakol
Karakol is at the Eastern end of Lake Issyk Kul. The largest town and the
administration center of the Issyk Kul oblast, the town was founded by
Russian settlers in the 1869. The name translates as «black hand».
Originally named Karakol — then in 1886 renamed Prezhervalsk — Lenin
gave it back it«s original name in 1926 only to have Stalin renamne
it Prezhevalsk again in 1935 — Finaly in 1991 it was renamed Karakol once
more.
There is a museum dedicated to Prezhevalsk on the site of the house
that he had built overlooking an inlet from the lake. He was a Russian
explorer who made several journeys into Central Asia and almost reached
the gates of Lhasa in Tibet, but who contracted an illness — TB (Consumption)
or Typhoid, there seems to be some confusion — and settled in the area
over looking the lake to die.
The Holy Trinity Cathedral is a fine example of a Russian Orthodox
Church which served as a dance hall under the Soviets.
There is also a Dungan (Chinese) mosque in the town that actually predates
the Church. There is the Regional Museum with a fine collection of musical
instruments and the Sunday Animal Market attracts a large number of visitors.
With its large number of colonial style buildings («chocolate box
cottages»); shady, poplar lined streets; lively market; the oldest
hippodrome in Central Asia. and overlooked by the Terksey («Shady»)
Ala-Too Mountains it can give an impression of a Nineteenth Century Russian
Village.
Kyrgyzstan
