"A Turkish fortress, far from first-class but politically most pernicious, Anapa demanded of the Russian state such a number of military campaigns, by army and fleet alike, as no other enemy fortress, even of stronger construction, ever called forth…

"A Turkish fortress, far from first-class but politically most pernicious, Anapa demanded of the Russian state such a number of military campaigns, by army and fleet alike, as no other enemy fortress, even of stronger construction, ever called forth. Some four times it was blown up until completely destroyed. Anapa played a prominent historical role during the long struggle of Russia with Turkey, as well as in the pacification of the highland population of the North Caucasus, for which reason its military past deserves full attention," wrote the archaeologist and orientalist Nikolay Veselovsky. As for me, it took less than an hour to meet my first historical monument in Anapa: the Russian Gate, an impressive part of the Turkish fortress of 1783