Derbent was the first and only part of Dagestan Ivan and I have managed to visit in our first year in Russia together. In 2013, Dagestan was still quite a wild place to visit. Ivan arranged via his tyre-seling colleagues for two local bike club members to meet us at the train station and to show us around. We arrived via night train from Baku, which was quite an adventure all by itself, including some cockroaches on train and very puzzled border guard who probably never saw our kind of passport and visa before. But it was well worth it, we made it up the Naryn Kala fortress, walked around, took shots of the city and imagined the 5000 years of history. There were some exhibits and info panels. I remember walking around the ramparts with no rails and pondering how more Health and Safety conscious countries would have had a field day here.

After visiting Derbent, our biker guides took us to Makhachkala for some lunch and drove us to the airport for our flight back to Moscow. I remember it having a place where one deposits their weapons before flying to Moscow. It was definitely a curious visit, though even back then the people of Caucasus have been very welcoming and friendly, genuinely interested in foreign tourists. And that has not changed. We toured Dagestan in November 2021, skipping Derbent this time as we only had four days and the hospitality was amazing as always. The general vibe was much more touristy and popular, both with foreign people and Russians alike. There's more infrastructure and loads of guides on 4x4 cars taking you anywhere you like. If you manage to make it there, due to current situation.