Paints, paintbrushes and a lot of inspiration

Arrival in Tamchi and transfer to Cholpon-Ata. Arrival at Tamchi airport at 17:10. Meeting and transfer to one of the hotels located near the city of Cholpon-Ata. We will spend the evening on the lake, resting after the road.

Accommodation in a 3* hotel.

Issyk-Kul lake. This day will be dedicated to the amazing, beautiful mountain lake Issyk-Kul.Today's morning plein air will be right on the shore of the blue pearl of Kyrgyzstan. After lunch we will go on an excursion to the oldest gallery - the petroglyphs museum located on a fairly large open-air territory. We will have a great opportunity to capture amazing rock paintings in sketching technique against the background of the southern slopes of the Kungei Ala-Too ridge from where a magical view of the lake opens at the dawn and sunset.

Issyk-Kul is the second largest mountain lake after Lake Titicaca in South America. It is included in the 25 largest lakes in the world and is in seventh place in the list of the deepest lakes on our planet. The local population calls Lake Issyk-Kul the “Pearl of Kyrgyzstan”. Like a small bead strung on a chain of mountain ranges it really lives up to its name. The lake is located at an altitude of 1606 m above sea level and is surrounded on both sides by ridges with the poetic names Terskey Ala-Too (Turned from the sun) and Kungei Ala-Too (Turned to the sun).

Moving to Karakol (180 km / 3h). After breakfast we will go to the Grigorievskoe mountain gorge. We will drive to a picturesque lake from where we will take a little walk. The place is meditative, the majesty of the mountains and the tranquility of the mountain lake make you slow down a bit. Sit, think, talk about the eternal. We will take out our sketches and draw. We will have picnic here and then will drive over the pass to the neighboring Semenovskoye gorge.

We will continue along the road, but before reaching the city of Karakol we will visit the museum of Russian life lost among the Kyrgyz villages. The museum is really unique, it contains artifacts from the moment the Russian settlements were founded in these places. By the evening we will reach the hotel in Karakol.

Karakol - Jeti-Oguz gorge – Karakol (60 km / 1h). This day will be full of creativity and romantic mood. In the morning we will go to Jeti-Oguz gorge. This gorge is full of legends. Here we will see natural monuments of Broken Heart and Seven Bulls; listen to the legends; make lots of photos in national Kyrgyz costumes. And of course we are going to have the plein air. Lunch will be served in Kyrgyz yurts. And in the evening we will go on a sea cruise in order to see a stunning sunset.

After that we will return back to the hotel.

Karakol - Kaji-Say (150 km / 3h). After breakfast, we will move to the southern shore of Issyk-Kul Lake. On the way we will stop by one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Kyrgyzstan - the waterfall "Tears of the Bars” located in the Barskoon gorge. We'll take a little walk and get back to the car. We will arrive at the hotel by lunch time. The rest of the time we will spend on the beach.

Accommodation at Al-Khayat Art hotel. This place was chosen by a reason. This is a place dedicated to artists. One of the terraces offers a wonderful view.

Kaji-Say. Today we will have a whole day to paint fantastic landscapes of the southern coast of Issyk-Kul. The southern shore of Lake Issyk-Kul is more diverse in landscape and less populated. The coast is open. From our hotel we can make a trip to the Fairy Tale gorge with beautiful sculptures similar to fairy-tale heroes created by nature from red sand. Or we can as well sit on the hotel terrace and draw the blue waters of Issyk-Kul.

Kaji-Say – Bishkek (290 km). Before breakfast, we will visit the foothills near the hotel in order to have time to capture the rising sun. Closer to lunch we will drive back to Bishkek - the capital of Kyrgyzstan. Our path will run along the southern shore of the lake. Further we will drive through the Boom gorge to the Chui valley. On the way we will visit the historical and archaeological complex - the Burana Tower.

Upon arrival Bishkek, we will settle into a cozy Asia Mountains hotel and make our final exhibition of the works created during the tour. Evening will be by the pool with champagne.

Departure. (We advise you to take a day flight). Today the car will take you to the airport for your flight home. End of program.

If any of the participants have a desire to spend another wonderful day in Bishkek, then we offer the following program:

On this day you can visit the Osh Bazaar, the main squares of the capital - Ala-Too Square, Old Square and Victory Square; you can stroll through the oak park with an open air art gallery from modern young artists, but most importantly you must definitely visit the Kyrgyz National Museum of Fine Arts named after Gapar Aitiev. This is the main artistic treasury of Kyrgyzstan. The art gallery later renamed the Kyrgyz State Museum of Fine Arts was opened on January 1, 1935.

The basis of the museum's collection made 72 works of Russian artists received from the State Tretyakov Gallery personally selected by the founder of the museum and the founder of Kyrgyz painting Chuikov S. A. Since the first Republican exhibition in 1934 the museum's funds have been systematically replenished with the works of Kyrgyz artists.

To date, the museum collection has about 18 thousand items in its storage. The structural division of the collection is carried out according to the types of fine arts - painting funds (about 4 thousand exhibits), graphics (about 9600), sculpture (about 1 thousand), arts and crafts (more than 3 thousand).

The museum collection of works by artists of Kyrgyzstan makes it possible to judge the development of culture, the formation of a national school; it covers all stages of the development of professional fine arts. The golden fund of the museum is the works of the classics of the Kyrgyz fine arts, artists of different generations, different artistic styles and trends.

(Sunday). Departure. Today the car will take you to the airport for your flight home. End of program.