Lake Koyashskoye

Since Soviet times, Crimea has been a location beloved by cinematographers. This is because it has everything: from endless dry steppes to bright, snowy mountains; from ancient cave cities and caverns to cliff-lined coastlines as fine as any in Portugal; from pink-hued, saline lakes to the stormy sea riven by deep fall colors – immortalized in the paintings of Ivan Aivazovsky.

One of the many wonders of the Crimean Peninsula, indeed of the world, is Lake Koyashskoye.

The lake sits at sea level, separated from the Black Sea by just a narrow strip of dry land. It is in effect a lagoon that forms when the sea floods the valley. The lake is constantly replenished by the sea, yet because it is so shallow, the heat of the sun fuels an intensive evaporation of the seawater, leading to a very high salt concentration.