The ancient earth of the Taman peninsula is one great natural and historical monument. This territory was settled by the Cimmerians, nomadic tribes who appeared in a poem by Homer. Here you can often find pottery shards that are 3,000 years old! If the ground under your feet begins to give way a little, it means you’ve come upon a mud volcano, which is the peninsula’s trademark. These volcanoes don’t spew molten lava, but invisibly boil a stew of mud, water and hydrocarbon gases in their depths, occasionally spitting it out on the surface. Channel anchorman Andrey Ivanov not only tested the temperature of the muddy lava - he bathed in it, diving right into the crater itself! In Taman, they let him feed the sturgeon in a hatchery, and catch mullet in Taman bay, not far from the Tuzla sandspit.