To overlook the Pristan area (though not the beach) it is worth stopping around 1km before the port and observing the scene from the shrine-like Prezhevalski memorial garden. Other than the minor curiosity of the view , the main attraction here is a small, well-presented museum dedicated to Nikolai Przewalski, the Russian explorer who died here in 1888 and for whom Karakol was once named. Entered through a neo-Greek portal, there's a giant map of his travels behind a big globe. Note the imaginative rendering of Senegal. Many photos, maps and mementos have English captions but there's no over-arching explanation of his life. The best features are arguably the banknote-style wall murals designed to alter perspective as you walk by. Amid the taxidermy is a stuffed white Przewalski horse, the breed for whose 'discovery' the explorer is best known in the west.
