Blogs from Krim, Ukraine, Europe - page 2

Crimea and Odessa After we left Kiev we headed for the somewhat unusual tourist destination Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. Donetsk is dominated by mining and heavy industry and there are very few tourist attractions in the city. Add to this that the city is located far into the east close to the border with Russia, far away from the main tourist attractions in Ukraine, you realise that very few tourists visit the city. Our guess is that there are at the most two things that come from Donetsk you have ever heard of: 1 The winners of the 2009 UEFA Cup in football, the team FC Shakhtar Donetsk 2 The pole-vaulter Sergey Bubka Sergey Bubka has been honoured with a statue outside the Olympic Stadium in Donetsk. We actually went to Donetsk just so Ake could ... read more

As per usual the blog begins with an apology for its tardiness, especially as we are both home now but, as mentioned previously, the Ukrainians aren't too hot on their public internet access and frankly, we became somewhat lazy. But here we are: Simferopol Simferopol does not warrant much review, in fact we became bitter and twisted by remaining for the night. It has no merits upon which a recommendation is based and thinking back to the place evokes sore memories... Perhaps this is because we arrived after our 30 hour train ride and instead of entering beautiful Crimea were halted in an ugly transport hub. Simferopol is the point of entry/departure for the whole of the Crimea, and it looks it. There were holidaymakers everywhere displaying that inevitable behaviour, witnessed most frequently at train stations ... read more

Partot ertunk Sevastopolban tegnap reggel masfel napi vodkazas meg zabalas utan. A Sevastopol-1 luxiuskabinjaban megtett 500kmt Zsombor jol, Igor kielegitoen birta (aktiv dedalonozas mellett). A nyilttengeri napfelkeltekkel utunk lassan eleri a spiritualis reszt. Bar mindkettot lekestuk 5 perccel. Igor unokatesojanal es nagynenijenel kvartelyoztuk be magunkat Jalta sziveben. A turistaszezon meg nem indult be igazan az Ukran Siofok strandjain. Neztuk a meccset. Oroszok megnyerik, meglassatok! Megmartoztunk a tengerben (a Feketebe). Probaltuk nem a kikoto mellett, ahol sok a tanker, hanem arrabb a kastely alatt a plazson. De ott meg sok a meduza. Igor nem szerette. A kastely meg az, ahol a jaltai konferenc volt 45ben. Sok a teremorneni. Most egy orai kereses utan egy internetbarlangban ulunk, ahol a fel kozonseg kantersztrajkozik, a masik fele az orosz wiwet hekkeli... read more

Breakfast was only served from half seven to half nine, so we dragged ourselves out of bed around nine for it. It was a nice buffet breakfast with cereal, breads, yoghurt and pastries. We returned to bed until our checkout time at twelve. We left our backpacks in the luggage room at the hotel and set out to waste the next twelve hours. We wandered around the main streets looking at the shops and becoming amazed at the amount of school aged people hanging around the streets. We found the central square and the statue of Lenin and took the obligatory photos. We went to a bookshop to stock up on books for our overnight journey but despite being recommended in Lonely Planet they had next to no English novels. We decided to try and find ... read more

We went to breakfast today with high hopes. I told the lady who was serving us that I was vegetarian and she nodded with understanding. First course was a weird uncooked aubergine, tomato and mayonnaise dish that neither of us could eat. It was such an unusual breakfast dish that we thought it must have been leftovers from the night before. The next course was even more unusual, it was a steak with rice and parsley. I reminded the lady again that I was vegetarian and she took it away. I realised I wasn't getting anything instead so I nipped to the toilet. When I got back, the steak was sitting on the table in front of me. Rob had said I was a vegetarian and she had shrugged and left it there anyway. After our ... read more