Blogs from Yalta, Krim, Ukraine, Europe

The crossing from Russia into Ukraine was pretty smooth, although the Russian guard got out a magnifying glass to look at my passport and asked me questions about my visas for other countries. As soon as the Ukrainian guards had done their thing (and the cutest sniffer spaniel had done his), a man went up and down the train exchanging Russian roubles into Ukrainian hryvnia, one was selling Ukrainian SIM cards, and a woman went down selling honey and jam. I managed to sleep pretty soundly despite the fact that I was on the top bunk, without anything to stop me rolling off whenever the train slammed the breaks on, and wondering whether or not the evolutionary traits that kept my ancestors in the trees have survived in me. The train journey felt very long. I ... read more

The Crimean Mountains represent a range of mountains running parallel to the south coast of Crimea. Toward the west, the mountains drop steeply to the Black Sea, and to the east, they transform into a steppe landscape. Crimean Mountains consist of three subranges. The highest is the Main range. Main range is subdivided into several massifs, known as yaylas or mountain plateaus (Yayla is Crimean Tatar word for “Alpine Meadow”). They are: * Baydar Yayla * Ay-Petri Yayla * Yalta Yayla * Nikita Yayla * Gurzuf Yayla * Babugan Yayla * Chatyr-Dag Yayla * Dologorukovskaya Yayla * Demirji Yayla * Karabi Yayla The Crimea’s highest peak is the Roman-Kosh on the Babugan Yayla, 1545 m above sea level. The most important passes over the Crimean Mountains are: * Angarskyi Pass near Perevalne village, on the road ... read more

Alupka Alupka is situated 17 km (11 mi) to the west of Yalta. Vorontsov’s Palace was built in 1828-1846. It was designed by the English architect Edward Blore (1789-1879) in mixture of Scottish baronial and Neo-Moorish styles. Alupka park which surrounds the palace was constructed from 1824 to 1851, it was designed by Carolus Antonius Keebach. The plants were brought in from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, from North and South America, and eastern Asia. Currently over 200 species of plants exist within the palace’s grounds. The park has lakes with swans, stone chaos, waterfalls. In 1848, white marble sculptures of lions were installed on the central staircase leading up to the castle. The sculptures were carried out by the Italian sculptor Giovanni Bonnani. Alupka is located at the foot of the 1234 meter Ai-Petri ... read more

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