All of Crimea's magic for Hr 4,000
Sep 17, 2009 at 21:22 | Iryna PrymachykWe started off, perhaps unconventionally, from the cape of Tarkhankut, the most western point in Crimea. It is located 1,100 kilometers from Kyiv. Its whimsical coastline, with grottoes and twisting tunnels, have made it a favorite destination for divers, surfers of all kinds, and underwater photographers.
You’ll find no five-star hotels on Tarkhankut, only a couple of diving clubs and a few extreme tourists living in tents with their families. There is a picturesque walk to take to the west from the cape along the Dzhangul cliffs hanging 60 meters high above the sea. Adorned with wild roses, hawthorn, sloe, barberry and ivy, the cliffs run for four kilometers before you come to the nearest village Olenivka.
To stay the night you’re asked to pay Hr 100 per person, but you can easily bargain it down to Hr 25 per person, if you persist. One of the reasons for visiting the area is its virgin beauty that might not last long if the tourist industry develops fast in the area. There is also a little perk for lovers: located there is a place called The Bowl of Love. It looks like a little heart-shape bay surrounded by rocks. Legend has it that if lovers jump off the cliff into this bay, their love will be eternal. The jump itself is an adventure to remember, but we’re yet to see if our love remains eternal.
Our next destination was Evpatoria, a city located south –west from our starting point. There you can find the only working religious temples of the Karaims, a disappearing Crimean aboriginal tribe of Turkic origin. The tour will cost you Hr 10 per person. There are only 2,000 Karaims left in the world, half of them in Crimea.
Be careful when looking for a place to stay in Evpatoria: there are many taxi drivers on Crimean roads offering a flat to stay there, but then it turns out to be a scam. Your best option is to start looking once you get to the city.
Your next trip could be to Bakhchisarai, a former capital of the Crimean Khanate located inland to the east. The local gem is the Palace of Crimean Khan, or ruler, which dates back to the XVI century. It has a mosque, a harem, a cemetery, living quarters and huge wonderful gardens. The whole complex was supposed to be the paradise on earth, and hence the name that means Garden Palace. In the garden you will find the famous Fountain of Tears, built by Khan Krym Ghirei for his deceased beloved concubine in 1764, and glorified by the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin in 1824. To visit the palace will cost you Hr 40 per person. To park your car in front of it costs Hr 20. But if you don’t mind a 300-meter walk, parking will be free for you.
There are two more sites worthy of a visit while you are in Bakhchisarai, the Assumption Monastery of the Caves, and Chufut Kale, the dead cave city. Both places are very atmospheric and have lots of history and legends attached. Legend has it, for example, that the whole of Chufut Kale was built by 40 men, and that’s why it’s called The Place of 40. Most of it is ruined, but even what remains is impressive.
If you want to see a real Crimean canyon with its green flora and clear, cold rivers, you should not miss Kachya, the wildlife preserve some eight kilometers from Bakhchisarai, located by the village of Kudryne. The canyon itself is 150 meters wide and 140 meters deep. It got people’s imaginations rolling as long ago as 4,000 B.C.: there are 15 square meters of pre-historic paintings in its grottos to be viewed.
Our trip took us on to Sevastopol, which was once a Greek colony, and Byzantine city of Khersonesos, founded in VI century B.C. Legend has it that Volodymyr the Great who brought Christianity to the Kyiv Rus, was baptized there in 988 A.D. For Hr 25 you can walk the ancient streets, take pictures of basilicas and visit a Greek theatre and the temple where Volodymyr took Christianity. You can actually do it all for free, if you get up early and come to Khersonesos before the opening of the ticket office at 8 a.m.
The best price for lodging in Sevastopol – Hr 50 - can be found by the seaport in residential buildings advertising accommodation. Hr 50 per person is the usual price. But staying in the city is not recommended. If you pass the city in daytime, you can spend the night in Balaklava, one of Soviet Union’s great secrets, and the city famous in the West since the 19th century Crimean War.
Balaklava’s secret nuclear submarine base was operational until 1993. It was located in the 400-meter wide, 17-meter deep natural tunnel inside the rock, and can be seen neither from the earth, nor from the sea. Today Balaklava looks like a rusting reminder of old military might, surrounded by legends and history.
During a single hurricane in Balaklava Harbor during the Crimean War some 60 British, French and Turkish vessels sank just as they readied to bombard Sevastopol. On that day, the sea took into its embrace the pride of the British fleet, the sailing frigate Prince, later called by journalists the “Black Prince,” and some 400,000 pound sterling in gold and silver with it. Legends of dozens of boxes with gold in Balaklava bay still attract treasure hunters all over the world.
At the foot of the Crimean Mountains further east you will find Alupka with its famous Vorontsovsky Palace, sometimes referred to as the Ukrainian Taj Mahal. Designed by English architect Edward Blore and built in 1830-1848, it combines several architectural styles: its entrance is reminiscent of ascetic English architecture, it has Gothic chimney stacks, and the Eastern style southern facade has an inscription in Arabic, repeating six times: “There is no God except Allah.” In 1945 during the Yalta Conference it served as the residence of Winston Churchill and the British delegation. To visit the palace you need to pay Hr 40.
There is a place in Crimea where winds blow 125 days per year, reaching 50 meters per second, it’s the Ai-Petri peak overhanging Alupka. It’s 1,234 meters high, and the serpentine drive is quite an experience. You have to walk a part of the way, but don’t let yourself be cheated by the people offering to guide you to the top for Hr 200 – there really isn’t anywhere you can stray.
A cableway can get you down from Ai-Petri to Yalta in 20 minutes, and you will find yourself in the most expensive Crimean resort in the south of the peninsula.
Prices for lodging start at Hr 60 per person, if you’re willing to ask the ladies at the bus stop. Keep an eye on the prices in restaurants, otherwise you might end up paying Hr 40 per cup of tea or up to Hr 500 for dinner, and a “live music” bill on top of it. Get away from the embankment to find reasonable prices in cafes, and you can eat for as little as Hr 40 per person. Most beaches in Yalta will cost you Hr 50-60 to visit, but there are three public beaches that are free.
Overpriced Yalta is still worth visiting for a whole kaleidoscope of wonders surrounding it. There’s the Swallow’s nest, a beautiful Neo-Gothic building hanging on to the top of a 40-meter Aurora cliff. It nests a restaurant these days, and is instantly recognizable as one of Crimea’s unique landscapes.
The next wonder is Livadia Palace. It was built as a summer residence for Nicholas II, the last Russian tsar and his family. It hosted the historic Yalta Conference in 1945, and the palace itself served as apartments for President Franklin Roosevelt and other members of the American delegation. To visit, you’ll have to pay Hr 40.
When you have had enough history and are ready to move on to fairytales, you can visit the Fairy Tale Glade some three kilometers from Yalta. It’s a museum of applied and decorative arts in Vynohradne village, displaying over 200 wooden and stone sculptures of characters from Ukrainian, Russian, Armenian and Georgian fairytales, all for Hr 30 per person.
Ukraine’s only private zoo is also located in the vicinity. You’ll have to pay Hr 50 to get in, but then you’ll be able to see the first couple of sloths imported to Ukraine, as well as feed many animals and fowls wondering about.
You can visit the Massandra English Park and the Palace of Russian Tsar Alesander III Romanov, also known as Joseph Stalin’s Dacha and the Ukrainian Versailles. It was the favorite place for holidays for many Communist Party’s first secretaries, and you can inspect it for Hr 40.
If you’re into botany, Nikitsky Botanical Garden (one of the oldest in Ukraine, founded in 1812) will be a real find for you, with its 50,000 species of various plants. It will take four hours at least to walk around its 11 square kilometers.
If you’re not afraid to plunge under the ground to the temperature of eight degrees, you will enjoy a visit to the Red and the Marble Caves. The Red Cave is located in Perevalne village, seven kilometers up the main road from Alushta, and is considered to be the biggest cave in Crimea. Sculpted by nature thousands of years ago, its twisted stalactites and waterfalls make a lasting impression even on visitors who are normally uninterested in this sort of attraction.
The Marble Caves are located in the village of Mramorne, along the same road. They are considered to be one of the five most impressive and best equipped cave complexes in Europe. The caves have an area of 5,000 square meters, and are 27 meters high, which equals the height of a nine-storied building. To visit the caves you need to pay Hr 25 – 80 per person, depending on the length of the tour you choose.
More rocky wonders can be found some 50 kilometers from Alushta in Novy Svit. But it’s not just the recognizable rocky outcrops and the clear blue sea that makes the name recognizable: Crimean sparkling wine is also made there. A popular destination for filmmakers, it will cost you from Hr 70 per person to hire a room there.
But you can pay a fleeting visit to this place instead, and move on east to Sudak, where the medieval Genoese fortress dominates the landscape. One of its towers, called The Maiden Tower, has a legend attached. A beautiful archon’s daughter who was to become a rich military leaders’ wife, lived there once.
However, the girl fell in love with a poor shepherd. When archon found out about their love he decided to deceive the girl. He told her that he was sending her loved one for an important mission to Greece. He killed the young man instead, and the maiden threw herself off the highest tower.
The final point of your 10-day Great Crimea tour can bring you to Panticapaeum, called Kerch today. It was an important Greek port in VII century B.C. and even served as the residence of Greek kings of the Bosporus dynasty. It was almost completely destroyed by an earthquake in 63 B.C. The ancient city is slowly being reconstructed today. Finding a place to stay is easy, and prices are affordable, starting at Hr 40 per person.Although bad service is still common in Crimea, the peninsula still remains a sightseeing gem for many Ukrainians and foreign guests. Also, if you are up for more than sunbathing on the beach, jump into your car for a lovely 10-day getaway. Next year, you might want to come back for more.