    
Marv Feldman
Senior Member
Username: Marv
Post Number: 492
Registered: 02-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, October 01, 2006 - 06:50 am: | |
CRIMEA - 3 (Yalta)
On a sunny "Mediterranean" morning (temperature 25C/82F), our day started with a magnificent view from our cabin window of sheer mountain cliffs rising from the coastline. After docking in Yalta, the "capital" of the Ukrainian (formerly Russian) Riviera, we disembarked to a real trumpet fanfare, courtesy of a local brass band!
First stop was at the Swallow's Nest, a "castle" perched precariously on a cliff west of the city. (This charming little castle, built by a German oil magnate in 1912 for his Bolshoi ballerina mistress, appeared on the cover of our Ukraine "Lonely Planet" guidebook.) However, for history buff Carole, a tour of the stunning Livadia (White) Palace was certainly a highlight. Formerly the summer residence of the last Russian Tsar (Nicholas II) and his family, it is best known as the site of the 1945 Yalta Conference where Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill determined the face (and fate) of postwar Europe.
Plenty of leisure time in balmy, almost tropical, Yalta allowed us to look "just around the corner" as we enjoyed capuccino at a fashionable cafe and walked along an attractive waterside promenade where local artists displayed their works and classical musicians played. Even though the Ukrainians consider Yalta's "beach" to be their finest, we found the seaside ugly, dirty, gaudy and pebbly, covered with grossly overweight Russian women, bulging out of their bikinis and accompanied by their sumo-wrestler size male partners!
On our final day in Yalta, we toured the Alupka Palace, an unusual combination of a Scottish castle and Arabian fantasy, built for the fabulously wealthy Governor of Odessa and New Russia (the Crimean Peninsula). It took over 100,000 serfs ("slaves") 20 years to complete (1826-1846) this edifice and its gardens. Here Winston Churchill stayed during the 1945 Yalta Conference.
On a bright, sunny afternoon, a brass band played and girls danced on the pier as our boat untied and set sail, leaving behind this lovely small city (population 90,000) and the Black Sea. We both felt a little sad to leave behind the Ukrainian Riviera for our return to Kiev.
Happy traveling,
Marv
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