    
Marv Feldman
Senior Member
Username: Marv
Post Number: 493
Registered: 02-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, October 01, 2006 - 06:52 am: | |
RETURN TO KIEV
Having passed the beautiful Crimean Coast, we sailed into the sunset, left the Black Sea and entered the Dnieper Delta for our journey back to Kiev.
This time, we anchored in the Dnieper River near Kherson (19 miles from the mouth of the River and the Black Sea) - home of Catherine the Great's Black Sea Fleet - for a short excursion to Fishermen's Island. Presented as a "quaint fishing village where you can visit houses and gardens of locals", at the island we enjoyed the Ukrainian version of afternoon tea (vodka, homemade grape juice and sweet fritters) at one simple house and perused stalls of (overpriced) handicrafts. Yet the whole experience seemed quite artificial and we imagined it was set up for one purpose - to fleece foreign tourists!
Continuing through lakes, reservoirs and locks, our final stop on the Dnieper River was the ugly, grimy, heavily polluted industrial city of Zaporizhzhya. Here, the USSR had boasted of building the (American assisted) world's largest hydro-electric dam. Why would a cruise ship stop at such a place? It is firmly on the tourist map because nearby Khortytsya Island is the ancestral home of the legendary Cossacks. (Once the community numbered 20,000 fierce fighters and were formidable vodka drinkers!) On the island, Cossack dancers presented a colourful show of horseriding and mock fighting - Marvin was chosen to hold two short tree banches as a whip cracking Cossack cut each branch in two!
On our final cruise night, the Gala Dinner started with the Captain, officers and passengers toasting each other with Champagne. The evening concluded with a wonderful "Crew Show" which displayed the hidden musical (song and dance) talents of our crew members who performed Ukrainian pop and folk melodies.
Happy traveling,
Marv |
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