The hidden treasures of ancient Chersonesus

Travel to Crimea

One of our last days on Crimean peninsular we went to ancient city Chersonesus (Khersones) . It is about 2500 y.o. The colony was established in the 6th century BC by settlers from Heraclea Pontica. The name “Chersonesos” in Greek means “peninsula”, and aptly describes the site on which the colony was established. The ancient city is located on the shore of the Black Sea at the outskirts of Sevastopol on the Crimean Peninsula. In the late 2nd century BC Chersonesus became a dependency of the Bosporan Kingdom. It was subject to Rome from the middle of the 1st century BC until the 370s AD, when it was captured by the Huns. We were told it has been nicknamed the “Russian Troy”. The site is now part of the National Historical-Archeological Museum-Zapovednik of the Russian Khersones Tavriysky. In 2013, Chersonesus was listed as a World Heritage Site.

So we bought two…

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Secrets of the Balaklava bay, Crimea

Travel to Crimea

Being over 2500 years old Balaklava is one of the most ancient cities in the Crimea and it is very popular for tourists now.  Balaklava has changed hands many times during its history. The first were Tauri (also known as Scythotauri ) in IX century BC, who worshiped the goddess Artemida. They gave their name to the peninsula, which was known in ancient times as Taurica, Taurida and Tauris.

It’s believed the first records on a settlement with it’s ancient name the Lamos in the Balaklava bay has been found in Homer’s poem Odyssey. “His soldiers, with a dozen ships, arrive at “the rocky stronghold of Lamos”  There is a beleive Odysseus, the main character of Homer’s Odyssey, visited this place during his journey back home to Ithaca. The giants ate many of Odysseus’ men and destroyed eleven of his twelve ships by launching rocks from high cliffs. Odysseus’ ship…

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Stalin’s secret nuclear submarine base in Balaklava

Travel to Crimea

One of the most interesting museums we visited in Crimea was a top secret Cold War nuclear submarine underground base located in the Balaklava Bay not far from Sevastopol city.

In the period after the Second World War, the two superpowers – the USSR and the U.S. – stepped up their nuclear arsenal, threatening each other pre-emptive strikes and retaliatory strikes.

On Monday, August 6, 1945, at 8:15 a.m., the nuclear bomb “Little Boy” was dropped on Hiroshima by an American B-29 bomber, directly killing an estimated 80,000 people. On August 9, 1945, Nagasaki was the target of the United States’ second atomic bomb attack at 11:02 a.m., when the north of the city was destroyed in less than a second, and an estimated 40,000 people were killed instantly, tens of thousands died later . It was then that Joseph Stalin gave Lavrentiy Beria (who was responsible at that time “nuclear project”), a secret directive:…

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Russian Navy Day celebration in Sevastopol 2014

Travel to Crimea

The next city we visited in Crimea was Sevastopol. This is very special city in Russian history and we came here for a special reason. The 27th of July was The Russian Navy Day celebration in all over Russia and Sevastopol too of cause as it is Russian Black Sea Navy base.

Thousands of locals and tourist came to the Sevastopol Promenade to see the Russian Black Fleet parade.

Crimea Sevastopol 2014

Here we bought an appropriate outfit for such special day for Alexei  🙂

Crimea 2014

Now he looks like brave Russian Navy 🙂

People were climbing all over the places just to have a better view

Even a local praying mantis wanted to see the parade 🙂

People stood on rooftops to see the ships and performance

And so it began…….

Yes, we’ve been there and we saw it! This shooting was VERY powerful and VERY loud! Alexei never…

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Best of the World – Shallow Nest castle – Crimea

Travel to Crimea

As the National Geographic magazine presented the Crimean Peninsula and the “Swallow Nest” castle as one of the best Trips 2013 we couldn’t leave Yalta without visiting the famous castle.

The castle was built in the early twentieth century between 1911 and 1912 on a cliff that juts out over the Black Sea. The “Swallow’s Nest” castle was built in a Neo-Gothic design by the Russian architect Leonid Sherwood for the Baltic German oil millionaire Baron von Steingel.

Just less than 30 minutes by taxi; not far away from town center in Yalta and you are in extremely beautiful place! From the main road we walked down the stone stairs to the “Swallow’s Nest” castle …

but there is a much quicker way … You can have a ride down the rope as the climber just for £18. Some tourists enjoy this attraction 🙂

The castle is amazing! There is no any other place…

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Unforgettable trip to Ai-Petri mountain on Day 3 in Crimea 2014

Travel to Crimea

Crimean trip day 3 🙂 We were very lucky with the weather that day. Sometimes it is not possible to see anything because of  thick clouds. Also we were advised to bring warm cloths with us which we didn’t need as it was warm and not windy at all.

We took a cable car to go on the very top of the famousAi-Petri – Crimean mountains

On the top of Ai-Petri we found many interesting things and amazing views!

Many people who visited this place left their “Thank you” on paper notes for restaurant to display where guests came from.

Crimean Tatars offering a horse ride to all tourists.

Here you have to make a wish and it WILL COME TRUTH!

And we went down to Yalta by road 🙂

If you wonder what else you could on Ai-Petri have look below 🙂

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Livadia Palace (part 2) – Royal Family and outdoor Gym

Travel to Crimea

It was another beautiful day in Crimea when we arrived to Lavadia Palace located near Yalta. The palace is a little over 100 years old and was built  as a Summer residence for the last Russian Tsar, Nicholas II, and his family.

In 1909 Nicholas and his wife, Aleksandra, traveled to Italy, where they were captivated by Renaissance palaces shown to them by Victor Emmanuel III. Upon their return, they engaged Nikolay Krasnov, Yalta’s most fashionable architect, responsible for the grand ducal residences in Koreiz, to prepare plans for a brand new imperial palace.  After 17 months of construction, the new palace was inaugurated on 11 September 1911. In November Grand Duchess Olga celebrated her 16th birthday at Livadia.

Romanovs loved the place and spent in Livadia palace at least 2,5 months every year.

Grand Duchesses Olga and Tatiana

Alexei and I went to two exhibitions there. The first was…

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Livadia Palace (part 1) – summer residence the last Emperor of Russia

Travel to Crimea

When we arrived to Livadia near Yalta, we went straight to Romanovs museum in the palace. This post is dedicated to the Russian Royal family murdered in 1918 in Siberian city Ekaterinburg. 

Born 6 May 1868, Nicholas was the oldest son of Tsar Alexander III and his wife Maria Feodorovna. His parents took particular trouble over his education. Nicholas was taught by outstanding Russian academics at home, he knew several languages and had a wide knowledge of history, and he also quickly grasped military science. His father personally guided his education, which was strictly based on religion. Nicholas ascended the throne at age 26 after the unexpected death of his father in 1894.

Nicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia, Grand Duke of Finland, and titular King of Poland. His official short title was Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias.

Shortly after the death of his…

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Another day in Crimea 2014 – Vorontsov Palace and W. Churchill

Travel to Crimea

Another day in Crimea. We took a bus from Yalta and in 40 min arrived to the beautiful Vorontsov Palace and it’s munificent park. The palace was built for Count Michael Vorontsov in 1846 and it took 23 years to build.  The Palace is very interesting from an architectural design perspective and it’s history.

Interesting fact -the eminent architect who designed the Palace was Edward Blore, the same architect who designed parts of Buckingham Palace, St. James Palace and many other important buildings in England and Scotland.  Edward Blore designed the Voronsov Palace (another name is Alupka palace) without ever visiting the site in Russia. Another interesting fact -Winston Churchill and the British delegation stayed at the Vorontsov (Alupka) Palace during the Yalta Conference in 1945.  He gave a farewell dinner here.

Its northern facade is a very grand late English Gothic style. This is contrasted by Moroccan architecture on…

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Prolonged Wine tasting session or Massandra Palace Day 5 in Crimea

Travel to Crimea

Day 5 of our trip to Crimea was even better than others as we decided to go to Massandra Palace and taste famous Crimean wine 🙂

We took a bus from Yalta which goes up to the mountain. It’s last stop is Massandra Palace.

We spotted a statue of an eagle before the turn on the road to the Massandra palace.

It is a symbol of the Russian royalty.

Some attractions for taking pictures.

In the late 1870s the house of Count Vorontsov was badly damaged by the storm and he ordered to build a more comfortable building designed by French architect Etienne Bouchard. Vorontsov wanted Massandra Palace as a small palace for family vacation in the hottest time of year. All should contribute to an atmosphere of coziness and comfort. These requirements are fully matched the project of Etienne Bouchard made in the romantic style.

The Emperor of the…

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