A summer series - pt 9

Last one - and then pictures - really (Alister's been downloading and editing them all day) :-)

After all our hard work at the hut - we needed a break - and where do Ukrainians go for a break? Crimea! - Where? Ok. Black Sea. Think Yalta conference - Stalin, FDR, and Churchill? Subtropical Ukrainian peninsula with semi-autonomy and which is claimed as part of Russia every year by the Moscow Mayor? Oh - that Crimea.

It's not a surprise that you might not have heard of it or thought it to be a booming tourist destination- while it is one of the most popular tourist destinations for Russians and Ukrainians - it would be incredibly hard to get around if you weren't in possession of a fantastic guidebook or if you didn't speak the language. Everything is in Russian. While everyone is very friendly and helpful - without the language I don't know where we would be - we ran into one tourist who was trying to find out where to catch his bus - he seemed to be having a great time but he was totally lost - he had come into the city on one of the last buses in - not knowing how that the buses stop at 10pm and not knowing his address or the way back to house so a taxi and walking were probably also out. We couldn't help.

Finding a place to stay - We stepped off the 1 hour 40 minute trolley bus ride (don't do it - take a marshrutka) and before you could say "I think that woman might have rooms" - we were SWARMED by laterally 17 women all offering us accommodation - needless to say with that type of press - its hard to make a good decision - we picked the wrong babushka - the 10 minute walk to the beach was a 15 minute bus ride on a bus that left every half hour - the warm water was in someone elses room, and the "domik" - little house - was a one room in a 4 roomed wall of shacks that made our mud hut look heavenly (ok - the shack did have electricity - a light and a refrigerator - it wasn't the worst place I've stayed - but it did teach us that we need to come up with a better strategy to deal with swarming babushkas - namely if the price is that much cheaper than people who seem to be offering less - there has to be a reason).

We were there three nights and overall it was a good introductory trip to Crimea - we learned where not to go and what not to do and also spotted some places to go "next time". We did see the White Castle where the "3" met to decide the future of the world and precede the role of the UN, we saw a somewhat overly re-modeled castle - the Swallows' nest perched on a hill above a pristine bay that was unfortunately a private beach for a hotel so we couldn't swim - we explored Yalta - tried some Crimean wines (mostly all sweet), but the best highlight was a one day excursion on a passenger boat to Novi Svet (New World), and Sudok (where there is a castle fort on the hill overlooking the beach). The two hours free time at both of these places was way too short - but the boat ride - on the way there for all of us was also part of the wonderful atmosphere - we saw three pods of dolphins. It was great. There were two that followed the boat for quite a ways - jumping in unison as they rushed to keep up with us. On the way home - the careful observer could also see a few dolphins - but for the most part they were sleeping (thanks Hawaii snorkel guide for telling me about dolphin habits) and so you had to watch for their dorsal fins and the occasional mist of spray as they rested at the surface of the water. I did however get to see one - I had moved to the brow of the boat and just looked down and there was a dolphin - right there! He made a couple of jumps and was quickly left behind - but he was the closest one I got to see - it was fantastic.