Odessa, Crimea, summer 2006

The beauty of Black Sea coast.

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• Colors of Odessa
• Odessa in B&W
• Akerman
• Akerman in B&W
• Olieniovka
• Sevastopol in and out
• Fiolent
• Ai-Petri
• Jalta
• SW from Jalta
• Khans' palace
• Chufut Kale
• Eski-Kermen

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Finally, this summer I could realize my plans of going to Crimea, and so during 3 weeks at the end of August and the beginning of September me and my friends were admiring the beauty of Black Sea coast.

We started our trip on September 22nd. The train took us to Odessa, where we decided to stop for a few days, walking up the stairs to stroll around the old town. From Odessa there is just a short jump to Akerman, just a day-long trip to the west, to see the fortress and taste great wines of Bessarabia.

Days in Odessa passed quickly, so after a night in a train we arrived to Crimea. Tired with cities my friends decided, that they want to spend a week "away from everything" and so, few hours later, we landed in Olieniovka. Indeed life there goes in somehow different, calm way. And the views of cliffs, white to the South and red to the North, were worth of this trip.

After a week at the end of world, there came a time to return back to our path. The next stop was Sevastopol, the city interesting itself, both by the modern part of harbour and naval base, but also the ruins of Hersonez, Inkerman with its monastery and remains of yet another historical fortress and beautiful beach at Fiolent penisula.

Sevastopol became our base for trips along the coast, toward Jalta and to inland part of Crimea. In those trips we had a chance to see the coast both from sea side from dolphins' perspective (they didn't want to pose for pictures, sorry), but also from the top of Ai-Petri.

First of our inland trips led us to Balhchisarai, where Tartars' khans had had their palace and yet a bit further to a town on a rock built by Karaites, Chufut Kale. Even though Chufut Kale was impressing, the next trip revealed to us even more estonishing examples of human presence, Chelter-Marmara and Eski-Kermen, first being a five floor monastery consisting of caves made by human in the middle of a rock, the other was a town built not on, but in a rock.

But holidays came to the end and visiting the other half of Crimea had to remain a plan for future...

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