New Page 20

Wide Angle View of Sevastopol, Ukraine. Photo © Roger 2006

Sevastopol (Crimea) Ukraine on the Black Sea

You are invited to sample a few of the thousands of photos taken during our trips to beautiful and history rich Ukraine and Crimea. The Crimea is located on the southern tip of Ukraine and surrounded by the Black Sea. Essentially the Crimea is the Russian equivalent of the French Riviera with beautiful coastline, beaches and natural history. Not many Americans venture this far into eastern Europe, but it's a trip that is well worth the travel and expense.

Translation services provided by wife, Saniye, a Crimean Tatar who is fluent in many languages. Photographic background complimented by the Black Sea coast and 4,000 foot mountain above Yalta and Alupka called Ay-Petri. The ice age did not impact this geographic area, thus the mountains have nearly vertical slopes unlike those in New England. Ukraine, formerly part of the former USSR, is an evolving economy, perhaps not very fast but with significant potential. The national language is now government mandated as Ukrainian however a large percentage of residents still speak Russian. Public Television, Radio, Newspapers, road signs, billboards and other media are required to be in Ukrainian language.

Some higher resolution photos may take time to load. Included are photos of many historic sites, including museums, countryside, scenes along the Black Sea as well as some of the former "Soviet" military city of Sevastopol.

Sevastopol is a city that Celebrates. Our hotel balcony faced Artillerian Bay, a beautiful backdrop for festivities.

We were fortunate to enjoy nearly perfect weather during our summer trips. Daytime temperatures averaged 90 + degrees and nights around 65 to 70 F. We had only a day of thunder showers and a few evenings of same. Public transportation - cabs, autobus, hiking, wife's family's auto and air between Kiev and Simferopol. Many roadways in the Ukraine are in poor shape and are downright dangerous. Drivers and vehicles are the same poor shape and dangerous! Although in the past few years many economy European cars are appearing on the roads, there are still a large percentage of the old Soviet produced vehicles running around. It's not unusual to see 1985 to 1990 beat up cars being used as taxi's. Electric buses "Trolley Buses" are still prevalent in the larger cities. There are very, very few cars and public transports with A/C which makes it very uncomfortable on hot days. (especially if you are used to modern western style transportation!) It surprised me to flag down one taxi driver who we remembered from last trip. He still had the same 1980 ish beat up taxi but the driver's seat appeared to be a modified dining room stool or chair. Another taxi driver tried to impress us with a call to the dispatcher, but I noticed that the microphone coiled cord didn't connect to anything!

Sevastopol Dolphinarium. Sevastopol(Sebastopol), Crimea, Ukraine photo