Sevastopol
We flew from Kiev to Simferepol which is the nearest airport to Sevastopol. You can travel to Sevastopol by train. It takes from 12 hours to 18 hours depending on whether you take the train that stops often or the 'fast' train. Flying took under 2 hours. In a very old plane! What's more you may have heard about the Ukrainian Navy that shot down a passenger plane by accident recently. That was on the same day we arrived in Kiev! We took the train back to Kiev! When we left Kiev the weather was mild. When we arrived in Simferepol it was hot 23c 75f. Wonderful! Our friend and partner David, an American who lives in Sevastopol was ready and waiting to take us to our apartment in Sevastopol.
We stayed in the centre of Sevastopol in a 2 roomed apartment owned by our other American partner who runs our agency with David down in Sevastopol. The apartment is for use by clients who travel to Sevastopol on one of our tours. The apartment is up to western standards, nicely decorated and has continuous hot water because of a gas boiler that has been installed. As many of you know, hot water is usually turned off during summer months throughout Russia and Ukraine. Sevastopol is no exception. The photo on the right is a view looking across part of the bay of Sevastopol. The bay actually stretches to 30km. Here we are looking at the centre of town. You may be able to see a small statue of Lenin. If you can't, click on the photo to see the larger version. Our apartment is located to the right of the photo just out of view. It's about a 5 minute walk to this part of the town. As I said, it's a great location. We're actually in one of the finest restaurants in Sevastopol called Rybatchystan when I took this photo. Try the garlic shrimps and grilled salmon!
In the city we found the shops were full of food and produce. There were also some very fine clothing shops with Italian designers selling the latest fashions and leather coats. I managed to find an electrical shop selling the latest digital camcorders, digital camera's and equipment. However don't think you will save any money here. I didn't notice that anything was significantly cheaper and I certainly wouldn't want to try and sneak anything through customs! Again the buildings are in great condition. The streets are clean with tree lined avenues that are cobbled like some old English roads. All the side streets have little open cafe bars where you can sit and watch the world go by. And guys there are a LOT of pretty women walking by!! And the climate in the Crimea is great. As you can see from the photo above the weather is perfect in October. I think it's similar to the climates of the Mediterranean islands. Next: Panorma Museum
