Tom and Linda's 2011 Europe Trip

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Scientific American Cruise: Yalta, and leaving the Black Sea

Sunday, 9 October: Yalta, Crimea, Ukraine

The dock in Yalta. We pulled into Yalta in daylight, so got to see quite a bit of this seaside resort.

Yalta is most famous for the conference between Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt at the end of WWII, and there were tours going to the Livadia Palace where that happened. We decided we were more interested in using our limited time here to see the people.

 


The city looks fairly modern from the water.

 


Golden domes of a church draw the eye, down from the modern apartment blocks on the top of the hill.

 

There were a lot of contruction cranes, but none of them were moving.

It was a Sunday, but some of the construction sites looked abandoned.

 


A little dramatic weather out past the lifeboats.

 

Learning ancient boat-building skills? Named in English. They seem to honor their early Viking invasions.

We walked off the ship and into the city, found our way around to the waterfront.

 


Quick look back. Just making sure we know where our bed is when we're done here.

 

 


On the waterfront we found a fair going on. Not particularly touristy, it seemed to be for the locals. Lots of children running about.

 

 

 

Ran into our new friends Al, Karen, and Eileen on the waterfront. We've had dinner with them several times and enjoy their company.

Al and Eileen are married, traveling with their friend Karen, and they all live in Berkeley.

 


A guy with a monkey brought him over so we could take photos with him. Al got a kick out of it.

 


The monkey seemed perfectly at home up top.

 


For me it was only a shoulder ride. Cute little heart-shaped nose.

 

At first Tom thought they were showing bikes, then we realized this was an opportunity to dress up for a photo. Be a biker chick and sit on a Harley. It looked like fun.

They also had Edwardian and Victorian costumes and little sets with ornate settees and paintings.

 


And they had some really tricked-out bikes.

 


It wasn't a crowded fair, but people seemed to be enjoying themselves.

 


Beautiful fruit stand. Had we been traveling on our own we would've shopped there.

 

The gold domes we saw from the ship belong to the Cathedral of Saint Prince Alexander Nevsky, the main Orthodox Cathedral in Yalta.

The cathedral, one of the attractions of the city, was built in honor of Russia's Tsar Alexander II, who died at the hands of the People.


The Nevsky Cathedral is now a school with about 100 students.

 


Bell tower for the cathedral.

 


Tiny gondola cars lift people, 1 or 2 at a time, up the hill to the top of the town.

 

We decided to walk it.

The path frequently ran very near the gondola. It was steep and the steps fairly irregular.

Good exercise.

 


Bit of a rest stop and a look back down at the Rotterdam.

 


Near the top we found some sort of a memorial wall. No idea what it says.

 

And at the very top of the hill we found Yalta's memorial to the Great Patriotic War, a term used for the period from 22 June 1941, when the Nazi invasion of the USSR began, to 9 May 1945, when it ended.

 

The path back down afforded some nice views of the city.

 


People getting by.

 

 


A Greek bank in Ukraine?

 


I think this hamster-wheel for people was part of the fair, but it's in a pool several blocks from the waterfront . Looks like fun, though.

 


Now this one really looks like fun. We saw adults doing it too. You're suspended by big bungy cords, and get to jump really high really easily.

 

Monday, 10 October: At Sea

We headed out from Yalta before the sun set and made our way back out of the Black Sea.

Here we are entering the Bosporous again, this time in daylight so that we could see what we were passing. The tour director gave us information as we went.

 


The weather closed in and our views of the shorelines were a bit foggy.

 

 


Hello again, Istanbul.

 


Big displays on the ship tracked our location via GPS.

 


Back through Istanbul, under the trans-continental bridge.

 

 

 


Another huge cruise liner, with eye shadow and lipstick, had taken our place near the Galata Bridge.

 


Offloaded the local pilot and bid farewell to the Old Town.

 


And it's back out into the Tyrrhenian Sea we go.

 

Next stop, Ephesus

Index

1 Getting There
6 Olympia
11 Ephesus
16 The Cinque Terre
2 Sorrento
7 Santorini (Thira)
12 Athens
17 Pisa & Sienna
3 Pompeii & Herculanium
8 Istanbul
13 Venezia
18 Tuscany
4 The Amalfi Coast
9 Varna & Odessa
14 Padua & Verona
19 Montepulciano
5 Sci-Am Cruise
10 Yalta
15 Firenze
20 Rome & Home


Email Tom: tomnoe@teleporttelescopes.com
Email Linda: lsilas@mac.com