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Trip Report #9-2002: Ukraine Part IIFiled from Istanbul, Turkey40 58.30N 28 53.00EAugust 30, 2002
Photo: Monuments on the shore in Sevastopol Harbor We arrived in Sevastopol on August 5 at 5 pm. After a 65 mile sail, we dropped our stern anchor and moored bow-to the dock in the marina at Uchakova Balka. Victor, the marina owner, and his daughter and interpreter, Olga, were there to receive the entire flotilla. After a bit of socializing, we all went back to our boats for our dinners and an early night. The next day was cloudy and gray with a line of thunderstorms approaching. We decided to postpone a sightseeing tour of the city. As we watched a particularly threatening group of clouds pass the harbor entrance, we saw a pigtail from a cloud develop into a tornado which touched down on the water as a waterspout. As it moved, it eventually made contact with land and started to disintegrate. We were very happy to watch it disappear.
Photo: Waterspout in Sevastopol Harbor Sevastopol was the home of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet. It was here that the Black Sea Fleet held off the British, French and Turkish fleets during the Crimean war, when the town was under siege for 349 days. The 1854-55 Defense of Sevastopol, presented in the Panorama in an artists' mural combined with the physical display of wartime antiques and memorabilia, is a truly awesome depiction of the siege.
Photo: Panorama, depicting the Defense of Sevastopol, 1854-55 The horse is in the painting; the wagon (an antique) is in the physical display There is still a considerable military presence here. In fact, throughout the Ukraine, we noted a lot of military personnel, ships and other military equipment. But here in Sevastopol, Russia maintains a naval base, as well as a yacht club, and seventy percent of the citizens of Sevastopol are Russian. The city is beautiful with large, grand buildings, and many monuments. It is a pleasure to walk here or to take the convenient buses that connect all parts of the city and run frequently. Photo: Sevastopol on the harbor Our tour of the city took us on a visit to Chersonesus, a Greek city founded in the 5th century BC.
Photo: Theatre and Mosaic floor at Chersonesus
Photo: Clive & Brenda, s/v Bellator, at Chersonesus The flotilla departed for Balaclava and Olga, Victor's daughter, was invited to make the voyage aboard the yacht, Rainbow Ride.
Photo: Maureen(Aussie), Dick(Yank) and Olga(Ukrainian) depart for Balaclava After we waved good-bye to the flotilla, we left Starboard Home in Victor's care in the marina and took a short flight to Kiev for 3 days. We met Jay and Linda ( s/v Hell's Belles) there, who had taken an overnight train from Odessa. We met at the Hotel Kozatsky, which is right on the edge of Independence Square in the heart of the city. Our plane trip cost us $100 round trip each and the hotel cost us $100 a night, expensive by Ukraine standards, but this is, after all, the capital of the Ukraine.
Photo: Independence Square, Kiev, from the Hotel Kozatsky
Photo: Peg in Independence Square, Kiev Kiev is a beautiful city. There are large monuments everywhere, honoring important people and events and engendering pride in the city and it's people. It is a tradition in the Ukraine for newly married couples to travel around the city on their wedding day, in their wedding garments and with their family, to as many of the monuments as possible to be photographed. This is said to confer good luck to the couple.
Photo: Tom at monument in Independence Square, Kiev The buildings are lovely, and many of them, even grand and serious government buildings, are painted in pastel colors trimmed with white. It imparts a cheerful and vivacious ambience and it looks clean and pretty.
Photos: Scenes of Kiev We toured through several of the beautiful churches in Kiev. St Sophia cathedral, erected in the 11th century and rebuilt several times since then, stands at one end of Sophiiska square. Rebuilding has taken place in a manner that preserves remaining structures and allows one to see how original walls, floors and frescoes might have been uncovered by archeologists. The interior of St. Sophia has murals and mosaics depicting saints and biblical events.
Photo: St. Sophia Cathedral, Kiev St. Andrews church was built in the 18th century by Queen Elizabeth and is now a museum. From it, we walked to Andrilvskyl Uzviz in the Podil district, Kiev's oldest street, picturesque, steep and winding, and with many vendors set up along its' length. There, we spent some pleasant hours checking out (and buying) the distinctly Ukrainian artwork and crafts displayed there.
Photo: St. Andrew's Cathedral, Kiev
Photo: Peg & Tom in Podil, Kiev
Photo: Jay & Linda from s/v Hell's Belles in Podil Ukrainians we met talked about the "identity problem" they have since their independence. They still feel Russian and are proud of their Russian association. They sometimes refer to events that happened under the communist regime with anger, events like the forced famine, when Stalin exacted a terrible toll from the Ukrainian people, causing countrywide famine during which hundreds of thousands died. But they also speak of security and a better economy under communism and difficult economic conditions now. They are very hard working and productive people and very optimistic about the future.
Photo: Images of old regimes in present day Kiev When we returned to Sevastopol, Victor was there to greet us and to assure us that Starboard Home did well in our absence. We never doubted it, as Victor knows how to make sure that boats in the marina are safe, and he and his staff are very attentive. We hired a car and driver to take us to Balaclava and Yalta, and Olga, Victor's daughter, agreed to accompany us as our translator. She is a university student, studying English and Ukrainian language and literature; and prior to the trip, she went to the library to find information about the places we would see. She was an invaluable source of information; we would not have understood any of the tour without her translation; and she was a delightful companion. Our driver, Pavil, was also a very helpful tour guide. We drove to Balaclava, where the flotilla was moored and caught up with our friends there. We also climbed up into the hills around Balaclava and saw the remains of Genoese fortresses around the harbor.
Photo: Entrance to submarine pen in harbor entrance at Balaclava We continued on to Yalta, stopping on the way to buy the red, sweet onions that are so good and currently in season.
Photo: Peg & Olga buying onions In Yalta, we visited the Alupka Palace, home of Count Vorontsov, a former governor of the Novorsslsky Territory in the Ukraine. The Palace and the surrounding gardens, groves and hiking paths were beautiful and there were crowds of Ukrainian and Russian people touring this national treasure. We also went to the Livadia Palace, the former home of Tsar Nicholas II, where in 1945 the Crimean Conference took place, with Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt in attendance.
Photo: Livadia Palace, Yalta
Photo: Our driver, Pavil, on the grounds of the Livadia Palace As we toured the grounds, there were some of the usual tourist vendors. But one thing that Olga and Pavil encouraged us to do was to have our photo taken with a Golden Eagle, the symbol of the U.S. Tom amiably went along with it.
Photo: Tom with a Golden Eagle at Livadia Palace We are now preparing to check out of the Ukraine and sail back across the Black Sea to the northern coast of Turkey. We loved the Ukraine and it's people. We kept pinching ourselves, as we heard Russian spoken all around us, and saying " Are we really here? " But we look forward now to making landfall in Turkey. Das Vadanya! 73's, 88's, love & hugs Peg & Tom s/v Starboard Home
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Grand Daughters' web pages: Anna's Home Page, Anastasia's Home Page Isabelle's Home Page
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