Sevastopol

Another very nice port city in the Ukraine.  Apparently it was a closed city until the late 1990’s, meaning no-one but naval staff and families were allowed into the area.  The city has only recently become the trendy place to visit for Ukrainians, and ships too apparently.

Sevastopol seems proud of its military and naval heritage and there are loads of monuments celebrating the cities heroes and history, such as Stalin granting Sevastopol the title “Hero City” in 1945 after it held out against the Germans in 1942.

We spent the morning walking around.  First thing I noticed is that the city lacks shop windows, (of course I would, I’m female), so we couldn’t really tell what was being sold.  Apparently this is “chic”.   We didn’t see any street or market stalls either. There didn’t seem to be many bars or restaurants, but that could be because, like shops, they’re not advertising.  There were loads n loads of banks and cash machines though and of course, a cathedral.

                              

The last thing we visited was The Panorama.  This was very much worth our time.  An amazing piece of art and design which demonstrates a little of Sevastopol’s history beautifully.  Very graphic and realistic, it is quite stunning and thanks to two tour guides, (one in front and one behind) I learnt a little regarding a siege in 1854-1855, and why some of the city memorials.

We were back on ship by 1pm and agreed there was no reason for us to go out again.  I think if we visit in future, research is needed beforehand and we should be ready to book a taxi somewhere.   I am sure Ukraine has plenty to show us, just not necessarily in Sevastopol. 

Next stop Yalta, another Ukrainian port.

Odessa

A beautiful city and one the Ukrainians should be proud of. Many of the buildings and architecture are works of art in themselves and keep you looking upwards. The streets are wide and easy with loads of restaurants and shopping and the city centre seems to have something for everyone. We thoroughly enjoyed our wandering.

Tip 1. You can never have too much info. We had a couple of maps, one issued by the Tourist Info People and one from the ship, but we took a third from some woman in the port terminal. It was covered in adverts, but it was the most useful of all.

First we left the port terminal and made our way across the road and up the Potemkin Steps, considered the formal entrance to the city from the sea.

Tip 2. Always check the price, even when there isn’t one. At the top of these steps were 8-10 men with golden eagles on their arms. Quite beautiful creatures and I was captivated. The birds were incredibly tame, and could be petted. I knew there would be money involved in this, and I was looking for begging bowls or something but could see nothing. I was invited to hold out my arm and take one of the birds, which I did. Then another, and in the end I had one on each arm. I was surprised how their claws didn’t dig in, or how they seemed so docile. And I absolutely loved the birds, looking into their very wild and unmerciful eyes, seeing those vicious beaks so close. At no point had anyone mentioned money, and to be honest me n Peter didn’t have any of the local currency or any change on us. We were quite happy to give, but the question was going to be how much.

Sadly my experience was tainted by a row about how much we should give them. They wanted 10 Euros off us. We thought that was too much. It would have been so much easier for all concerned if had told us how much they expected in the first place and not force the birds on us as they did. Peter got angry and we started to leave. They accepted the 5 Euros on offer in the end.

We walked on into town and took a look at the Opera and Ballet Theatre

This lovely little fountain, one of two at Dumskaya Square

The City Garden with its bronze lions

This stunning hotel, under renovation, the Bolshaya Moskovskaya, originally built in 1904

A shopping centre from 1898









Odessa Cathedral and Cathedral Square

Tip 3. Ukrainian women cover their hair before entering the cathedral. I felt inappropriate and therefore we didn’t explore the cathedral fully, and the info sheet tells us the crypts, two floors down, are worth a visit. We were also expected to make a donation, as demanded by the staff from us on our way out. You can’t take photographs or film in the Cathedral, but it is absolutely beautiful inside. Cool white marble and ornate gold and blue decor. A style leftover from the Tsars I’m told. Really worth popping in and having a look.

The Colonade.

The Mother-in-Law Bridge. Built by a husband to make it easier for his mother-in-law to visit, or perhaps to make sure she didn’t need to stay overnight. The bridge itself is very boring, but apparently, this is a place where newly-weds get their photographs taken. What we really liked were the padlocks. There were hundreds, perhaps thousands of them fixed to the bridge, each one marked with the names of a couple. We assume they are some sort of love bond or promise, maybe something to do with the weddings. Quite romantic

So, at the end of our day, we feel quite satisfied. Tomorrow we visit another Ukrainian city, Sevastopol. Cool!

Varne

Well, I don’t think Varne thinks of itself as a tourist destination. It seems that there may be some wonderful things to see, but we took a little while to find anything.

First, we paid the £5 per head fare for the shuttle bus, to be taken to the city centre and the Cathedral Assumption of the Virgin. Not the biggest cathedral we have ever visited but very highly decorated inside

. 

But this was the only thing to see really in the city centre. Even the shopping centres and markets were too far away from our drop off point for most people. So like everyone else, we were back on the bus within an hour and heading back to the ship. 

Back on board, we swapped bags and went back out again. There’s a beach is right alongside the port, so we packed the swimming stuff, but we’d decided we also wanted to go and have a look at a couple of Roman archaeological sites shown on our street guide and only 5-10 minutes walk from the port. 

First we found the site marked “Roman Baths”. Oh Dear! It doesn’t look like the Bulgarians are very interested in looking after their archaeological inheritance.

A little fed up, we were now ready to go to the beach, but since the “Roman Thermae” site was so close, we thought we might as well have a look, you never know. 

This time we were well impressed, what a fantastic site. I admit to not having seen many sites of roman antiquity, and therefore have nothing to compare, but I reckon this place must be one of the most complete, in terms of remains. 

It was great, you really could see where the baths were, and how the Romans would have moved around the building, pieces of pillars, even some of the plaster remained on a wall in the cellars. This site really amazed me. 

Apparently, somewhere else well worth visiting, (according to other passengers), is the Archaeological Museum. 

Now we really were ready for a swim so we made our way over to the beach. The beach is quite good, but the water is cold. We decided to try out our snorkels and goggles, which caused a few laughs and a little confusion. I’m obviously doing something wrong as my snorkel kept filling with water. But I did manage to see a couple of fish, and a little hermit crab pulling his shell across the bottom. I’m just gonna have to practice more. After our swim in the Black Sea (Cool eh?), we had a quick and very cheap drink in one of the bars whilst we dried off and we were back on board in time for our 3 O’clock curfew, as the ship was sailing at 3.30pm. Well, it would have done, if everybody had managed the meet the check in time. It seems one of our passengers was a bit late, and therefore the ship didn’t sail until 4pm. Oh oh! 

So that was Varne. Next stop Odessa.

If you'd like to read about our next visit to Varne (or Varna), click here