A Crimean Mountain Monastery

Although I'm now home in America, I'm going to keep posting as if we recently had these adventures around Europe. I'll post the dates we actually visited these locations at the start of each posts in an attempt to keep things straight. 

The Crimean Mountains

Visited: April 6th, 2013

I've written a few times about how the area around Kharkiv was geographically similar to the farm lands where we lived in Lawrence, Kansas.  I'm afraid that doesn't give a 100% accurate picture of the topography we have run into in our travels.  During one trip we made our way to the beginning of the Carpathian Mountains in the southwest side of Ukraine and while in Crimea we actually found some mountains.  These are a little outside Bakhchysarai and are a pretty impressive change of pace.  

On some of the cliffs people could hike up to the cliff wall and actually mountain climb up towards the top.  

 

As a person who doesn't speak Russian, the sign on the cliff would either be telling me about the hiking park or that if a person isn't too careful on their hike they could fall off the side of the cliff.

Into the side of one of the mountains is located the Assumption Cave Monastery.  It is said that a monastery existed there as early as the 8th century with the current monastery dating back to the 15th century.  The monastery was also closed down during communism and reopened in the 1990's.  

Photography wasn't allowed right near the site so I had to surreptitiously take some photos of it without angering the monks.  There is also a holy spring at the site and many, many school children were filling up their water bottles for the ride home.  

The Khan's Palace

Although I'm now home in America, I'm going to keep posting as if we recently had these adventures around Europe. I'll post the dates we actually visited these locations at the start of each posts in an attempt to keep things straight. 

The Khan's Palace

Visited: April 6th, 2013

Continuing on our tour of the Crimea we visited Bakhchysarai which is located in the dead center of the peninsula.  The main tourist site is The Khan's Palace which is a mosque and palace originally constructed in the 16th century.

I had never seen such beautiful minarets before.

While I didn't go into the mosque side, we did explore the palace.  I enjoyed these stained glass windows in what is called the summer pavilion which has a fountain that is flowing in the summer.

Another glorious stained glass window this one with a triangle and hexagon shapes.  

Here is the chandelier in one of the palace's larger rooms.  The palace was built by the Crimean Khan dynasty and is one of the few examples of the Crimean Tartar style of architecture.  

The Russian poet Pushkin visited the palace in 1820 and was so inspired by the beauty of one of the fountains there that he wrote a poem about it called "The Fountain of Bakhchysarai."  You can read the entire poem here.  

They have placed a small bust of Pushkin near the fountain that was his inspiration.  I don't know about you but I'm not quite feeling the level of inspiration that he felt.  On the other hand, give me a baseball card and I'm writing thousand word essays on the topic so you can take your inspiration where you can.  

After seeing so many Orthodox churches around Ukraine it was a nice change of pace to see the minarets of a mosque on a lovely spring day.

After leaving the palace and heading down the road that runs in front of it we found an even larger monument to Alexander Pushkin. It made telling the cabby where we were located a whole lot easier.  

Balaklava, It's Not Just A Ski Mask Anymore

During our trip to the Crimea we stopped at the tiny little city of Balaklava which is located on the Black Sea.  During the Cold War the city was closed to foreigners because under this hillside in the port was located a Soviet nuclear submarine base.  

Today fisherman fish on the dock across from the entrance to the base.

Today the base is open to the public and it is definitely a place you should see if you ever get a chance to come to Ukraine.  We were the first visitors of the day as we didn't have too much time in the city and so as we walked along the hallways we were the only ones around.

When Anthony Bourdain visited Ukraine for No Reservations he also took time to visit the base commenting on how haunting it is to walk around it today.

As you walked along the hallway you would come across the odd torpedo now and again.

You could easily loose your way while walking around so they have these lights around the base to direct you where to go.

When it wasn't a torpedo on display they had many models of the submarines and ships that were a part of the Soviet navy.

I liked this anchor symbol on a tiny door that was padlocked shut.  I think the setting of a great horror movie could be located behind that door.

More torpedoes.

One of the more creepy hallways.  Again, no one else in sight.

Here's a great photo of what you would face if the base was ever locked down: doors that were several feet thick.

Towards the end of the tour we met on of the security guards who was very happy to give us a personal tour in English.  He was very proud of his English skills and was even more proud of the base's museums.

He showed us the command consoles that would have been used to launch a nuclear missle.

A radiation suit.

At the end of the tour you come out in the long entry way in which ships could enter and be fixed in the dry dock.  

Yet another creepy moment.  

After walking down that hall and around the corner we came back out into the sunlight and was greeted with the sight of a pile of old torpedoes.  Just another day in Ukraine!

As we continued down the road from the base we found the entrance to the naturally made port that only had one tiny entry point.

And it was obvious why this city was chosen to be the home of the secret base.

We also met a little friend who looks like he's had a long tough life in Balaklava.

Graffiti #16: Crimea Graffiti

Another day, another video, this time of graffiti from around Crimea.

My Last Lenin

While walking around Sevastopol on the Crimean peninsula we came up the last large statue of Lenin I would see during my time in Ukraine.   

Where is Lenin pointing?  Towards the Black Sea, of course.

Sevastopol is home to both Ukrainian and Russian naval bases and during Soviet times the city was closed to all non-residents.

Here's a view of Lenin's back side that I don't usually take.

While the Lenin statue is nice, it is the level of detail on the four crouching men surrounding Lenin that I'm really impressed with.  

Thinking about the Lenin statues that I saw during my trip I wasn't too sure when I would see something like it again.  I imagine it will be several years until I'm back in a place where Communism is still [kind of] celebrated.  And then I remember that I've lived in a place in America that has its own Lenin statue.  In Seattle, [technically, Fremont] there is a very prominent Lenin statue that many people [I assume] just sort of role their eyes at when they pass by...but when I'm in Seattle next time and see it I wonder if I will view it the same way.

Visiting Yalta

After spending many, many months just 30 km from the Russian border it was with some excitement that we got to travel to the southern most part of Ukraine on the Crimean peninsula.  The highlight of that trip was spending a few days in Yalta on the banks of the Black Sea.  

It was also a chance to see my first Ukrainian palm tree.

Like Kharkiv, Yalta also has a very prominent Lenin statue.  It was placed near the main marina and today it looks onto a McDonald's restaurant open 24 hours a day.

A view of Yalta from the marina.

We visited at the end of March and so most of the boats hadn't been put in the water yet.

We were out and about pretty early that morning and so we got to see many fisherman practicing their craft.

From another angle.

Although there was a little garbage floating in the water near the shore this was by far the cleanest water we'd seen in Ukraine.

A lonely lighthouse on the Black Sea.

We also took a "three hour tour" on this ship along the coast which was currently the only way to view one of Yalta's famous sites, the Swallow's Nest.

It is currently closed for renovations and so you aren't able to drive there for a visit.  Believe it or not it the building has been an Italian Restaurant since 1975.

The Black Sea from our boat tour.

The other key site in Yalta is Livadia Palace which is a former summer home of tsar Nicholas II.

It was also the site of the Yalta Conference between FDR, Churchill, and Stalin at which discussions were held about how to re-organize Europe after Germany's defeat.

Apparently this dog did not read the sign telling him to keep off the grass.  

And here is the famous courtyard...

...at which this famous photo was taken.  You can just barely make out the arches behind the men.

About half of the palace is devoted to a the Yalta Conference while the other half is devoted to Nicholas II and his family who stayed at the palace for a few summers.  Here is the view of the Black Sea from one of their rooms.

Yalta was by far the most tourist-centric place in Ukraine [Lviv would be a close second] and it was a wonderful change of pace.  Laura and I often joke that in 20 years when we come back to see what has changed in Ukraine we will certainly need to come back to Yalta one more time.