Simferopol/Yalta

 

Notes of Information: When we arrived in Moscow a young Russian lady/tour guide greeted us. She stayed with the group for the entire week.

 

Tipping: Gratitude for service was not given in the form of money. Tips consisted of giving them items they were not able to obtain in Russia. Such as lipstick, perfume, fashion magazines, blank cassette tapes, ballpoint pens and small games for children.

 

Drinking water was also often a problem is certain areas. Thus the trip was planned in a way that the city water was safe to drink but the next city the water was not safe to drink, so we were tasked to carry our own water for use in those areas.

 

The Flight to Simperopol

Don’t think for a minute you will be served cocktails, peanuts or a snack. But then who wants to eat or drink on an airplane that smells like a cesspool. The flight was 2 hours. When we arrived we had our evening dinner in this location. Plain boiled old potatoes, tough chicken, tomatoes, cucumbers and ice cream. There were wrapped pieces of chocolate candy on the table that smelled something like mothballs. Following dinner it was a 2 hour buss ride to Yalta. We are 800 miles south of Moscow so it does get dark at night. I slept during the trip. We arrived at the Hotel 30 minutes past midnight. The room was nice but extremely small which made it super crowded with our suitcases in the room.

 

I’m starting to look like a bum. My clothes are dirty, baggie, wrinkled and smelly from the rain, heat and humidity.

 

Thursday 6 July 1989. As we were extremely tired from yesterday’s long trip, breakfast was scheduled for 0900. Once again we were served the traditional 60% fat salami, cheese, bread, pancakes and juice. After breakfast we toured the Alupka castle. It is situated at the foot of the Crimean Mountains. Constructed 1830-1848 to be used as the summer residence of the Governor General. It over looks the Black Sea. It was extremely beautiful and interesting. There was a tour guide giving us information about the castle. She got on my case because I was recording what she was saying because I had not first asked for her permission. Oh well, we are in a Communist country.

 

After lunch we to a trip to the Children’s Pioneer camp. It was huge. Children come from all over the East Block countries to attend this camp. It is the one that Samantha Smith attended. (The American youngster that wrote a letter to Gorbachev and was invited to stay at the camp for 10 days).  There are approximately 2000 children at the cam and it is run year around. During the winter months they have regular school sessions. The children are age 10 and above. The counselors area age 18 and above. The children preformed for us with dance routines. They also wanted to converse with us. They were cute and most pleasant. We gave them our gifts of ballpoint pens, writing tablets and other school supplies. Then we returned to the hotel for dinner.

After dinner we had another discussion regarding the changes in the Soviet Union, Then a few of us went to a very quiet cocktail lounge. Some of the group went to the lounge at the opposite end, which had extremely loud, and a terrible band. It was extremely crowded with people from East Germany.

 

Friday 7 July. It looks like a beautiful day. After breakfast we had a boat trip of the coastline that included the Swallow’s nest castle. I highly recommend you google the Swallow’s nest castle to learn of it’s history and view some awesome photo’s.

After lunch we had a tour of the Ukrainian summer palace of Czar Nicholas II, the last emperor of Russia and the site of the Yalta Conference.

 

Dinner was at 1930 which consisted of wonderful white fish, fresh tomatoes and believe it or not wine and champagne. Dancing followed dinner.

 

Saturday 8 July 1989. The morning was free. After lunch we had a group photo then a 2-hour bus ride to the airport for our flight to Baku. It is the capital of Azerbaijan.

 

You haven’t lived an exciting experience until you take a flight to this area. So stay tuned for another adventure.