You travel to

Archive for the ‘Ukraine’ Category

The settlement of Massandra lies 3 km to the East of Yalta. The high hills of Nikita mountain pasture, the highest point of Mt. Avinda is 1473 m, protect Massandra from the cold air from the North and the southern winds bring the fresh breath of the Black sea. The Massandra park is one of the most beautiful parks of the Southern Coast. It was laid in the 1840s by the German horticulturist Karl Kebach, the founder of the Alupka park. The park was laid out by the serf labour of the peasants brought by Count Vorontsov from all the provinces of Russia. Nowadays in the Massandra park on its 40 hectares grow about 200 tree and bush species.
The park was planned in the English style with curvilinear paths and picturesque groups of trees.
The nature itself helped the horticulturists to create interesting landscape views. The shadowy groves of cypresses and cedars alternate with light sunny glades. There are many southern exotic plants in the park: palms, sequoias, magnolias, cryptomerias, bamboo thickets. The shadowy box pergolas, gigantic balls of cut laurel, rose lanes in bloom till November, they all gladden the eye.
The best decoration of the park is a group of six Italian pines with a common umbellate crown. On the glade a mighty 500 years old oak spread its branches like an alive illustration to a fairy tale… And everywhere is smooth surface on the park man-made pools…
Further from the center one meet the local species of the trees: oak, wild pistachio-trees and the cultural park gradually passes to the natural forest.
On the Old Massandra cemetery lies the body of the outstanding Ukrainian poet Stepan Rudansky /1834-1873/, who translated in Ukraine the Homers “Iliad” and whose song “Blow, wind, softly to Ukraine” is still very popular. Here reposes the Russian landscaper Fyodor Vasilyev /1850-1873/, the young artists last landscape was “In the Crimean Mountains”…
Massandra is well known in Ukraine and abroad mainly on account of its winery. The first industrial vineyards in Massandra were planted at the beginning of the 19lh century. In 1823 Count Vorontsov became the owner of Massandra /originally Marsanda/. He bought very good sorts of vine and invited the famous viticulturists from France.
Massandra became noted as a leading centre for the manufacture of Crimean wines on account of the activity of Prince Lev Sergeyevich Golitsyn, a talented viticulturist. He was invited to Massandra in 1889 when Massandra became a tsar estate. He set the Russian viniculture a task – to prove that the national wines were not worse than the best world brands. Thanks to his work the biggest wine cellar designed by engineer Dietrich was built near the waterfall in 1897, the year he was forced to leave his post.
The development of viticulture and wine-making is connected with the Research Institute “Magarach”. The work of the Magarach collective has been honoured with many diplomas and medals at international exhibitions. The Magarach Institute established close links with the research institutes of many countries. The Crimean viticulturist exchange information about viniculture with their American colleges.
Specialists at Magarach have created original brands of wine made from Crimean grapes such as Black Doctor and Ruby.
The wine cellar, holding more than 350 thousand decalitres of wine for maturing in barrels was built in the 1890s. There were 7 tunnels 150 m long and up to 5 m wide branching off from a central gallery. A temperature of 10-12 °C, for wine to mature is maintained inside the cellar. In 1957 a new cellar was built next to the old one. It holds one million decalitres of 33 different kinds of wine.
The wines, which are exported to many countries, are well known to the experts. At the international wine contest in 1970 Massandra entered 25 brands, 24 of them received gold medals. The White Muscat of the Red Stone brand was awarded 2 first prize trophies “Grand Prix”. It was the only wine in the world, which had received so high estimation.
Massandra owns a unique wine museum with a collection of 700 types of wine. Some of wines are 200 years old “Jerez de la Frontera” sherry of 1775 /Jerez is a town in Spain, headquarters of the sherry trade/, the “Madeira Ribero Secci of 1837, “The Seventh Sky” of 1880 from the collection of Golitsyn,” Tokay” of 1892 la sweet golden Hungarian dessert wine, after Tokaj in Hungary/.
The collection of wines, or the good cellar, was saved twice: in 1918 it was simply bricked up and in 1941 it was Taken out under bombs to Caucasus and then inland.
Massandra Winery achieved worldwide fame thanks in the first place to A.A. Yegorov and his followers. Alexandre Alexandrovich Yegorov /1874-1969/ was the head wine-maker and only to the assortment of “Massandra” he introduced 19 kinds of new wines. He raised the art of wine-tasting to the unprecedented height.
The followers of A.A. Yegorov maintain the world reputation of “Massandra” trade mark.

Yalta /Coast/ stretches along the coast of a sea bay on the slope of the Main Ridge of the Crimean Mountains. In ancient times the Greek settlement of Jalita existed on its territory, while in the Middle Ages – the Byzantine and Genoese settlement of Kaulita.
In 1837 it was turned into a district city which began to be developed according to the 1843 plan.
The end of the 19th century saw Yaltas rapid growth, and the development of valleys of the Derekoika and the Uchan-Su Rivers.
Now it is a significant resort and cultural centre whose boundaries widened thanks to multistory housing developments on the adjoining slopes. The city territory incorporates land from Ayudag to the Sarych Cape.
Greater Yalta is a 70-km stretch of the South Crimean coast washed by the Black Sea. Ayudag /Mount Bear/is a kind of signpost to Greater Yalta. Farther on the highway goes pastGurzuf, the Nikita Botanical Gardens and Massandra.
The resorts and sights of interest located to the west are Livadia, Oreanda, Miskhor, Koreiz, Gaspra, Alupka and Simeiz.
A snow-white city lies inside the enormous shell formed by a semicircle of mountains. Yalta is beautiful in her mountain setting, she is open only to the sea and the sun.
The cypresses with cones like little bells have already become a symbol of the resort. Magnificent magnolia trees fill the air with their perfume… And the sea adds the finishing touch to all this beauty. Once you arrive in Yalta you will fall in love with it!
We suggest you begin your walking tour of Yalta with an itinerary that might be called Along the Citys Streets, that is from the Yalta Hotel to the Oreanda. Its length is about 3 km.
The Yalta Hotel is situated near Massandra Park. Massandra Beach stretches from the Yalta Hotel to the port. At the intersection of streets stands Primorskaya Hotel, one of the oldest in Yalta. ,
From here you can walk down to the port, in the other direction a small street leads uphill from the Hotel to Polikur Hill. Here is where Yalta originated, witness is the very name Polikur /Paleokhor/, which in Greek means “Old Place”. The Hill formerly bore the name of St.John.
Yalta is the only port on the Crimeas southern shore which can safely shelter ships in a storm. The talented engineer A.Bertier – Delagarde supervised the construction of the Yalta mole in 1889-1892.
Near the port there is the Yuzhnaya Hotel which stands on Roosevelt Street. It is the oldest street in the city and was given its present name in honour of the outstanding statesman US President Franklin Roosevelt/1882-1945/, who visited Yalta in February 1945.Yaltas main street is the Embankment It is favourite avenue of holiday makers for their evening strolls. The Embankment is lined with shops, cafes, and restaurants. There is the oldest Hotel Tavrida, which was built in 1875. The great Russian poet Nickolai Nekrasov lived here in room 68 He wrote part of his long poem “Who Can Be Happy in Russia?” in Yalta.
If you cross the Hotel Tavridas courtyard, you will find yourself next to the boarding platform for the cablecar line which leads to the top of Darsan Hill and the Mound of Glory, erected in memory of the fallen during the Civil and Great Patriotic Wars.
If you walk past it, you will again come out into the Embankment. Soon you will reach the quays where the pleasure boats dock. Here you can embark on an excursion to the towns of the Greater Yalta: Alupka, Miskhor, Simeiz…
Ahead lies the second half of the Embankment. The Municipal Park, which merges with it, was established in the 1880s. Across the way from it stands the Anton Chekhov Municipal Drama Theatre.
In 1900 the Moscow Art Theatre gave tour performances. The members of the company came to show the sick Chekhov his play “The Seagull”. Chekhov was presented with palm leaves tied with a red ribbon bearing the inscription “To Anton Chekhov, a perfect interpreter of Russian reality.”
The great Fyodor Chaliapin /1873-1838/ sang on this very same stage, accompanied by Sergey Rakhmaninov /1873-1943/.
In the house across the theatre lived the outstanding Ukrainian poetess Lesia Ukrayinka /1871-1913/. A bronze statue has been set up in her memory right in front of the house.
The final stop of the Embankment tour is the Oreanda hotel. Across from the hotel is a small public garden where the schooner Espanola has been mounted. It was built specially for the film “Treasure Island”, which was shot in Yalta.
If you still have the time you are invited to visit Yaltas two main parks – Primorsky /Seaside/ and Massandra.

Are there any legends about Gurzuf? What legend about Ayu-Dag do you know? What is the main attraction of Gurzuf?
Gurzuf /mountain valley/ is a picturesque Crimean scenery which lies 16 km to the east of Yalta.
The first written reference about Gurzuf occurs in the writings of the Byzantine writer Procopius /500-562/ who lived at the time of the emperor Justinian I /483-565/. Procopius writes about the construction of a Byzantine fortress “in the district of Gurzovit”.
In the 8th century, the fortress had grown in size and soon was surrounded by a second ring of fortification. Though the fortress was destroyed by Khazars, by the middle of the 12th century it was rebuilt again. The Arab geographer al-ldrisi was able to write about the “flourishing town” of Garzuni.
The town was destroyed and changed hands so often that by the end of the 15th century it had become a small village.
At the beginning of the 19th century Gurzuf became the property of the Novorossiysk governor-general, the duke de Richelieu /1766-1822/. A house was built for him. It was the only two storeyed house on the Southern coast of the Crimea. In 1820 it was rented by a hero of the Patriotic War of 1812, General Nickolai Rayevsky.
With the Rayevskys the great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin spent 3 “the happiest” weeks in Gurzuf. Here he wrote a cycle of poems about Taurida. Later he promised: “My spirit to Yurzuf will fly…”
After Richelieus death in 1822, the Gurzuf estate went to Count Mikhail Vorontsov /1782-1856/ , and later, in 1840, Senator I.Funduklei bought it. Then it passed to Gubonin, who was an important industrialist and merchant. He built several hotels and opened a restaurant in the park around estate.
The picturesque scenery of the park is adorned with fountains, which bear beautiful names, like “The Nymph”, “Rachel”, “The First Love”, and “The Muse”. The most impressive of them is “The Goddess of the Night” or “Night Fountain”. In the center there is a figure of a woman bearing a torch. This is Nyukta, the Goddess of night. Next to her you can see her companions – the God of Love Eros and the God of Sleep Morpheus. Atlantes and caryatids support the globe with the band of zodiac signs on which Nyukta stands.
Gurzuf is a famous resort. Its main attraction is the unique “young republic” of Artek, which history began in 1925. It grew from year to year and now it consists of several camps, the Cosmonauts house and a Robot house, childrens observatory and a pavilion for young naturalists. Thousands of children come every year to Artek to spend their holidays in this marvelous place. In 1983 the pioneers of Artek received a charming 12-years old American girl Samantha Smith.
The names of great writers, artists and composers are associated with Gurzuf, including llya Repin, Maxim Gorky, Alexander Kuprin, Fyodor Shalyapin, Anton Chekhov, Adam Mickiewicz. The Salambo Villa is now the Konstantin Korovin Holiday Home for Artists. At the very sea on a quiet Chekhov street you can see a small house known as “Chekhovs Little House”.
The impressive landscape of Gurzuf has given rise to a number of legends. One of them is about Mount Bear, or Ayu-Dag, another concerns the Adalary Rock. It proves once again that this land is majestic. Here vestiges of hoary antiquity are seen side by side with tokens of modern times, giving a special charm to Gurzuf.