A week in Yalta

Hazel and I had a great week in Yalta courtesy of the Voyages Jules Verne package.

As well as discovering the delights that Yalta has to offer, we visited the historic sites of Bakhchysaray and Chersonesus, Balaklava and Sevastopol, drank lots of beer, the occasional (obligatory) vodka and ate lots of deep fried foods. Excellent all round.

Photos on Flickr: Yalta and the Crimea

25 September 2005: Flight from London Gatwick to Simferopol and 2 hour coach journey to Yalta (much more interesting than it sounds!)
26 September 2005: Exploring Yalta
27 September 2005: Daytrip 1: Bakhchysaray/Bakhchisaray Palace, Chersonesus, Simferopol, beer!
28 September 2005: Nikitsky Botanical Gardens, Yalta, Black Sea Fleet choir and dancers
29 September 2005: Daytrip 2: Balaklava, Charge of the Light Brigade, Sevastopol, Pizza, beer and vodka
30 September 2005: A DIY cruise on the Yalta-Alupka ferry along the Black Sea’s Crimean coast, passing by the Swallow’s Nest, the Livadia Palace, the Alupkinsky Palace and St Peter’s Mount
01 October 2005: Last day, strolling around Yalta, paddling in the Black Sea and a final beer at our Hotel Bristol before coaching/flying home

Previously…
Y A L T A – we’re booked

Y – a – l – t – a we’re booked!

I’ve finally managed to book Hazel and I onto a week’s holiday in Yalta, with Voyage Jules Verne. We’ve not been away with them before, but their package seems an OK deal, and they have a charter flight to Simferopol, wheras scheduled flights only get you to Kiev/Kyiv. The Crimea isn’t everyone’s top destination, but the area looks really interesting, and Yalta seems very geared up for tourists. We opted to treat ourselves to a stay at the Hotel Bristol, rather than the vast soviet-era Hotel Yalta.

We’ll need tourist visas, and VJV charge £65 all in to get one for you. The Ukrainian embassy website gives visa costs as being £40 (£20 single entry tourist visa fee plus – get this – £20 visa processing fee). The Embassy is in Notting Hill, open Monday to Friday, 9.30am to 12noon and application requires invitations and other stuff…. so H and I agreed that it was worth paying VJV the additional £25 to do it for us.

I found this handy website with LOTS of info about Yalta and the Crimea, and includes Hotel Bristol.

We fly in 8 weeks!