# Caucasian Riviera?



## persia (Feb 18, 2014)

Ok, so the Olympics have piqued my curiosity.  Anyone been to the Caucasian Riviera?  What's there to see?


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## Passepartout (Feb 18, 2014)

I don't know that it's exactly the Caucasian Riviera- that term seems to have recently popped up in conjunction with the Olympics, but we did a cruise of Black Sea ports from Istanbul a few years ago. We stopped at ports in Romania, Bulgaria, and several places in Ukraine, including Sevastopol and Yalta. Sevastopol was interesting in that it was a closed city during Soviet times. It was home of the Russian Navy's Black Sea fleet, home of the only year-round, warm water port for the whole country. It is home of their eternal flame and shrine to the unknown. A lot of military pomp there at that time. In Yalta, we saw the place where FDR, Stalin and Churchill met and basically divided up the spoils of WWII. Roosevelt died a short time after this meeting that changed much of the way the world was for the next 70 years so far. It could be argued that the world is still not the same.

Our experience is that tourism in all of the former Soviet- now Russia, Ukraine, the Baltics and even more so in the Central Asian steppes, is not mature. English is not widely spoken, signs are in Cyrillic, each country uses it's own currency, and it is not easily exchanged when borders are crossed.

A quick anecdote- we were wandering in Odessa, and about lunch time went into a sidewalk cafe. We had to wait while a very inefficient waitstaff cleared a table, then had to nearly fight off a Russian couple who rushed in and seated themselves at the table we were waiting for. It turned out we shared the table- as Europeans do- unlike Americans. When the menu came, it was just a single sheet of single-spaced typed Cyrillic. No pictures, certainly no English. We had no clue beyond that it was right-side-up! As it turned up, our table companion woman had learned a few English words decades earlier and we asked her to order something for us. Me, I could point at a beer, but food was more difficult. Making a long story short, we became friends with this couple from Siberia (they were travelers, too), passing cameras around and generally having a good time. We still correspond with the couple (thanks to Google Translate) and have been invited to each others' homes.

Anyway, Southern Russia- is somewhat undeveloped for tourism, though can be worth some effort to go there. I'd recommend using a guided tour over trying it independently due to the difficulty in language, lack of infrastructure, and racial/religious/ethnic tension in that part of the world. You can be an a friendly area that welcome tourists one minute (like in Sochi) and 10 miles away, people are shooting machine guns and bombing one another over something that happened centuries ago.

Jim


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## MastiffMom (Feb 19, 2014)

*You need to be adventurous!*

My DH lived in Ukraine for a few years, and we have visited friends there several times.  We've spent extensive time in Odessa, and on our last trip, we went to Yalta, Balaclava, and Sevastopol.  I've never been to the Russian coast.

The previous poster was correct about it being difficult to navigate unless you can read some cyrillic.  Odessa is a large port city and has perhaps the most varied population in Ukraine; however, it is still very difficult to find anything in English.  Russian is the dominant language in this region.  My husband speaks Russian, so we are fortunate in that regard.  It would be challenging to navigate in this area without any help with the language.  The younger generation typically has learned some English in school and is excited to practice, but that can digress into charades pretty quickly.  

The Crimean peninsula is very interesting area with a diverse history.  It's pretty, and very touristy.  The beaches are pebble and not sand, so be prepared for that if you're thinking of any beach time.  Also, when we were there, there were dead jellyfish EVERYWHERE.  Yalta features a tartar restaurant which serves the best plov I've eaten in Ukraine.  We ate there twice!  

I agree that unless you speak Russian or are very adventurous, a guided tour is probably your best (and most painless) way to see this area.  There is a fascinating Soviet-era submarine base, lots of beautiful orthodox churches, and wonderful people.  However, as the Sochi twitter feed attests, Russian/Ukrainian hotel standards (outside of Moscow, at least) are very different from western hotel standards, so don't be surprised if "5-star" isn't quite what you're used to.  The culture is interesting and unique, and I love Ukrainians.  I find them a very warm and welcoming people.  Feel free to PM if you have other questions.

PS - I should add, do NOT take the train from Odessa to Yalta.  I have spent way too many hours on Ukrainian trains (none of them spectacular and some kind of scary, frankly), but this route will forever be the Train From Hell.  If I ever go back, I will fly instead.


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## Passepartout (Feb 19, 2014)

As you may have seen if you've been watching the news the last few days, Ukraine isn't Russia. Though the Crimean Peninsula and S. Russia share Black Sea coastline, they are quite different countries. The leadership of Ukraine would like to forge closer ties to Russia, while many Ukrainians look to the West as where they see a brighter future, aligning with Greece, Italy, Slovenia, and the former Yugoslav countries that though they had their difficulties, are on track to a prosperous future. Bloodshed occurs when force is used to sway opinion. Use of force seems to be the way some Russian sympathizers deal with difference of opinion. "Agree with us, OR ELSE."

This is an area worth seeing, and if you want to see it before the high rise hotels pop up and the restaurants remind you of tourist traps in Rome, now would be a great time to be ahead of the crowds. Just know that tourism there isn't up to Western- and a long way from- U.S. standards. 

Jim


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## MastiffMom (Feb 20, 2014)

I wholeheartedly agree with Passepartout.

Ukraine isn't Russia.  I was relating my own experiences in that region, and mine happen to be all Ukrainian.  The cultures and mindset can be strikingly different (or similar, depending on who you talk to) between Ukraine and Russia, as we've clearly seen on the news.  I've been in Russia several times (though never in the Black Sea region), and while Russia has many wonderful things to see, I personally would rather travel in Ukraine.  At least, that's how I felt up to a few weeks ago.   

The region is absolutely worth seeing, and if you're the type that doesn't mind accommodations that don't meet "normal" US standards, then go for it.  It will be a shame when this area starts looking like all the other tourist areas of the world.


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