YALTA, Crimea -- After waking early and making the three-hour drive from Vilnius back to Riga, we took an Air Baltic flight to Simferopol, Ukraine, the hopping off point for the Crimea, the "Russian Riviera" on the Black Sea coast.
In Simferopol, we rented a car from Sixt/Budget, where we were duly impressed by the most professional car rental agent we had ever encountered. The gentleman even started the car for us!
From Simferopol, we headed south to Sevastopol on the Black Sea, stopping along the way to see Bahcesaray, an old Ottoman palace. After making a quick tour through Sevastopol, the former Soviet navy port city that was closed to all until 1996 and is now home to both Ukrainian and Russian navy Black Sea fleets, we headed east toward Yalta, a major tourist destination for Ukrainians and Russians in the Crimea -- hence the "Russian Riviera."
Arriving in Yalta, we made our way to the Oreanda Hotel, a five-star luxury resort and casino located seaside. After dinner, we stopped in at the hotel's disco, where we met some of the well-heeled vacationing Moscow and Kiev social set and partied for awhile, drinking vojitos (mojitos made with vodka rather than rum).
The following morning, we walked along the seaside promenade in Yalta, which reminds one of being on the French Riviera. We then headed for the Lividia Palace, a former summer home of the last Russian Tsar (Nicholas II), who -- along with his family -- was executed by Lenin and the Bolsheviks when they came to power in 1917. It was also the site of the famous 1945 World War II Yalta conference between Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin, and we saw the great hall where their meetings were held.
After a quick stop at the Vorontsov Palace, a fairy tale-like castle built on a cliff hanging over the Black Sea, we headed back to the airport in Simferopol for our Ukrainian International Airlines flight to Kiev. I was somewhat nervous about my first flight on a former Soviet Union airline -- they not only list the airline and flight number, but prominently display the type of equipment (we chose a Boeing 737 flight versus one with a Russian-made airplane) -- but the flight was great, and the check-in, boarding and baggage claim process seamless (much better, in fact, than you find on any airline in the states).
After arriving in Kiev, we checked in at the Radisson, supposedly the finest hotel in town. Suffice it to say that it was absolutely awful -- probably one of the worst hotels I've stayed in and a complete rip-off at over $500 per night (but it's one of only two five-star hotels in Kiev, and apparently hotel room demand is greater than the supply). If you make it to Kiev, I recommend the Premier Palace, or the new Hyatt scheduled to open in a month.
The following morning, we spent our time visiting Kiev's noteworthy sites, including several palaces and churches, as well as Independence Square, where Ukraine's President Yuschenko (now disfigured from being intentionally poisoned several years ago) led the 'Orange Revolution.'
Then, after having a great people-watching lunch at Nouvelle, a nice spot on Kiev's luxury shopping street, we visited the oldest and steepest street in Kiev, where there were numerous street vendors selling all sorts of Soviet-era paraphernalia, such as Soviet military apparel, Lenin Zippo lighters, and matruschkas, beautifully-painted nesting dolls. Generally, they tell some type of Ukrainian fairy tale, and I bought one traditional, one painted with the portraits of the country's political leaders, and -- believe it or not -- one in the form of Brett Favre in uniform (I guess there is a Packers fan in Kiev!).
We then said our good-byes to Kiev, wishing we had more time to spend in the city (it's beautiful, historic, clean, bustling and cosmopolitan), and headed to the airport for our British Airways flight to London.
