We saw a huge fortress, packed beaches and a music festival in Sudak. The music festival was partly sponsored by ACET, and they loaned us a tent for the night, one among hundreds strung along the coastline. The day was spent lounging on a pebble beach by the Black Sea, waiting for the evening’s musical entertainment. The show was cancelled, though, because the whole area lost electricity. One group decided to play anyway, going acoustic on a stage lit by the headlights of a single car.
A view of Sudak
Me and the fortress
Cute baby
Packed beaches in Sudak
A nice view
Me working the speedo
Tents at the music festival
Concert by headlights
We saw the Swallow’s Nest, a concrete “castle” built in 1912 by a German for his mistress. It’s now a restaurant. From the base of the cliffs the “castle” is perched on, we took a relaxing boat ride down the coast to Alupka, home to a gorgeous Russian palace that is a clash of styles, Arabic and English being the most obvious. It sits nestled between a mountain range at its back and the sea at its front. It was amazing.
The Swallow's Nest
The coast from the boat
The mountains behind the Alupkan palace. The following photos are all from the palace
We also saw a nipple. It was on the breast of the rather attractive girl sitting behind us on the marshrutka to the Swallow’s Nest. The girl had fallen asleep and one breast had popped out of her bikini top. When I first saw the nipple, during a head turn to look out the window, I was, of course, horrified. It was an obscene display. Unfortunately, I couldn’t look away. I was so disgusted that I felt I had to document it to report it to the authorities. Which is why I took a couple pictures. There was a man sitting beside her, a man I assumed to be her boyfriend. He had sunglasses on, but hopefully was asleep. Luckily, he didn't punch me in the face.
The nipple
We saw a Lenin statue by a McDonalds in Yalta. Yalta is a major tourist destination for rich Russians, made obvious by the trendy clothes stores that line the boardwalk on the coast of the Black Sea. Also lining the boardwalk were a number of “give us your vacation money” stalls. My favorites were those that had racks and racks of costumes and display settings where you could pay to have your picture taken on a throne in a Renaissance dress or on a Harley Davidson in leather and studs.
The Lenin statue is in the lower right. He's cursed to forever look at a McDonalds
Want to take a picture on a Harley Davidson?
Yalta
We ended where we began: back at the limestone cliffs of Bakhchysaray, where Mike and I spent the morning climbing before Katie and I got on a train to Kiev. This time I brought plenty of water and didn’t have to run.
Mike belaying me as I climb
