Cruising the Black Sea

[Avida]

Hi 'Whyme' and Harriet,Cruise Countess.

 

Thanks very much for responding to my request for information.

 

I have emailed 'whyme' as suggested - many thanks in advance.

 

Harriet, Cruise Countess - many thanks for the info on Crimea Consulting. Hopefully on your return from your cruise in late July early August you could post on this Board your experiences and suggestions. In the meantime we hope you have a very enjoyable and interesting cruise.

 

Bryan

[Wandering Writer]

Bryan,

 

Thanks for the good words about my blog. I love writing it and sharing what we've seen and learned along the way.

 

You might try Tours by Locals again and explain what we ran into. We did contact them and let them know about our problem with the guide. Perhaps they have an alternative now.

 

You cannot go wrong with the private tour by Aykut Ayik from Istanbul Local Guides.com . He was great and very well organized. We saw a lot and while it was a long day, we didn't feel completely exhausted when done. This is his email address: aykutayik02@yahoo.com

He sent us all holiday greetings.

 

Carol (gotobali on CC) organized the tour for Sevastopol. She used Sergey Tsarapora from Crimea Yalta Tours. Sergey it turns out had several groups from our ship and while we didn't go with him, he provided a very informative and easily understood guide for our trip. If you go to http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1547429 you can pick up on the tours that were being organized from our roll call.

 

That's all I can help you with. We did our own thing at the other ports and you are traveling to some we missed. We are planning another cruise to the area in the future to hopefully see some other ports of call.

 

Enjoy! And remember half the fun is in the planning and anticipation :)

 

Karen

[Avida]

Hi Karen

 

Thanks very much for the information. I will look up the ones you have suggested.

 

In the meantime I will take note of your advice that half the fun is in the planning and anticipation!!

 

Once again many thanks. All the best to you.

 

Bryan

[altiva]

Hi Karen.

 

We are in the UK and just booked a Celebrity Cruise to the Black Sea in October 2014!! Yes I know somewhat early to be planning but we are really looking forward to it. I really have enjoyed reading your blogs. The itinerary is new for Celebrity and includes Sochi, Sevastapol, Yalta, Odessa and Istanbul.

 

Could you let me know who you used for the private tours, where you took them. I have found the link to Tours by Locals in Sochi and thought that they may be the ones to use. But reading of your experiences with the late cancellation perhaps we need to look wider. I have also emailed Val, as you suggested on one of your posts to find out who she used.

 

If altiva reads this post perhaps he can make suggestions relating to Odessa. We are overnighting there. I have really enjoyed reading some of his daily blogs.

 

Grateful for any information that you or Altiva can provide. Many thanks.

Bryan

 

hi Bryan,

you are so lucky you are so lucky. You can explore the area outside the city.

Of course, October is a tad cold, but maybe there will be an Indian summer or

a second Indian summer. What are you into, what are your interests?

You can walk Odessa historic area, and visit archeological museum, or

Ukraine steppe museum (it's made from the interiors of different

ethnic houses), or local history museum (they have a great collection

of old weapons, from all over the world, but it's not always opened).

There are three palaces within the easy walking area. One of them,

Tolstoy palace, is open to visitors. They preserved the interior,

down to china, as it was in 19 - the beginning of 20 century. You can

tour the Opera House. You can drive to 411 battery memorial. It's an

open air museum plus a museum. Open air museum has authentic military

weapons and equipment from WW2: a real submarine, canons, tanks,

plans. A museum has military uniforms, weapons, personal belongings

from WW2 area. And there is a church.

Or you can go champagne tasting at Odesa Champagne wines factory

(technically, it's wine with gas, but strict European Union

regulations aren't there yet). It's situated on French boulevard,

it's an area where rich people and nobles used to have their villas.

Many houses are still up and are quite nice to look at.

They have 6 types of champagne, wines

and cognac. You tour the factory, the building dates from 19 century,

have a tasting with wine, cheese, fruit, then hang out at their bar,

and buy their produce in their shop. Across the boulevards, almost

opposite the factory, they have a little restaurant, no tourists

whatsoever, they serve frog legs fresh from Vilkovo (Vilkovo is a

Ukrainian town built on the water, they have canals instead of

streets).

You can go to Privoz, one of the oldest Odessa markets. They have a

new area, with statues, and an open area, where they sell food and

clothes.

If you are into religion, you can visit churches and cathedrals.

There are relics of archimandrite Gabriel, he lays in his coffin

fully preserved in all the church paraphernalia and much more.

Perhaps too cold for a trip to Danube, so you can visit Shabo. It's a

village about one hour drive from Odesa. They have wineries there, a

museum, a restaurant and do wine tastings, cellars visiting, and so

on. It's called "The centre of the wine culture Shabo". Originally,

it was a Swiss colony. It's the only place in Europe where the grapes

were not damaged by phylloxera. They have the oldest movie in the

world, made 200 years ago, with Louis Tardan, the founder of the

colony, greeting you.

Or you can go to Sofievka. It's a 18 century park. There are

fountains and statures, two lakes, an underground river which you

can travel on by boat. A huge snake-fountain in the middle of one of

the lakes is spitting water up to 20 meters high. It was build by a

rich magnate Ponyatovsky. The are is called "the heart of Ukraine",

and you travel through villages, local markets, see the churches,

people, views.

You can do quite a lot, actually. You should narrow the field down, by telling us your preferences.

[Avida]

Hi Altiva.

 

Wow what a great deal of information to take in. Many thanks for compiling this for us. We will need to do a great deal of research, read up on your suggestions. We are certainly into cathedrals and history; local markets and places of interest; Sofievka sounds very interesting; we are not so much into wine and your version of champagne(!) factories.

 

After we have looked in more detail we will come back to you. In the meantime thank you very much for taking the time to put this information together.

Bryan

[I-Cruiser]

I am glad I found this thread. Its lots of really good info here.

Thank you to everyone contributing.

 

We are also on the Black Sea cruise October 14 2014:) Hi Bryan.

[I-Cruiser]

hi Bryan,

you are so lucky you are so lucky. You can explore the area outside the city.

Of course, October is a tad cold, but maybe there will be an Indian summer or

a second Indian summer. What are you into, what are your interests?

You can walk Odessa historic area, and visit archeological museum, or

Ukraine steppe museum (it's made from the interiors of different

ethnic houses), or local history museum (they have a great collection

of old weapons, from all over the world, but it's not always opened).

There are three palaces within the easy walking area. One of them,

Tolstoy palace, is open to visitors. They preserved the interior,

down to china, as it was in 19 - the beginning of 20 century. You can

tour the Opera House. You can drive to 411 battery memorial. It's an

open air museum plus a museum. Open air museum has authentic military

weapons and equipment from WW2: a real submarine, canons, tanks,

plans. A museum has military uniforms, weapons, personal belongings

from WW2 area. And there is a church.

Or you can go champagne tasting at Odesa Champagne wines factory

(technically, it's wine with gas, but strict European Union

regulations aren't there yet). It's situated on French boulevard,

it's an area where rich people and nobles used to have their villas.

Many houses are still up and are quite nice to look at.

They have 6 types of champagne, wines

and cognac. You tour the factory, the building dates from 19 century,

have a tasting with wine, cheese, fruit, then hang out at their bar,

and buy their produce in their shop. Across the boulevards, almost

opposite the factory, they have a little restaurant, no tourists

whatsoever, they serve frog legs fresh from Vilkovo (Vilkovo is a

Ukrainian town built on the water, they have canals instead of

streets).

You can go to Privoz, one of the oldest Odessa markets. They have a

new area, with statues, and an open area, where they sell food and

clothes.

If you are into religion, you can visit churches and cathedrals.

There are relics of archimandrite Gabriel, he lays in his coffin

fully preserved in all the church paraphernalia and much more.

Perhaps too cold for a trip to Danube, so you can visit Shabo. It's a

village about one hour drive from Odesa. They have wineries there, a

museum, a restaurant and do wine tastings, cellars visiting, and so

on. It's called "The centre of the wine culture Shabo". Originally,

it was a Swiss colony. It's the only place in Europe where the grapes

were not damaged by phylloxera. They have the oldest movie in the

world, made 200 years ago, with Louis Tardan, the founder of the

colony, greeting you.

Or you can go to Sofievka. It's a 18 century park. There are

fountains and statures, two lakes, an underground river which you

can travel on by boat. A huge snake-fountain in the middle of one of

the lakes is spitting water up to 20 meters high. It was build by a

rich magnate Ponyatovsky. The are is called "the heart of Ukraine",

and you travel through villages, local markets, see the churches,

people, views.

You can do quite a lot, actually. You should narrow the field down, by telling us your preferences.

 

What will the temperatures be in October??

You say it will be a "tad cold":eek::D

[Avida]

Hi Lars and Arnaldo.

 

Glad you found this thread also. Altiva has a daily post on his Odessa Board which is where I first found him. Altiva has already been of great help and I am sure that we will be able to identify the best of Odessa and find a private tour guide to help us through our two days.

 

All the best to everyone.

 

Bryan

[msmoger]

Does anyone have a working web address for Crimea Consulting? When I Googled them and looked them up on Trip Advisor I get www.crimeaconsulting.com. However, the link doesn't work.

[Avida]

Hi Michael. I clicked on the link on your post and it went straight onto the Crimea Consulting website. So I dont know whether your browser is blocking it or whether you just had a glitch.

Bryan

[altiva]

What will the temperatures be in October??

You say it will be a "tad cold":eek::D

 

hi Cruiser, when are you coming?

[I-Cruiser]

hi Cruiser, when are you coming?

 

From October 14 - October 24 2014:)

[altiva]

Hi Altiva.

 

Wow what a great deal of information to take in. Many thanks for compiling this for us. We will need to do a great deal of research, read up on your suggestions. We are certainly into cathedrals and history; local markets and places of interest; Sofievka sounds very interesting; we are not so much into wine and your version of champagne(!) factories.

 

After we have looked in more detail we will come back to you. In the meantime thank you very much for taking the time to put this information together.

Bryan

 

You certainly flatter me, Bryan, when you call a champagne factory

"mine". A lot of shares belong to Martini Asti, an Italian company,

and the rest - to people who work there. And it's not a version, it's

champagne, made by a legitimate champagne technology.

If you are not afraid to travel outside of Odessa, you may also

consider:

1. Askania-Nova. It's a National park in the middle of Ukrainian

steppe. There are animals living there on the wild: antilopes,

American bisons, zebras, horses of Przhevalsky, ostriches (4

species), peafowls (very beautiful), Caribbean flamingos, and much more.

Rare plants - 478 species, about 800 different animals, and more than

270 species of birds. The most beautiful time of year to visit is

spring, when the steppe blossoms. But, autumn is OK, too.

If you decide to go, to have a proper safari, take a cart ride

instead of a minicab. The cart has been riding there for 200 years,

and for 200 years they bring animals food on the cart. So, they will

come out to see what's for dinner, and come really close. In a

minicab, the sound of engine scares them, and you will see just a

couple of tails on the horizon.

2. Danube delta. There is a town there, built completely on water.

They have canals instead of streets, and go everywhere by boats.

They are of an "old faith", and dress like it's 18 century (not all

of them, but some). There is an old church and interesting monuments.

Great local wine, and food, they make it on open fire - fresh fish

from Danube and the Black sea, home made bread, local fresh wine.

It'll be too cold to swim in Danube. Then you can go by boat to zero

kilometre, a place where Danube meets Black sea. There are two more

churches on the way. Zero kilometre is a nature preserve as well,

more than 500 species of birds. And the views of the delta are

breathtaking. You will meet locals on boats and on the islands, they

will all jump and wave at you.

3. Sofiyivka. It's a park, a national heritage, built in 17 century

by the richest man in Ukraine for his lover and then wife. His wife

used to be a prostitute in Istanbul, and manage to raise to the

marriage with a rich count. She travelled with him all over Europe,

meeting kings and their brothers. A very dark, interesting story:

murders, espionage, illicit love affairs and more. Unfortunately,

Russian blew up the palace, there used to be a palace. But smaller

buildings of that period are still there. And, of course, hidden

fountains, grottos, a fountain of youth, a stone of death (killed 300

people), underground river. Old trees, 200 years old. You'll drive

just through a little farmers market, situated along the road. And,

people bring fruits and vegetables to sell and put them along the

road. In autumn, there will be apples, honey, huge sweet plumps,

pears. Uman is the city in which this park is situated. It's known

since 1616. It was an important trade centre, and received Magdeburg

rights in 1663. On the way back, there is a Ukrainian restaurant, in

the middle of nowhere, in the centre of the fields. They serve borsch

in a home baked bread: take the middle away, pour borsch in and serve

it.

In Odesa, where to eat.

1. A cafe "Puzata Hata" (Potbellied house). Ukrainian cuisine, very

low prices, home cooking. Everyone who eats there, says "just like my

mum made it". Try vareniky, holubsty, buckwheat, dranyky, well,

everything on the menu. They have a huge selection of Ukrainian

dishes.

Where: find a McDonalds on the main street. Near it, there is a grey

high building. It's a mall. Go inside and take a lift to the last

floor (6th). There it is.

2. Restaurant "Lasunka". It's more upscale dining, higher prices,

good for a dinner, you may need a réservation, because it's often

full. It's not far from the Opera House. They have Ukrainian decor.

The address is Havanna 7. If you walk around in the daytime, you can

pop in and reserve a table. There is a Ukrainian restaurant on the

main street, but don't go there, it's not good.

[altiva]

Happy Easter, people. Here are some pyskany for you.

 

[altiva]

People, I have to warn you about danger in Odesa, Ukraine. Read this post:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=37790768#post37790768