Saturday July 24, 2010

Yesterday (Saturday July 24th) we took a tour of a beautiful section of Crimea courtesy our personal tour guide Vilary (pronounced VaLarry).  He seems to thrive on sharing his knowledge of the area; it's geography and history.  It's a little frustrating hearing it through a translator because it's so difficult to ask questions.  He's an interesting guy who gets a pension from the military where he was an engineer and worked on jet engines.  He did some teaching after that. His military background shows up in his ramrod posture and a deep, confident voice that I'm sure his coworkers could hear over the jet engines.  One of the words he knows in English is "smile". When he takes a picture of you and barks the command to smile, you don't dare disobey or you feel like you might end up in Siberia somewhere. :)

We saw some pretty stunning things, the highlight probably being our stop in Noviy Svet where we sat in a cafe‚ listening to Girl from Ipanema and eating Borscht and cabbage salad, while looking at rocks jutting out of a turquoise sea in a Rio de Janeiro-esque fashion.  It was a little surreal.  We chartered a small boat, which took us from the Green Bay, to the Blue Bay to the Light Blue Bay where I sat on the pebbled Czar's Beach and watched some great water frolics performed courtesy of Anastasia, Calvin and Vera.  It was a wonderful day.  We were just reviewing our photos and realized about half of the beach shots are unsuitable for publishing. There is a little bit too much flesh in them.  These aren't nudist beaches, but they're the next thing to them. We also stopped in Sudak where they were having a medieval type festival with people in period costume and folks with owls and falcons.  It was so neat!  Thank you Vilary!

Fortress in the city of Sudak (just before the city of Noviy Svet), built 14th century

Anastasia and Cheryl with a falcon (Sudak fortress in background)

Men dressed in original garb - a medival festival was going on while we were in Sudak

Vera (our translator), Cheryl, Anastasia and Calvin - the outskirts of Sudak on our way to Noviy Svet.  Note fortress and beautiful Black Sea in the background.

Comming into Noviy Svet, Cheryl, Anastasia and Calvin

Ansatasia and Calvin outside Noviy Svet

Beautiful bay of Noviy Svet

Calvin, Anastasia and Vera jumping off a rock into the Black Sea!

Anastasia - not quite a dive but we're working on it

Calvin - beach view at Noviy Svet

 

On our way home we stopped by one of the millions of fruit/veggie stands they have here.  I don't know why this country wastes their time on vodka when they have fresh fruit and vegetables that taste so heavenly.  Hands down, Ukraine has the best tasting fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, and peaches I have ever eaten.  Not to mention their tiny baby dills, ham and yogurt!  And it's so dang cheap!!  Not to make you jealous or anything Roman, but I just finished a sandwich with lavash, (a type of cottage bread) basil, cheese, tomatoes and pickles with a side of fresh peaches and watermelon.  Calvin and I don't talk when we eat, we just moan! It almost makes me forgive them their terrifying public restrooms.