Day 1.

Arrival to Kiev. Meeting with representatives of the hosting company. Transfer to 3* hotel. Leisure time (additional excursions – at the request, depending upon the time of arrival).

Day 2.

Breakfast in hotel. Sightseeing tour across Kiev (4 hours)

During this excursion you will see all the main monuments and places of interest of Kiev. St. Sophia Cathedral, Mikhailovskiy Cathedral, “Golden Gates”, Opera and Ballet House, the House with Chimers, Maidan Nezalezhnosti, Motherland Monument, Andriivsky usviz etc.

After the lunch – visit to Pechersk Lavra.

Day 3.

Breakfast in hotel. Transfer to airport. Flight (or travel by train) from Kiev to Simferopol. Transfer to Yalta. Accommodation in the 3* hotel. Leisure time.

YALTA

Yalta was founded by Greeks supposedly in century I. According to the legend, the Greek sailors that lost their way after the storm were wandering for a long time in search of a shore, and at last when they saw the shore (“yalos” – in Greek) they decided to call so their settlement established at the place of their disembarkation. In the middle ages the town was part of Roman (Byzantine) Empire, Feodoro princedom and Genoa colonies and was known under the names of Yalita and Dzhalita. Unlike Alushta and Gurzuf, Yalta never was a fortress or any other important military outpost. From 1475 to 1774, when the southern shore of Crimea was a part of Ottoman Empire, Yalta was a part of Mangup princedom.

Yalta is a resort town, located on the Black Sea coast. Yalta has a Mediterranean climate. The average temperature in July is +24°С, the average temperature in January +4°С. In severe winters when the cold arctic cyclones or Siberian anticyclones come to Yalta, the temperatures may become negative.

Yalta itself is interesting by a unique combination of architectural monuments fitted into the mountain landscape. There are plenty of beautiful (although, sometimes not in a good conditions) buildings dated end-19th – beginning of 20th century. Yalta was a favorite place for recreation of the Russian aristocracy, who came to the Southern coast following the czar family, which established here their estates – Oreanda and Livadia.

Day 4.

Breakfast in hotel. Tours to the palaces of the Southern coast of the Crimea.

LIVADIYSKI PALACE

It is located in Livadia township in Yalta area of the Crimea 2 km from Yalta. The architect is Nicolai Krasnov. In 1835, a small Crimean-Tatars village was renamed to Levadia (in Greek mythology – entrance to paradise) and a magnificent palace from white stone was built and a landscape park was established. In 1861, Livadiyski palace became a summer residence of the emperor Alexander II and his royal family. In 1894, Alexander III died in Levadia. In February 1945, Livada hosted a Yalta Conference of three heads of anti-Hitler coalition.

The Livadiyski palace ensemble, in addition to the Large palace, also includes: Svitski (Page) building, the palace of the court minister – baron Frederic, which were constructed together with the palace, and the church of Fair Cross Erection, built in 1872. Presently, Livadia Sanatorium is located on the territory of Livadiyski palace, as well as one of the best parks (40 hectares) of the Southern coast of the Crimea, which was founded almost 150 years ago.

VORONTSOVSKI PALACE

It was built according to the new (as compared with the classicism) architectural and building principles. An important architectural feature became its orientation in line with the mountains profile, due to which the palace became an integral part of the surrounding landscape and acquired its original artistically impressive image.

The palace was built following the English traditions in architecture. However, it contains elements of various ages: from earlier forms to XVI century. The elements are located starting from the western gates – the further from the gates – the later style has a construction.

The English style is organically combined with the oriental features, e.g. chimneys look like minarets. The southern entrance is decorated with oriental pomp: the U-shape arch, two-tier fornication, alabaster workings in niches.

The palace was constructed according to the design of the English architect – Edward Blor.

Vorontsovski palace has a park – a monument of gardening and park-building art. From December 1824 to April 1851, Vorontsovski park in Alupka was created by a talented German gardener and botanist – Carl Kebakh

SWALLOW’S NEST PALACE

This monument of architecture and history is located on Aurora cliff (40 meters high) of Ai-Todor cape in the village of Gaspra (Yalta area, the Crimea).

The building looks like the medieval castle, reminding of Belem tower or Miramare villa near Trieste at the same time. Swallow’s Nest palace became a kind of emblem of the Southern coast of the Crimea.

It present aspect the Swallow’s Nest palace acquired due to the oil magnate – baron Steingel. While his oil business was in Baku, he preferred to have a rest in the Crimea. He purchased a land parcel on Aurora cliff and decided to build a romantic castle that would remind him about the medieval construction on the riversides of the Rhine. He ordered the design of his new house to the engineer and sculptor – Leonid Sherwood, son of Vladimir Sherwood who was the author of the Historical Museum on the Red Square in Moscow. In 1912, the original gothic castle appeared on the site of Limen-Burun. The stair-step composition conceived by the architect was stipulated by the small area of the land parcel. The 12 meter high building was based on the foundation of 10 m wide and 20 m long. The interior also corresponded to the size of the “bird”: lobby, parlor, staircase and two bedrooms were consecutively arranged in the two-story tower that raised above the cliff.

Day 5.

Breakfast in hotel. Excursion to Sebastopol and Chersonese.

SEBASTOPOL was founded in 1783, after the Crimea was conquered by the Russian Empire, as a fortress and later – as a port. Today, Sebastopol is the largest ice-free sea, commercial, and fishing port, as well as scientific and technical, recreational and cultural-historical center of the Crimea.

The coat nearby Sebastopol is unique for the Crimea due to its numerous (more than 30) convenient and well-protected ice-free bays. The snaky shores of the longest bay – Sebastopolskaya –go deep into the peninsula for more than 8 km. The cliffy capes are the natural citadels. Sebastopolskaya bay is one of the most convenient ones in the world.

CHERSONESE used to be a colony established in 422-421 years B.C. by the colonists from Heraclea Pontica, located on the Asia Minor coast of the Black Sea

Chersonese state was a slave-owning republic with democratic form of ruling. The supreme authority was a meeting of all male citizens who reached their full age. The peoples’ meeting adopted laws and addressed the most important issues. The routing life of the town was managed by the elected council and collegiums that supervised all the activities of the town residents. Apparently, the council members were elected for a month and its secretary – for a year. Thus, after the so-called czar the year was named and dated. From the ancient high position of the czar there remained honorable, but only formal religious functions. To command the troops a collegium of strategists was elected, later they were replaced by archons.

The Rome protectorate facilitated the economic development in I—III centuries. The citizens actively reinforced the walls and towers of the town, built thermae, reconstructed a theatre, and build several aqueducts. Chersonese carried out an active trade with the large trade and production centers of the Black and Mediterranean Seas, and first of all, with their traditional partners on the southern coast of Pontus – Heraclea, Sinopae, Amis, and Amastrea. In Chersonese they periodically resumed minting of the golden coins. The traditionally imported goods also included fine glass and bronze vessels, various red-varnish ceramics, spices and frankincense. The town in large quantities exported agricultural produces, skins, salted and dried fish, and fish sauces. That time, fishing became an independent sector of the town economy. During excavations the archeologists found about hundred of tanks for fish salting, the capacity of some of which reached 30 — 40 tonnes.

By mid-XV century the life in the town finally died away. With the time, the earth buried the ruins of a large and beautiful town that it had been before.

Day 6.

Breakfast in hotel. Transfer to the airport. Flight to Kiev.

Transfer to the hotel. Leisure time.

Day 7.

Breakfast in hotel. A half-day excursion to Pirogovo architecture museum.

Day 8.

Breakfast in hotel.

Check-out from hotel. Transfer to the airport.