Day 1.

Arrival to Odessa. 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. Odessa sightseeing. Trip to Vilkovo – the "Ukrainian Venice".

Odessa

Although the people started to settle in Odessa in the ancient times, the city began its rapid development only at the end of XVII century, after annexing of the Black Sea territories to Russia as a result of the Russian-Turkish wars.

Odessa was developing at a such accelerated pace that just in one century it transformed from the small settlement into the fourth-largest city of the Russian Empire (after St. Petersburg, Moscow and Warsaw).

Odessa is mainly represented by the architecture of ХIХ-ХХ centuries: classicism, modern, baroque, post-modernism, and modern techno-architecture styles.

Odessa is the larges seaport of Ukraine.

Its climate is temperately continental and relatively dry. The number of solar days per year exceeds 290.

You will see the most beautiful places and monuments. The magnificent constructions, well tought-out design and gentle sea created for Odessa a reputation of the marvelous city. During excursions you will visit the historical places of the city; visit a beautiful T. Shevchenko park with an old fortress wall; you will see and be able to trod the cozy streets: Pushkinskaya, Richelievskaya, Lanzheronovskaya, and of course the beloved by all citizens – Deribassovskaya street – a unique historical and architectural monument. You will have an opportunity to see the architectural masterpiece – the Opera and Ballet Theater, as well as the historical buildings, where the city museums are situated: Art Museum, Archeological Museum, Marine Museum, etc. You will walk through Primorskiy boulevard, being beautiful any time of the season, where the city Duma is located as well as count Vorontsov palace, monument to Duke de Richelieu. You will be captured by the panorama viewing sea terminal, port and sea. We shall also present to you the famous Potemkinskaya staircase.

Vilkovo

The town was founded in 1746 and is also known as the "Ukrainian Venice" due to its numerous canals dug out along the street. For some period of time (till 1960) a boat was more accustomed mean of transportation than a motorcar. The canals system is arranged as follows: the channels by bending and axial network connect the two arms of Danube river. A channel shut-off results in draining of all other connecting channels. Presently, you can only run by boat across the town only in its "old" part.

Day 3.

Breakfast in hotel. Leisure time in Odessa. Overnight train to Simferopol.

Day 4.

Arrival to Simferopol. Transfer to Yalta (80 km). Accommodation in 3* hotel 3*. Excursion to the palaces of Yalta (for palaces description see tour T-006).

Day 5.

Breakfast in hotel. Excursion to Sebastopol and Bakhchisarai, visit to volatile essence factory (lavender, rose, sage, which due to a specific climate of Crimea is considered to be of value and possess therapeutic effect).

Bakhchisarai is an amazing corner of Asia in the center of Europe and a district center. The first written records about Bakhchisarai (Garden-palace) are dated 1501. The heart of Bakhchisarai is the "Garden-palace" itself. It was built in early XVI century by Mengly-Girei, son of the khanate founder. In the buildings of the palace ensemble you may see huge expositions dedicated to archeology and history of the Crimea. On the territory of Bakhchisarai district there are 14 cave towns and monasteries, the most famous of them are the Uspenskiy monastery (VIII – IX centuries) and Chufut-Cale fortress.

Day 6.

Breakfast in hotel. Visit to Nikitskiy botanic garden.

Nikitskiy botanic garden

Nikitskiy botanic garden is located 6 km from Yalta and is a green treasury of Ukraine and of the whole Europe. This year Nikitskiy botanic garden will celebrate its 195th anniversary. The garden appeared as a result of attempt undertaken by prince Potemkin to create the European-style botanic gardens in Alupka and Foros areas. To this end, they bought a large lot of plants and seeds from Constantinople, Smyrna and Prince Islands. Among the imported plants there were the Italian stone pines, Judas-trees, olives, cypress, laurel, planes, rhododendrons, etc.

Presently, there are approximately 30,000 families, kinds and hybrids of plants in this garden.

The plants collection include gorgeous set of cactuses, bamboo, roses, firs, cypress, fig trees, date-plums and many-many others flowers, bushes and trees.

Day 7.

Breakfast in hotel. Leisure day in Yalta.

Day 8.

Breakfast and departure from hotel. Transfer to Simferopol airport. Flight to home (via Kiev).