lupestripe | Risk-ing It All

If you have played the board game Risk, you will know that Sevastopol is a port on the South-West coast of Crimea. It played an integral part of the Crimean War of 1854-56 (it was besieged for the best part of a year) and is now home to the Russian naval fleet in the Black Sea. All of this is evident if you spend one afternoon there.

The bus station is at the bottom of the hill overlooking the bay. You have to walk up a winding road to get to the city itself, and this road overlooks the railway station (with its old Soviet loco and rail-bound tank preserved in the forecourt) and the bay. Here, you can see a wide range of submarines and frigates operated by the Russian military.

Sevastopol has special status in the Ukraine and is very much Russian flavoured, with the three striped flag often flying. Men in military and naval uniforms abound whilst the city itself has many memorials to those lost during the Crimean War. In the peaceful gardens, there is a monument to the British who lost their lives in Crimea whilst the murual entitled 'The Defence of Sovastopol' is in a beautifully ornate round building on a hill. Next to a funfair.

The city overlooks the Black Sea and at the other end of it, you can see the gate to the city and the Monument to Skuttled Ships. You can also catch a glimpse, on the other shore, of the various batteries which were fortified during the conflict. Sovastopol was also designated a 'Hero City' by the Soviets after World War Two (The Great Patriotic War) and the same stars we saw at Kiev and Minsk were evident here too. There are also many Soviet influenced monuments too, which are wonderful slices of history in themselves. Stars adorn the lampposts whilst the hammer and sickle is everywhere. Pictures have been taken.

Crimea is also famous for its wine and I am slowly getting through trying them all (as I have already worked my way through the beers). The red wine I sampled in Sevastopol was a bit sickly for my tastes but the white Chardonney in Simferopol was most pleasant. We have also been eating a lot of pizza as this is the universal cuisine of Ukraine. Local restaurants are difficult to find here, particularly as Crimea is a tourist haven for the Eastern Europeans. In Sevastopol, aside from McDonald's, that really was all there was.

We wanted to go to Balaclava, where there is a huge underground submarine system, but again, the lack of reliable taxi drivers stopped us. 20km may not sound a large distance but with the roads here, it is, and Wolfie had a flight to catch in the evening. I would have also liked to have gone to Inkerman, one of the primary battle sites of the Crimean War, but we were pushed for time. Furthermore, our blistered feet could take no more walking and the sunburn is really starting to turn us into crabs. Perhaps we will be put in a packet of crisps they have here, as this is one of their favourite flavours.

I said goodbye to Wolfie at Sevastopol bus station as we were both going in separate directions - he to Simerferopol Airport and I to Yalta. It was quite sad leaving him, even though I will see him again as early as Monday. I now have three days on my own here before meeting up with some more furs in the city of Odesa. This will be the fourth Hero City I will have visited (out of 13) - perhaps I should try and visit the other nine!