Oct 4, 2013 Yalta, Ukraine

I don't know if I mentioned that when we packed we were expecting temperatures in the 70- low 80's. The unexpected cold weather was a shock to all passengers on the ship as we did not have clothing for the cold and wet weather.

In  other ports in Europe one can find vendors selling sweatshirts and cheap umbrellas. Here in the Ukraine not a vendor was to be found.

Consequently we braved the weather to take all our tours.

Yalta is another port where we needed to take a tender to go ashore.

Last night my wife got sick and went to the doctor's office where she received medication and was told to stay in the cabin for a day as a precaution for norovirus.  The staff would provide room service for her and the nurse would call periodically to check on her.

Today we planned an 8 hr. excursion of the three large palaces in Yalta which included the one that the representatives from Britain, US and Russia met to discuss the war (WWII).

Since my wife was ill I was going to go on the excursions and left on an 8:15 am tender to shore where I got on the tour bus. It was cold!

When we got off the bus at the first palace- Massandra Palace- there was a light snowfall!
The tour took about an hour and we had a short break for photos and rest rooms before we were going to the Vorontsov Palace.

When we got to the Palace we were told it would be a ten min. walk which normally would be no problem but in the rain and wind it was really a challenge. We waited in line to enter and at least were somewhat warm. I wanted to buy a book on the palace but since I did not have the local currency I could not.

We spent and hour and were almost at the end when our guide got a message that the group was to return to the ship due to bad weather- the captain did not want us stuck on land and not be able to take the tender to the ship.

We did not visit the 3rd Palace which is the one most passengers wanted to visit- Livadia Palace- where the Yalta meeting of the 3 Powers was held. We did drive by it but could not see it as it was hidden by the foliage on the highway.

Part of the tour was to stop at the Swallow's Nest and have lunch but all we did was take a really short photo stop of the castle and then go to the pier.

We waited in freezing cold weather on the tender while the crew rounded up all the passengers who were on shore and then sailed to the ship.

When I got to our cabin my wife informed that after our tenders had left for the tour the captain cancelled all tenders to shore and everyone had to remain on board- losing the chance to visit this city.  This was a shame as most of us took this cruise to see the 3 Ukrainian ports but the bad weather spoiled our trip somewhat.

Normally the weather would have been warm and sunny and all the touristy stands and shops would have been open.

There was an announcement that the ship would be sailing sooner than scheduled due to weather and that in Burgas, our next port, the weather would be warmer and some sun.

My wife was feeling better and said that if she had to be sick it was today as we could not really enjoy the tours we signed up for. 

October 3, 2013 Sevastopol Ukraine

Today the weather is cold and rainy. The weather forecast is for rain for the next several days.
As I stated in an earlier post, the Ukraine is really not ready nor developed for tourism. This is reflected in the short list of shore excursions available.
The choices are a city tour of Sevastopol, several tours of the battlefields or Balaclava Valley or the harbors or the submarine base and the one we chose, Khan's Palace and the Cave Monastery.

Since Sevastopol cannot accommodate our ship we will be tendering from the ship to the pier.

At the pier our guide met us and led us to the bus. Our first stop was a restaurant where we saw a model of Bakhchisaray. After this we went to the Khan's Palace- a complex with Muslim influence.
It was nice but I would not recommend it nor go again.

We then had a short rest stop for Turkish coffee or tea and a traditional dessert. If the weather was not so cold the stop outdoors would have been delightful.

We then boarded shuttle buses to go to the Cave Monastery (road was narrow and would not fit the tour bus).

We had a beautiful view of the valley from the parking lot. There were a lot of steps to climb to the Monastery which was formed by a cave.
We went inside to worship the icons and then were able to purchase some incense, cards and photos. Fortunately the Nuns accepted our Euros.

We boarded the buses and returned to the pier.

Due to the rain and cold we all got on the tender boats and boarded our ship.

Tomorrow we go to Yalta, our original first port in the Ukraine. We selected the longest tour as it has almost all their is to see in Yalta- 8 hrs including lunch.

Oct. 2, 2013. Odessa, Ukraine (currency issues)

Today the weather was still cold and windy. Watching the news on the tv  on the ship we saw that the weather has gotten cold in Europe as well as here.

We had several hours on our own before the ship sailed at 3pm. One of the things that sold us on this cruise was the overnight in Odessa as well as in Istanbul.

Since we are docked so close to the city we can walk up the Potemkin stairs and be in the heart of downtown Odessa.

We walked up the famous Potemkin steps to the city center on a quest for souvenirs. We went to an arcade (small covered shopping area) where we found a souvenir store that was open and that took Visa card.

We bought two music boxes and some other stuff and we charged them on the visa. In the store we met a local guide who took us to the local handmade chocolate store and helped us buy chocolates. This store was fabulous- they had chocolates made into different shapes as well as types of chocolate. They had some chairs to sit and enjoy hot liquid chocolate too!

Currency exchange is a real problem. If our friend the guide did not use his special card with the cashier we could have not used our Euros to purchase the two boxes of chocolates.  Since we had change coming from our purchase the cashier could not give us Euros nor Hryvnias so we took our change in the form of chocolates!

The guide then  showed us the way to the Athens Mall which was built by a Greek Odessan.

We gave him a keychain as a friendship gift.

We toured the mall which was 3 levels and very modern- but no one spoke English.

We had lunch on the ship and I decided to go to the cafe in the terminal ( which was very close to the ship) to try and use the Internet. After trying to find out how much a coffee was I discovered I needed to convert $3.00 into Hryvnias as the cafe could not accept dollars or Euros and I had left my Visa card on the ship.

The waiters allowed me to have coffee and use the wifi on my IPad  and to pay them after the currency exchange office opened at 2pm.  When I went there I discovered I needed my passport to change $.  Fortunately ahead of me in line was a guest I met yesterday on the tour who was changing money and he changed my money along with his. We went to the cafe, paid the bill with a fifty and I gave him (the guest) the change (had 24  Hryvnias & the  bill for the coffee was 19).

I wonder how tourists are going to fare in Socha site of the winter olympics with trying to buy food and souvenirs since one cannot use those currencies in the Ukraine. One must either go to an exchange booth or use a credit card.  

When I saw my friend change $80 to the Ukrainian currency it took at least 10 mins since the clerk had to fill our forms with six copies and examine his passport.

I knew that we will have problems with currency in Sevastopol and Yalta if we want to buy souvenirs there.  I did try and buy Hryvnias at home at the bank and currency exchange office but they could not get them.

Headed back to ship since it departs at 3pm.

Oct 1, 2013. Odessa, Ukraine

Today we docked in Odessa as a result of stormy weather that prevented us from going to Yalta. 

We stay overnight and then go to Sevastopol. After Sevastopol we will go to Yalta.

 We had a tour that included an archeology museum and a an art museum in an old palace. Both museums were funded by a wealthy Greek resident.  We saw the exterior of the Opera house, Catherine the Great statue.  Later we visited the local Russian Orthodox Cathedral which was really impressive .

 Opera House

 Museum

 Catherine the Great statue

 We,had a very good lunch included with the tour at a local downtown restaurant.  Since the food was cooked to order it took awhile to get served but is was very tasty.  Each place setting had a shot glass of local moonshine which was at least 2x stronger than tsipouro!

 Name of the restaurant we had lunch at

The weather was cold and windy so after the tour everyone went back to the ship.