Bad attitude towards work. Cheating tourists. Not fulfilling the tour program.

I, Sergey Kostin, ( [email protected] ) want to tell the truth about the tourist product of the Sanato company from Sevastopol "Crimean Around the World".

The Sanato firm is acting in bad faith by removing all negative and negative reviews of its work from its website. One gets the impression that the administrators of this site write laudatory reviews for themselves and post them on the site, thereby deceiving gullible tourists.

Here is a true review of the trip, unadorned, in the style of a report. Only facts.

Brief review: the tour program is only 50% complete, the rest is pure slyness. Service and food - 3 with a minus. The main topics of the tour are religion, churches, monasteries, saints and kings. The main wealth of Crimea is its unique nature, steppes, mountains, the sea fly by. The tour should be renamed "Pilgrimage to the Holy Places of Crimea".

For those who have the desire and time, below is a detailed account of my journey, made in the period from 04/19/15 to 04/24/15.

The first day.

We met at the railway station in Simferopol. Two minibuses. In each - 12 tourists.

We arrived in Bakhchisaray and immediately went to the rocky Assumption Monastery. Previously, there were just caves here, but now they have been converted into a church, hung with icons and church utensils. You can pray, but you can't take pictures. ?

Further, an excursion to the cave city of Chufut-Kale was announced, but then the first and far from the last "bummer" of the scenario happened: due to the poor condition of the mountain path (rain, slippery), they did not take us there. We did not see the most interesting things planned for this day: caves, a mosque, temples, a mint. It's a pity. ?

We stopped at a Tatar cafe. A modest lunch, but many ordered supplementary meals at their own expense. ?

Since the plane from St. Petersburg with several tourists was two hours late, we had to sit and wait until these tourists catch up with us. Wasted so much time.

We returned to Bakhchisarai. We visited the Khan's palace. Everything in it remains as before 30 years ago. Okay so. ?

Then we stopped at the archaeological complex of Salachik, the capital of the Crimean Khanate. External inspection of the madrasah, mausoleum and cemetery. There is no entrance to the madrasah. The mausoleum too. Nothing remarkable. Waste of time. ?

We left for Sevastopol. On the way, we stopped at the source and, having risen 20 meters from it, along the path to a sheer cliff, we tried to see the drawings of an ancient person on it. Someone said that they saw something ... I did not see anything even later in the photograph.

The cave city of Kachi-Kalyon could probably be seen from the road, but it was far away ... 800 meters. We did not get closer to it. Let's go further.

Approaching Sevastopol, the guide said that we were passing through an area called Inkerman, that there was a medieval fortress Kalamita, a cave monastery of St. Clement, but we did not stop again. They passed by at a speed of 80 km / h. The external inspection of these structures, declared in the tour program, did not take place, and nothing could be seen from the windows of the minibus, let alone photographed. Apparently the guides were in a hurry to Sevastopol, home. This is the second "bummer" in one day. ?

We were accommodated in a decent hotel in Sevastopol. We had dinner.

You could then get to the city center on your own by public transport (a ticket in Sevastopol costs 7 rubles !!!) in fifteen minutes and take a little walk there.

Second day.

Breakfast. Very modest.

Excursion around the territory of the ancient city of Chersonese. The guide is enthusiastic and knowledgeable. But the significance of Christianity in the history of all Mankind is very deliberately obsessively presented.

Free visit to the Vladimir Cathedral.

Then we go on a sightseeing tour of the city of Sevastopol. A quick tour of the city center. Monument to Nakhimov, memorial, Grafskaya pier, another Vladimir Cathedral, walked along the boulevard, did not go up to the monument to Kazarsky, looked from a distance.

Further, those who wish for 300 rubles. it was proposed to sail on a boat along the bays of Sevastopol with an overview of ships and monuments. Sailed for 30 minutes. I looked at the rusting metal of old ships and one decommissioned diesel submarine. Not impressive, but took a picture.

Then we go to see the famous panorama "Defense of Sevastopol" (for a fee of 170 rubles). But here again, "bummer". Panorama is closed on Monday. Day off! Here you should ask the tour organizers a direct question: why do they plan to visit the panorama on Monday? After all, their tours always start on Sunday, which means that Sevastopol is always on Monday, i.e. it is obviously impossible to get into the panorama. Why then include it in the tour program? Ignorance? Hardly. Rather - deceit. All inspection of Sevastopol, the hero city, is over.

We are leaving for Balaklava.

We walked along the Balaklava embankment. In the distance on the mountain we saw the silhouettes of the destroyed towers of the Genoese fortress. We visited another church. This time the temple of the 12 apostles!

Lunch is modest.

The top-secret underground submarine repair plant could not be entered. Closed!

But on the Balaklava Bay we managed to sail on a boat. At least it succeeded.

We returned to Sevastopol to the hotel.

Dinner. Modest.

After breakfast we drive to the southern coast of Crimea.

We pass by the Baidarskaya valley.

Somewhere here, as it is written in the tour program, there are Skelsky menhirs - a cult building of the Stone Age, which we were supposed to visit, but we don’t see it, we don’t visit it, as well as the famous Skelskaya cave - a natural monument at the foot of Mount Kara - Doug. We rush past without arrivals and stops. What kind of Menhirs and caves are there, those tourists who are sitting on the left in the minibus do not even see the Kara-Dag mountains!

The tour program items listed as "Rest in the Forest" and "Old Roman Road" could already be taken as a joke.

We drive up to the Baydar Pass and the Baydar Gates. We shout to the guide: “At least stop here! There is also a good observation deck! We know we've been!" We reluctantly stop for five minutes. We rush further.

We drive up to the Foros Church of the Resurrection of Christ. We visit the church. Further on the program, a visit to Forossky Park is planned, but instead of it we are told that later we will visit the Nikitsky Botanical Garden. We agree to a replacement.

We wanted to skip past the observation deck to view Mount Koshka. The tourists murmured. Stopped. Mount Koshka can be seen a few kilometers from us. Far away, but you can see the profile of the cat.

We are approaching Alupka. We visit the territory of the Vorontsov Palace and the upper park. We are not going to the lower park. No time. We also do not visit the premises of the palace, even for an additional fee. We are in a hurry to climb to the top of Ai-Petri along the longest unsupported cable car in Europe.

On the way to the cable car we stop at Miskhor for a few minutes. We spend five minutes on the embankment. We admire the "Mermaid" in the sea and the fountain "Arza's Girl and Ali Baba the Robber".

Then from the road, from a distance of about a kilometer, through the fence we admire the masterpiece of architecture - the Swallow's Nest castle. Descent and close acquaintance with the masterpiece are not provided.

Let's hurry on. We pass by the cable car.

Again "bummer". Ropeway on prevention. The longest unsupported cable car in Europe is not working! ?

We go up the slope of Mount Ai-Petri by bus to its top. They say - 560 turns! On the way, we stop for a few minutes and visit the Wuchang-Su waterfall. Beautiful waterfall!

On the top of Ai-Petri we have lunch in a Crimean Tatar cafe. Lunch cannot even be called modest: one fourth (!) portion of lagman soup, two whole (!!!) pieces of manti, a piece of white bread and tea. But here you can buy local wine at a price of 600-800 rubles. for 1.5 liters.

From the once famous and purest (according to the memories of youth) Ai-Pertrinskaya yayla, not a piece, not a shred was left. If twenty years ago I bought fresh goat milk for my daughter here in the purest air from a Russian grandmother with a goat, then ten years ago I already saw here Tatar tents, tents, horse and camel dung, and now Tatar cafes, stalls and other commercial establishments.

After the so-called. lunch we go down the same road to the sea and in the evening, almost at sunset, we arrive in Yalta.

We walk along the embankment for about 30 minutes, look around, reach the temple of Alexander Nevsky, which, of course, has long been closed, and go to the hotel for dinner and accommodation. And it's all. We will no longer see Yalta, because the night has come, and tomorrow morning we will be on the road again!

After breakfast we drive (rush) to the Livadia Palace.

We visit the park of the palace. Then, for a fee, those who wish go to the premises of the palace for an excursion, and those who do not want to wander alone for 1.5 hours in the park on their own. On your own, because your guide also suddenly wanted to replenish her knowledge and went on an excursion to the palace.

Then we go to the Massandra Palace. We visit the palace for a fee (300 rubles). I had to go inside, although I did not want to. But wandering again alone for more than an hour in the park is already tired.

Then we stop for an hour at the Nikitsky Botanical Garden. Lightning-fast inspection of its central part. We visit a meadow of tulips.

We are going to Gurzuf for lunch. We have lunch.

Further in the program of the tour, a walk around the city of Gurzuf is planned, which in reality looked like this: We went down from the cafe three minutes before the embankment. We stood there for about five minutes and went to the bus.

There was no talk of any walk along the sea with views of Ayu-Dag, Artek, the Suuk-Su estate, the rocks of Adalary and the Chekhov grotto. Again "in flight".

Further, the tour program included a visit to the magnificent modern park Aivazovskoye. But, as a matter of course, we did not see this park either. Didn't visit. Again "in flight".

The guide said that we have a long journey to the city of Sudak and we must hurry to visit the unique Lighthouse Temple in the village of Malorechenskoye along the way.

We rush non-stop along the road to Malorechenskoye. We pass a turn to the most unique natural object - the Dzhur-Dzhur waterfall. Only a few kilometers to it, but here a visit to the unique object of Crimean nature is not provided. Let's hurry to the temple-remake. As a result, as it is no longer surprising, we do not see the waterfall and are late for the temple. Late, the temple is closed. Don't even get close. Forced to contemplate it from afar from the road through the bars of the fence. Good thing it's huge. Visible even from the road. Interestingly, is it visible from Turkey?

The next "bummer" is not even surprising anymore: it was not possible to see the Valley of Ghosts, the Demerdzhi Mountains, the shooting location of many films. This was not even discussed.

But the main "surprise" of this day was waiting for us in Sudak. It would be more accurate to say that I did not wait, but did not wait ...

Arriving at 9 o'clock in the evening at a private hotel in Sudak, we suddenly discovered with tragic surprise that we were not expected here, dinner was not ready, and the rooms have one local feature: they are of a purely summer type, i.e. without heating, and in the month of April, in which we ventured to make our cruise, it was +9 degrees during the day in Sudak, and +3 at night.

We spent the night like climbers in the mountains: fully dressed, however, I still took off my sneakers for the night ... Education did not allow me to go to bed shod ...?

After breakfast, we make a tour of the Genoese fortress in Sudak, and then the Golitsin wine cellars in Archaderesse. We also visit the tasting room.

After tasting Crimean wines, we rush to Feodosia.

In Feodosia we have lunch and for a fee we visit the Aivazovsky art gallery.

Then we visit the grave of Aivazovsky, the Armenian church and the Turkish mosque.

In the evening we arrive in Koktebel. The declared boat trip along the extinct volcano, visiting the bays of Serdolikovaya, Razboynichya, Pogranichnaya, etc., of course, did not take place. There was not even a hint of this sea voyage. Another "bummer".

There was also no visit to the Voloshin house-museum, as you may have guessed. We had to hurry on our way back to Sudak. To a summer hotel.

We're going to the New World. We pass along the Golitsyn trail. Beautiful views.

Then we leave for Simferopol.

Should have visited the Uzun-Syrt plateau, but did not. We rushed past, but we definitely visited the Peter and Paul Cathedral, as well as the Armenian monastery of Surb Khach.

But the famous White Rock or Ak-Kaya, the one and only rock in the Crimea, was not visited. Passed by again. Those who were lucky enough to sit at the right windows of the minibus could see her on the horizon, ten kilometers away, and those who sat on the left did not see her at all.

But they arrived in Simferopol instead of the planned 18-00 at 16-00. Ahead of schedule. The guides still had to go to Sevastopol. Home.

Well, I flew home.

Next year, for the same money, I fly to Greece for a week or to Egypt for ten days ...

Now let's count all the pros and cons (according to the points of the tour program): YES - the item of the declared program has been completed, NO - it has not been completed.

1. Khan's Palace - yes

2. Complex "Salachik" - yes

3. Cave city of Chufut-Kale - no

4. Rock Assumption Monastery - yes

5. Tash-Air - yes

6. Inkerman - Kalamita fortress - no

7. Inkerman - Monastery of Clement - no

8. Sevastopol sightseeing city - yes

9. Sevastopol Panorama - no

10. Tauric Chersonese - yes

11. Surveillance balaclava - yes

12. Balaklava secret factory - no

13. Baydarskaya valley - no

14. Skel Menhirs - no

15. Skelskaya cave - no

16. Old Roman road, rest in the forest - no

17. Foros church - yes

18. Forossky park - no.

19. Cableway - no

20. Yalta panoramic view along the embankment - yes

21. Yalta park, fountains, Alexander Nevsky Church - no

22. Vorontsov Palace - Upper Park - yes

23. Vorontsov Palace visiting - no.

24. Livadia Palace - yes

25. Massandra Palace - yes

26. Gurzuf embankment - yes

27. Gurzuf boat trip - no

28. Park-modern Aivazovsky - no

29. Temple-lighthouse in the village of Malorechenskoye - no

30. Valley of ghosts near Mount Demerdzhi - no

31. Sudak fortress - yes

32. New World - Golitsyn trail - yes

33. Feodosia survey - yes

34. Feodosia art gallery - yes

35. Overview of Koktebel - yes

36. Walk to the volcano Karadag, etc. - no

37. House-Museum of Voloshin - no

38. Uzun-Syrt plateau - no

39. Peter and Paul Cathedral - yes

40. Armenian monastery Surb-Khach - yes

41. White rock Ak-Kaya - no.

Total out of 41 items: yes = 20; no = 21 i.e. 50% no.

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