Crimea: the return of the prodigal mother-in-law
Like a year ago, our family of 4 people and mother-in-law again visited the Crimea. And again, the impressions were the most magnificent and pleasant! Taking into account the experience of last year's trip, we shifted the departure dates in order to get into the "off season", when the vast majority of vacationers will leave with their children by the beginning of the school year. By the way, we terribly miscalculated, there were eerily many people.
The trip began on August 30 at 6 am from Vladimir, ended there on September 21 at 2 am. Here are brief statistics: we drove 5.100 km, 1.700 of them in the Crimea. The total travel time from Vladimir to the port of Kavkaz (about 1700 km) was about 22 hours (not counting the overnight stay in Rostov and stops for rest and refueling), back 21.5 hours. On the Don M4 toll road, 435 rubles were paid in the south direction and 385 in the north. The time from the moment of registration for the ferry (electronic tickets) to disembarkation on the side of the Crimea was 1 hour 2 minutes, back - 2 hours 15 minutes. The average price for fuel (AI-92) on the territory of mainland Russia was about 34 rubles, on the peninsula - 38 rubles per liter. In Crimea, Yevpatoria was the farthest point, then along the southern coast we drove to the main cities.
Just like a year ago, my unforgettable mother-in-law and the rest of the family took part in the trip - my wife, son Arseniy, 4.5 years old, daughter Zlata, 1.5 years old, and, in fact, me. Bearing in mind that last year's departure at 1 am was not very successful (lack of sleep affected), we left at 6 am. The decision turned out to be correct, I didn’t want to sleep on the way, however, the children didn’t either))) In order to reasonably reduce the distance in terms of mileage and time, we didn’t go through Moscow, but near Orekhovo-Zuyevo we went to the Big Concrete Ring and drove to Stupino in the south of the Moscow region . The warnings of our friends about traffic jams turned out to be in vain: the road was free, the asphalt was excellent. By the way, our friends left the day before and drove through Moscow. Leaving at 3 am, they stood in Balashikha, then on the Moscow Ring Road and drove in traffic on the outskirts of Moscow. They arrived at the border of the Moscow and Tula regions at 11 am. By the way, we, having left 3 hours later than them, crossed it at 9-30 in the morning. As they say, think for yourself, decide for yourself)))
I don't really want to talk about the road further. A toll road began in the Lipetsk region, the quality is very good, both before and after))) We drove, enjoyed the views and cloudy weather. Gradually, the clouds thinned, the temperature began to rise from 17 degrees and already in the Voronezh region the sun in the shade gave out a pleasant 22-23. At about 13:00 we passed Voronezh itself. We drove 110-130, stopped only a couple of times for my mother-in-law to go to the toilet))) By the way, after Voronezh, 2 more points for collecting dough are being built, I'm afraid to think how much money I will give back next year!
Immediately after Voronezh we decided to have lunch. After about 20 km, right on the highway, we saw a large Tatneft gas station. I had to fill up already, so my wife's argument that there is a cafe there and a large recreation area on the street was received with understanding on my part. It turned out that inside there was a good dining-cafe with reasonable prices (salads 50-80, soups 60-80) and even a children's room with a TV (Masha and the Bear was on). Yes, we dined back there, on the opposite side of the highway there was an absolutely similar gas station. Let readers throw me slippers, of course, they paid me well to advertise their place)))))
Further there was a jerk of 550 km to Rostov. One stop (mother-in-law to the toilet), 6 hours and around 20-00 we were in the Rostov Ikea. They also paid me extra, but we ran there and ate ice cream. Yes, mother-in-law to the toilet, of course! ))) In Rostov, we found an apartment in advance through the Internet, gave 1850 rubles, a good odnushka suited us, Zlata had her own baby bed. The owner did not pay me extra, I will not write his data)))
At 10 am we moved towards Krasnodar. We drove on the navigator, he led in some strange way. We passed the Tsukerova Balka traffic police station and drove in some incomprehensible way, I didn’t even understand from the maps later. We drove one lane in each direction, 100-120. Approximately 100 km from Krasnodar, the road led to the M4 highway. We traveled 200 km in 2 hours. Some repairs were going on on the M-4, in Krasnodar there were about 14-30. We had lunch at some barbecue, they didn’t pay me extra either, and the rude waitress didn’t give me pleasure, in general, we left Krasnodar at about 4 pm.
Last year, I naively trusted the navigator and he took me all the way through Anapa. This time I decided not to listen to him and my mother-in-law's pleas to drop into Anapka))) The road went through Temryuk to the port of Kavkaz. At 19-30 we drove up to the village of Ilyich and turned into a drive with the inscription Registration on the ferry (sort of like that). It took about 30 seconds for us to be given vouchers instead of our printed e-tickets. And we immediately drove to the detour of the sump on the road to the ferry. By the way, there were not many cars without electronic registration, they spent time only measuring the dimensions of the car and paying for tickets at the box office. Then we were waiting for about 12 km along the spit along the sea. I must say right away that we were overtaken by several cars, which during my trip I would call the most undisciplined: crazy drivers from the Rostov region and impudent drivers from the Krasnodar Territory.
At 19-50 we arrived at the car check point, 1 minute and we were at the ferry. Surprisingly, the ferry was loaded and we, almost without stopping, drove into the hold of the ferry! I definitely didn't expect this! At 20-10 the ferry sailed! 40 minutes ago I was driving along the highway, and now I am sailing to the peninsula! At 20-32 we ended up on the Crimean land. 1 hour and 2 minutes is something from the realm of fantasy! Even the mother-in-law, standing in line at the Vladimir clinic at the reception, could not boast of such a result !! ! )))
We decided to have dinner in Kerch. My wife read in advance about a certain Korchma near the port of Crimea. We searched for a long time, at 21 o'clock we finally found a private house, where, to my surprise, they said that they had just closed! On the way back, we stopped by for lunch, but didn’t eat: it doesn’t look like a cafe, and the prices didn’t please us (salads from 200, soups from 160). We set off in search of housing previously found by my wife - a certain Villa Dana in Geroevka. Kerch struck (like last year) with simply ditched roads, there was a feeling that the asphalt had not been repaired after the air strikes of German bombers in 1941! There were still some lights in the center of the city, single pedestrians, scurrying taxis, but when we drove a little further to the beach, it became dark like a black man in... a hut, no people! By mistake, we drove to the beach behind the fish factory, it was dark, there was not even a watchman, we turned around and drove back. We came across some hostel, burst, reluctantly the watchman and the granny came out with ice cream, suggested how to get there.
At 22-30 we arrived at this Villa Dana. Private hotel rooms for 30-40. Silence, lights off. The administrator in a dry whisper said that everything was ready for us and there was even dinner (which we asked about on the way)! Hearing our whispered agreement, she began to hiss into the darkness: Natalya Borisovna... Natalya Borisovna... (name changed - she did not pay extra! ). A sleepy girl in her 50s with the build of a sumo wrestler appeared out of the darkness, escorted us to the refectory room and brought pasta with sausage and vegetable salad warmed up in the microwave. As I understand it, in Kerch people not only get up early, but also go to bed.
The next day we had to make the final throw to Evpatoria. This throw was complicated by the fact that the children were mentally exhausted from 2 days on the road and empty contemplation of the beautiful sea outside the car windows, as well as the need to call in Sevastopol for a stroller that my wife looked after for purchase. Yes, this has never been done before! Women. . . Remembering last year's long and difficult journey along the serpentines, I initially decided to go from Feodosia through Simferopol. Firstly, the path is shorter and on flat terrain. Secondly, there is no temptation to stop. But it suddenly turned out that the way to Simferopol takes a detour from the main highway. This was my oversight in preparation for the trip. I knew that the track was being repaired, but I did not ask about the detour. As a result, the detour increased the length of the route by 60-70 kilometers, almost through Dzhankoy. But we must pay tribute: we didn’t slow down anywhere, and the asphalt was much better than on the way from Kerch and Feodosia, which I adore. On the way, I looked with curiosity at the city of Bakhchisarai: I was interested in this town with Muslim architecture. I liked it, a clean city, with typical ancient oriental architecture of Western Asia, what you see in tourist TV shows about Baghdad, Damascus, Tehran and other ancient cities that have survived to this day.
In Sevastopol, we bought a stroller and stopped by for lunch. Some guys suggested a certain cafe Caravanserai. The cafe didn’t pay me extra, but they had simply delicious manti, the prices were very inexpensive (salads 50-100, manti 120 rubles for 3 pcs). In general, full and satisfied, we went to Evpatoria.
Now that I have described our path in detail, I see the point in giving short, concise information about the cities and places visited, as well as my assessment.
Evpatoria… We lived there for 5 days. Sooooo many people rested, it was extremely difficult to find free places. As a result, after 2 hours of unsuccessful wanderings around filled hotels in the private sector, my wife climbed onto Avito and found, through intermediaries, the necessary “kopeck piece” in a private house on Demysheva Street, 5. I want to immediately give readers important information: in this house we encountered a unique system for calculating the cost of living: the hostess counts days, while the day of arrival and departure are different days. To understand this, I will tell you how it turned out for us. We arrived on the 1st at 11pm. Looking at the apartment, everything suited us. Shaking hands at the price of 1800 rubles, we settled for 5 days. What was our amazement when, on the evening of the 5th, the hostess demanded another 1.800 rubles. Through diplomacy, I managed to beg her to drop up to 1000 rubles overnight before 10 am. It was possible to apply then to the police and the agency, but we decided not to conflict. After leaving, I called the agency and, like a man, boldly “snitched” what this landlord was doing. It turned out that she also deceived the agency, indicating that she had given us rooms for 4 days instead of 5. In general, the hostess, I think, will lose much more than we will lose our thousand...
I personally liked Evpatoria. It is felt that the city is ancient, there are many historical memorials and plaques, the architecture in the center and on the embankment is made in Greek and Catherine's styles. There are a lot of pedestrian green areas in the waterfront area, huge areas for walking. My wife really didn't like that there were so many sick children. We knew that this was a well-known health resort, but to see invalids resembling a plant, I confess, is extremely difficult. My wife got the feeling that all the sick children of Russia came there. Loved the trams. The food is rather poor, there are relatively few cafes and not cheap. We found a couple of places where you can eat inexpensively, but canteens are just eateries for the most part. I will say that we took the time to drive around the old city, in particular, on Karaimskaya Street we managed to find the famous Karaman cafe, sooooo delicious oriental cuisine at reasonable prices. I advise their kvass on wheat and pasties, and you will lick your fingers everything else!
Evpatoria is a large city by Crimean standards, with a population of just over 100.000, not counting vacationers. I really liked the water park Banana Republic, this is the best that I have tried in the Crimea from water parks. What's good, my mother-in-law had a birthday, her entrance was free. It seems like a trifle, but it's nice! )))
We visited the dolphinarium, a good performance for about 60 minutes. The beaches are sandy, there are some small pebbles. Sunsets are smooth, although there were steeper beaches than sunset. On the spit right in front of Evpatoria, they fed ducks and wild swans. In general, the city, which recently turned 2500 years old, made an unexpectedly pleasant impression on me.
Then we moved to Sevastopol. I must say right away: Sevastopol is practically not a resort town. 400.000 local residents, banks, money loans are actively developed, the city lives not only on tourism. Pushing around in search of housing, at one gas station, a nice woman gave a business card for renting housing by the sea. As a result, the curve of fate sent us to the northern part of Sevastopol - the radio hill area. You can get there either by ferry (by car - 200 rubles or by boat - 15 rubles per person) or bypassing the industrial district of the city - Inkerman. We didn’t have time to get on the ferry, the last one sailed at 19 o’clock, so we took a detour. It takes 40-50 minutes to drive, the northern part resembles a fuck... sorry, a quiet area of the private sector with rare shops and rare lanterns. Silence, fences, 2-3 storey private hotels. But it turned out that it was cheap, clean and a great patio surrounded by greenery. As a result, we rented 2 separate rooms for 900 rubles. each.
Sevastopol is a specific city. Here, someone will see a beautiful city center with 3-story "Stalin" buildings and a St. Petersburg-style embankment, while someone will see the shabby facades on old houses. There are many voids and the private sector, as well as many multi-storey new buildings. In 4 days we managed to go to the magnificently beautiful Cape Fiolent, Balaklava, a sandy beach in Uchkuevka, explored the city itself. The road to Fiolent was not very good, at the end the road was generally unpaved. But we left at the peak. This is unforgettable: magnificent views from a cliff 200-250 meters high! Below the sea, around the rocks, the mother-in-law, clinging to the driver's headrest))) Photos are attached! We found the strength to go down to the stairs of 850 steps to the beach on the rocks. I’ll say that there are 190 steps, I personally considered it myself. Swimming... uncomfortable, my princess Zlata did not really like entering the water over large stones, for some reason she felt that dad was barely catching balance between the waves on slippery stones. Lying on stones and rocks is a pleasure for special connoisseurs. In general, Fiolent is the most beautiful place where you want to stay and live forever!
We went to Balaklava. According to his wife, Balaklava is a Crimean copy of Venice. Let me tell you right now, I don't think so. A shabby harbor with rusty boats, surrounded by two mountains... The impression is twofold, ambiguous. Mother-in-law and his wife responded optimistically, I found this place... informative! In general, I will not offend the Crimeans, you need to visit the place at least once.
The beach in Uchkuevka, along with neighboring Lyubimovka, is the only sandy beach in Sevastopol. That's what the locals said. I don’t know if we can believe them, but there was sand))) The beach in Uchkuevka is not bad, there are awnings, sun loungers (100 rubles / piece), nearby canteens and cafes are quite affordable.
General conclusion: Sevastopol is not exactly a resort, you can also swim here, but first of all, here you can find architecture, beautiful places, temples and architectural monuments. It’s a pity that we didn’t manage to get to Chersonesos, it’s also a beautiful place, they say.
Further our path lay in Yalta. The South Coast Highway ran in my favorite part of the Crimea: I consider the picturesque nature of Laspi Bay to be the most beautiful place on the peninsula. A little further we drove the famous temple on a rock, it is not clear how it was built.
Yalta… Last year we were fascinated by this city. This year we are disappointed. By the sea, housing was offered for 2000 rubles. 1-room rooms and apartments, for a "kopeck piece" they asked for 3-4.5 thousand per day. Worst of all, everything was busy and what we were offered on a residual basis was horrifying not only at the price, but also at the conditions. As a result, they found a “kopeck piece” 1.2 km from the embankment for 2200 per day, on the main street next to the central market. 5 days, 11000 rub. The weather was not encouraging. The first day was still sunny, but not hot, the sea was with waves, the rest of the days it was cloudy and stormy. We used it and visited some great places.
The best memories were about a trip to Mount Ai-Petri. We went by car, leaving Yalta to the Bakhchisaray highway and 37 km uphill. It is difficult to describe the beauty of this road: someone will see a monotonous serpentine there, and I saw bright vegetation a la The Lord of the Rings. The road resembles a green tunnel made of trees, a picturesque lake on the way, sea views. . . I advise you to open the windows - the smell can cure any disease, according to my mother-in-law))) The air smells of pine needles and the sea. On Ai-Petri, we encountered clouds and weather changing every minute: either cold and wind, or sun and calm. Only the terribly intrusive behavior of the Crimean Tatars was more unpleasant. The fact is that these guys (do not take it for nationalism, nothing personal) created their own monopoly there and occupied the entire territory of the mountain. True, we must pay tribute to the fact that the prices for services do not hurt. Parking (where the authorities look) is paid - 100 rubles. from the car, although it is possible to leave the car on the side of the road 300 meters before it, and I will continue to do so. Dzhigits fly up in the parking lot and invite the children to ride horses. My son is afraid of horses, but I had to show the guy his fear so that he would fall behind. They evade answers about the price, as I understand it, the price tag ranges from 500 rubles. and above.
Crazy competition among cafes. Guys stick here like Egyptians on the Giza plateau or Turks in cheap resorts in the markets. The food is very tasty, the meat is cooked in real cauldrons, pilaf (300 gr) 250 rubles, pork neck shish kebab 100 rubles. for 100 gr (in Yalta the average price tag is 200 rubles/100 gr). In general, we didn’t see anything from the top of Ai-Petri, but we ate deliciously! ))) By the way, who cares about the cable car. . . The cable car costs 300 rubles. per person 1 way. Not cheap, but I think it's worth it! Beautiful and exciting! In good weather, the views are insanely beautiful: sheer cliffs below and around, and the sea with Yalta to the side!
We visited two palaces: Levadisky and Vorontsovsky. Both are good, but Vorontsovsky liked the territory more. There are many horticultural plants, giant stone placers (chaos), picturesque lakes and waterfalls. Levadisky is more majestic or something... You can walk for hours, just a real forest.
We drove along the Yalta highway, were able to briefly look at the suburban towns near Yalta: Alupka, Koreiz, Gaspra, Levadiya. We were in Simeiz last year when we went to the water park. Very nice, quiet places, popular with tourists. In Gaspra we came across a very beautiful church on a rock with sea views, I almost never saw such beautiful singing anywhere. But there was simply not enough time for the rest: I would also like to visit the Nikitinsky Botanical Garden, and the Miskhor Palace, and much more.
General conclusion: Yalta is a very nice city (about 75.000 local residents) with an excellent embankment, fun animation on this very embankment, beautiful places in suburban areas. Yalta people are insolent people, the prices for both housing and food are the most expensive in Crimea. The price is composed for one or two. I still advocate a fixed price tag.
By the way, I'll put in my remark. We were walking along the embankment one evening, I heard passing passers-by, one of whom, an elderly uncle, complained that everything was so cheap here 4 years ago, and now that Crimea has joined us (it means a boy from Russia), prices have jumped to Russian averages. Lord! You decide! Either let Crimea be Ukrainian and cheap, or let it be Russian, but with Russian prices. Crimea is the pearl of our country, and it is stupid and pointless to expect prices from it like in Central Africa! Stop whining and just look at how prices differ at the world's leading resorts. Crimea today is already an inexpensive resort, but in terms of beauty and the sea, almost ANY resort in the Krasnodar Territory will shut up.
From Yalta we decided to go to Sudak. Fortunately, our relatives from Moscow stopped there unexpectedly and gave a high recommendation. On the day of departure, Yalta gave us a farewell tropical downpour - we decided to go as soon as we got up. We drove to Alushta, the rain subsided. We planned to drive along the South Coast Highway to enjoy the seascapes on the serpentine. However, because of the rain, a sign and a turn slipped through and drove... We were a little surprised when we saw the sign "Simferopol". Yes, we went to the capital of the peninsula by mistake. I had to drive across the plain, through traffic jams at the exits, where the road was being repaired. As a result, the journey from Yalta to Sudak, along the Southern Coastal Highway, which is approximately 120 km, took us 170 km and 5 hours. They also cut off the path, turning off the road behind Belogorsk, in the village of Grushevka.
Pike perch… The city, which we didn’t see through last year, turned out to be the main discovery of our entire trip. This small town of 16.000 people impresses with its clean, modern houses, plenty of cafes and a magnificent promenade of about 2.5 kilometers, good sandy beaches and reasonable prices. Housing rented for 700 rubles. per room (again they took 2 rooms), very good canteens (not like eateries in Evpatoria and Yalta) with prices for salads from 40 to 150 rubles, soups for 30-80 rubles, shish kebab neck an average of 100 rubles. for 100 gr. (this is already in the cafe). There were also stripteases, my mother-in-law had places to go))) and nightclubs, and bowling, billiards, sports bars, bike pubs... The variety of establishments is good, they didn’t rack their brains on what to eat and how to feed the children. Nearby there is an amusement park. A very beautiful view of the rock, on top of which is the main attraction of Sudak - the Italian Genoese fortress, erected in the Renaissance. Ride on the sea on a sea banana, 500 rubles. per person, children under 6 free. My wife managed to fall out of it twice into the sea, but my son was pleased. During this time, we drove to the beautiful suburban town of Novy Svet, a pretty town (1500 people) in a picturesque bay, with a good embankment, reached the Tsarskoye Beach, where we swam a little. The embankment in Sudak has few establishments and in this regard is much inferior to Yalta. But you can walk along it perfectly, and all the main entertainments are located on the street that leads to this embankment.
In general, Sudak left an excellent impression. During the 4 days that we lived here, we swam and walked for the rest of the vacation, got the best impressions and enjoyed the sea and the sun. It is surprising how and with what people live here out of season, a mystery...
Further on, our vacation was rapidly rolling to an end. We were on our way back. We had to get home in two days, and on the first day the task was to get to Rostov. Let's go South coast highway to Feodosia. Contrary to the stories about the interesting city of Stary Krym on the Simferopol highway (a sort of mini-Switzerland) of our relatives, we bet on the city of Koktebel along the way. A very nice city, with a population of 3.000 people, a very nice promenade with civilized mini-hotels and cafes, reasonable prices.
Theodosius was next. Like last year, I didn't like the city again. It seems that there is enough greenery, and a good, lively embankment, a lot of "movement"... But still, the city seemed bald, a lot of dirt, industrial zones did not bring joy, in general, only Kerch is worse for me in Crimea.
The return ferry from check-in to check-out on the continental part was longer and amounted to 2 hours and 15 minutes. It's also good, basically. We warmly and sadly said goodbye to our beloved peninsula and the sea, which my family loves so much. Thank you, Crimea, that you are so beautiful!
P. S. Information for economists! Rested from August 30 to September 20. For 21 days, about 14.000 rubles were spent on gasoline. (of which 2000 refueled in Crimea, refueled at TES gas stations, they also paid me extra, gasoline did not inspire confidence at other gas stations, refueled at Atana in Sudak, then I regretted it very much), 38.750 rubles for rent. (an average of 1.845 rubles per day), about 48.000 rubles were spent on food. (an average of 2300 per day), separate expenses for diapers and formula for my daughter, unforeseen expenses about 5000 more. Total rest for 21 days amounted to about 106.000 rubles. 4 people and mother-in-law, 21 days. Judge for yourself))) In my opinion, it's normal. Yes, often this year I read caustic delights from Ukraine that the beaches of Crimea are empty. I am enclosing a photo of the "off season" dated September 18 of the beach in Sudak, according to local residents, there was no such summer in their memory. And the cars drove us in a row on the way back. In general, no need guys, let's live together and civilized!
