Yalta: a city looking to reclaim its status as a tourist mecca on the Black Sea (05/04/97)

Yalta: a city looking to reclaim its status as a tourist mecca on the Black Sea

by Roman Woronowycz

YALTA, Crimea - Yalta has been visited by tsars and presidents, premiers and prime ministers. In 1945 U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin met here to divide Europe at the end of World War II. Before that it had been the summer home for the last Russian tsars. During the Soviet era it was the favorite resort for high government officials and bureaucrats.

Today it is a city looking to reclaim its status as the tourist mecca of the Black Sea and Eastern Europe.

Situated at the foot of the Crimean Mountains on the southern shore of the Crimean Peninsula along the Black Sea coast, Yalta is a scenic masterpiece. The sea washes up against hundred-meter-high cliffs and onto rocky beaches. In the spring and early summer snow-capped mountains form a dramatic backdrop for a city with narrow, palm tree-lined boulevards and winding streets. During the vacation season cruise ships fill the harbor and tourists fill the walkway along the shore, lured by discotheques, bars and restaurants.

The city is still remarkably free of the disrepair that plagues other tourist towns in Ukraine, including the other major resort, Truskavets, located in the Carpathian foothills.

The assistant director of Yalta's tourist bureau, Yosyf Naskidashvili, said the city administration has consciously tried to maintain its streets and buildings, even in the past few lean years. He said that in April 1996 Ukraine's President Leonid Kuchma gave Yalta special status as Ukraine's tourist town, which has allowed the city to receive funding from Kyiv for renovations and upkeep.

And the tourists are ready to return, thinks Mr. Naskidashvili, after six lean years that followed the dissolution of the Soviet Union, which left Yalta without its steady supply of bureaucrats on vacation from Moscow. In 1997, he expects the number of tourists to double from the 120,000 to 150,000 that visited in 1996.

"After independence people wanted to see other places around the world. Today they are returning," said Mr. Naskidashvili.

Yalta has been a resort city for well over 100 years, ever since 1860 when a Russian doctor in Moscow, Sergei Botkin, began sending his patients with respiratory problems to Yalta to recuperate in the hot dry climate. It quickly became the place to go for tuberculosis victims who could afford it. Larysa Kosach Kvitka (Lesia Ukrainka), the well-known Ukrainian poetess, spent time here recuperating. Today a memorial to her stands before the home in which she stayed two blocks from the Black Sea shore.

In 1860, Tsar Alexander III purchased an old mansion in Livadia, about 20 minutes drive by car into the mountains from the center of Yalta. After rebuilding it, he dubbed it the Small Palace and made it his summer home. The last Russian tsar, Nicholas II, renovated the buildings and built additions, then renamed it the White Palace. In 1945 Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin met there to decide the geopolitical future of Europe at the ill-fated Yalta Conference, which, in effect, turned Eastern Europe over to the Soviet Union's sphere of influence.

These historical sites are not all that Yalta offers. There is also the Lastivne Hnizdo (Nightingale's Nest) Castle, the symbol of Yalta, which was built by an Italian count in the early part of the last century and today is a museum; the Polianna Kazok, a park with nursery tale characters and a zoological park for kids; the Nikitinsky Botanical Gardens; the Massandra winery; and the Ay Pieter mountain peak in the Crimean Mountains. A one-hour hike from the city to the top, Ay Pieter is a summer and winter resort that offers hiking, horseback riding and skiing.

Costwise, today Yalta is a veritable steal as a vacation destination. The average cost of a hotel is approximately $80 per night, which generally includes breakfast. Because the hryvnia is weak against Western currencies, restaurants and shops are relatively inexpensive. Mr. Naskidashvili expects them to stay that way. "We have kept our prices down. They are 20 to 30 percent cheaper than Europe. We are hoping to keep them that way," he explained.

He also said that concerns about crime and violence should not apply to Yalta. "We guarantee that the city will remain safe and clean." He said that the much publicized crime in Crimea tends to occur in Symferopol and Sevastopol to the west and north of Yalta.

There are 15 hotels in Yalta and scores of sanitoriums. For those who desire to recuperate from illnesses and ailments in a hot dry climate, Yalta offers more than 150 sanitoriums, most with specialized care for specific ailments, as well as for general rest and revitalization.

They all include Yalta's legendary mud bath treatments and mineral baths. Costs begin at as little as $15 per day for food, lodging, excursions and treatment and run to $100. Mr. Naskidashvili said he could help to arrange a course of treatment for Westerners interested in spending time in a sanitorium.

Of the 15 hotels the three best are the plush Hotel Orianda, the historic Hotel Palas and the huge Hotel Yalta, which can match almost anything the West has to offer for sheer size.

The Yalta has 2,000 guest rooms, a majority of which are already booked for this season, dozens of restaurants and a casino, as well as its own beach. Rooms run around $100 a night.

The Orianda, the most luxurious of the three, is slightly more expensive than the Yalta, but is located smack in the center of the city just off the beach. The oldest is the Palas, which dates from the turn of the century, but which has been extensively renovated. It is also the most affordable. A two-room suite will cost around $60 during the season. The accommodations, however, are modest (and clean).

A problem that all visitors to Yalta must be ready to confront is the unstable supply of hot water. At the Yalta and the Orianda, that is not a problem because they have their own water heating systems. But hotels that still rely on government central heating facilities, such as the Hotel Palas, offer water only during part of the day. For example, at the Palas hot water is provided to rooms at 6-10 p.m. nightly.

Lack of hot water is one of the few inconveniences travelers will experience. People in Yalta are friendly and helpful; restaurants and bars are abundant; and the market teems with food from around the world for those who want to prepare their own.

The transportation system is sufficient. There are taxis at reasonable rates with drivers willing to bargain, buses, trolley buses and tour buses. Or you can wave a car down on the street and offer a price to the driver. All reasonable offers are accepted.

The other inconvenience is getting here. Although Communist movers and shakers regularly vacationed in Yalta, nobody ever thought to build an airport or a train station in or near the city. So those wanting to rest here must either travel by plane or by train to Symferopol and then take a trolley bus or a taxi to Yalta.

The trolley ride is an inexpensive and scenic two-and-a-half- to three-hour trip that costs about $3 (U.S.). For those who can't wait to get there, there are dozens of taxis at Symferopil Airport or at the train station waiting to whisk you to Yalta in an hour and a half to two hours for $30 to $50.

The trip is a bit tiring, especially for those already jet-lagged, but once you see the city below from the mountain road above, you will feel it was well worth it.

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