CRIMEA
21-27 September 2012
Basing ourselves at the legendary Hotel Bristol in Yalta, on the Russian Riviera, we will visit the Livadia Palace, summer residence of Nicholas II, built a century ago in Italian Renaissance style with beautiful Florentine and Arabic courtyards, where the Yalta Conference took place. Churchill stayed in the Alupka Palace, a combination of Scottish castle, and Arabian fantasy built for the Vorontsovs, who created a fine arboretum around the house. Sevastapol and Balaklava have special resonance for their association with the Crimea war and Florence Nightingale. Further visits to the Massandra Palace, planned by the Vorontsovs but built for Alexander III and used by Stalin as a summer residence and the Dulber Palace – built in Oriental Tatar / Moorish style and now a spa for Deputies of the Ukraine Parliament - are planned. The spectacular Nikitsky Garden, planted in the early 1800s cascades down two miles of hillside towards the sea, In the resort of Gurzuf, with gorgeous view, with Chekhov’s dacha and the Pushkin house museum, built by the Duc de Richelieu. The Tatar Palace of Bakhchisaray, seat of the Crimean khans until 1783, also has impressive gardens, several mosques and a harem. An overnight train brings us to Odessa, one of the liveliest cities in Eastern Europe, with a particularly glamorous evening paseggiata, and all its neo-Classical and extravagant neo-Baroque buildings being restored. This includes the fine Opera house.
We shall also visit Sevastapol and Balaklava, before continuing by over-night sleeper to Odessa, to spend two days in this beautiful, revitalized city.
Cost per person £1,340 Single room supplement £210 (the tour is costed on 10 people)
The price will include accommodation in luxury hotels in Yalta (3 nights) and Odessa (2 nights), ground transport by coach and overnight train (1 night), entries, all visits and guides, 2 dinners and 4 lunches. Outbound flight via Kiev – ideally Wizzair from Luton, and return from Odessa via Budapest. NB There is an option to do just the first three nights of this tour and the cost will be £1150 with the single room supplement of £180. Please contact us for details of return journey Simferopol to Yalta.
