August 17th, 2011
We left the Dnieper river and entered the Black Sea. Our ship, the Viking Lumonosov suddenly felt like the SS Minnow. I might have to adjust my quest for the Ultimate Ukrainian Vodka until calmer waters – then again, maybe not.
As we approached Sevastopol, I could see pods of Dolphins swimming close to the boat. Of course whenever I pointed them out to the other people I was having lunch with, they disappeared. My lunchmates thought I was playing a prank. I was glad when a large pod went by and they all saw it.
Sevastopol is located on the Crimean peninsula on the Black Sea and it is the home of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet for over two centuries. As this is no longer Russia, Russia leases the port and facilities from the Ukraine. As with many of Ukraine’s cities, Russia left its mark with plenty of Lenin statues and soviet housing which is falling apart.
Catherine the Great was the one who established the city and gave Sevastopol its name. Although there were settlements in the area all the way back to the Greek empire, it was Catherine who came up with the name. Although people have lived here since 500 BC, the there is very little that is old. Sevastopol has been devastated time and time again by war. 10 Years after the Crimean war, Mark Twain visited the area and commented that you can barely see anything but “Ruin, Ruin, Ruin”. During WWII, the area was heavily bombed.
The last couple of stops were interesting but I wouldn’t find myself telling anyone to go out of their way to see them. Sevastopol is a place that I would tell people to make sure they see. It appears to be clean, maintained and a place you want to spend time.
Outside of Sevastopol lies the ruins of the ancient Greek city of Kheresones. That was established in 500 bc. After the Greeks were the Romans and then … well every other civilization that the Ukraine became part of. It is where Volodymyr the Great was baptized into Christianity in 989 AD, launching the Russian Orthodox Church. So Kheresones outside of Sevatopol is the birth place of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The church looks rather new because part of it is. It was bombed in WWII and was rebuilt in the 90’s. Inside the church there are pictures of before and after and believe it or not, it looks the same as it did – but newer and original materials were used where possible. The inside of the church was beautiful and not overly ornate but we could not take pictures.
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