Journey to Sevastopol

In October 2011 our students, studying Russian in Kiev, travelled on an excursion to Sevastopol. Actually, it was more like a full journey around the peninsula of Crimea. The itinerary took them through Sevastopol, Balaklava, Yalta, Alupka. Tours were given of the 35th Battery Museum, the Vorontsov and Livadia palaces, Sapun Ridge, and a visit was made to a costumed reenactment of a battle from the Soviet war in Afghanistan with the participation of former Soviet troops and much more. Mainly it was American students who came on the trip. With them was one student from Taiwan. In their travels they were accompanied by NovaMova’s director Gela Turabelidze. What could be better than to dive into a Russian-language environment and observe Ukrainian provincial life first-hand? Our students were lucky: the trip turned out excellently and left the very best of impressions.

The remains of the most ancient settlements found by archeologists in the territory of Sevastopol date from the first millennium B.C.E. In this area there lived tribes of Tauri, Scythians and Sarmatians. In the fifth century B.C.E. on the banks of what is now called the Karantin Cove settled Greeks, immigrants from Heraclea Pontica, now Karadeniz Ereğli, Turkey, a city on the banks of the Black See in Asia Minor. Later this territory was settled by nomadic tribes, and finally came the Crimean Khanate. In 1774 the Crimean Khanate broke relations with the Ottoman Empire, beginning a process of unification with the Russian Empire that was completed in 1791. In 1954 Crimea joined the Ukrainian SSR, which defined its historical path during the last half-century. Among the city’s places of interest are structures dating from “grey antiquity”, as a Russian idiom goes. For example, the ruins of Chersonesus Taurica. This city was a Greek colony, founded in 422-421 B.C.E., also by immigrants from Heraclea Pontica. The city is layed out in South-Western Crimea by the Karantin Cove. Not far from the city lies still another structure of interest – Kalamita Fortress, dating from the sixth century C.E. The Earl’s Quay, Peter and Paul’s Cathedral, Vladimir’s Cathedral, a mass of monuments, ramparts, built approximately 200 years ago, and much more. Near Cossack’s Cove is the Museum of the 35th Shore Battery. This battery was built on the eve of WWI. It was here in June-July of 1942 that 80,000 defenders of the Hero City Sevastopol fought their last battle. It was here in those frightening days that the HQ of the Sevastopol Defense District was located. In Sevastopol you can take a stroll along Primorsky Bulivard, take in the picturesque sea coast and fully immerse yourself in Russian and Ukrainian history. NovaMova has worked out an itinerary which allows you to get acquainted with Sevastopol, its environs and simultaneously with other areas of Crimea.