!!!Crimea
by Stas Sedov and Sergey Shandin,
members of the [AirPano Team|Geography/About/Consortium/AirPano,_Team] that is a member of the [global-geography Consortium|Geography/About/Consortium]. \\
18 March 2015
with kind permission of [AirPano|http://www.AirPano.com]
The idea of going to the Crimea on a car was rather adventurous. News
from the ferry-crossing was not that good, so we knew for sure that we
had to wait for a long time. But, on the other hand, travelling by car
is much more fascinating than other ways and promises a lot of
advantages for a photographer. So, with our trunk full with equipment,
we are following the grey ribbon of the road that leads us to the south,
to the Crimea!
And surely, there was a waiting queue on the ferry crossing. But we were
lucky enough to reach it in the evening, so we didn't have to wait under
the burning sun. Cars moved forward for several meters, then stopped, in
ten minutes they again moved a little bit more. Thus we spent the
sleepless night. Finally, we embarked the ferry and soon we could see
the shore of the Crimea.
[{Image src='01_Ai-Petri peak.jpg' caption='Ai-Petri peak' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='366'}]
The first impression was as if I had gone back 30 years ago. It felt
like since the Soviet period the Crimea had not changed significantly.
We started the shooting from Kerch. In the early morning the streets
were still empty, so we made several panoramas in the rays of the rising
sun. There were hundreds of kilometers of the road to go ahead, but the
first shooting are always the most remarkable.
From Kerch we are heading for Simferopol, then Bakhchisarai, Sevastopol,
Yalta, Sudak... The Crimea is rather diverse, there are so many
interesting and beautiful places that we can't visit all of them during
one expedition.
Simferopol doesn't look like any other city of the Crimean Peninsula. It
can be considered rather young, especially comparing to other ancient
cities of the region. But since the time of Catherine the Great it has
been the administrative centre of the Crimea.
[{Image src='02_Alushta.jpg' caption='Alushta' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='656'}]
Bakhchisarai is rich with architectural monuments and natural sights.
Canyons and rocks, cave settlements and monasteries — there are lots of
them. Sometimes it is rather difficult to reach them. So we changed our
car to UAZ and set off for shooting. However, sometimes even this
reliable car couldn't get through, that is why in places we had to climb
to get our destination and carry the equipment on our backs. But the
view from the top of Tepe-Kermen was worth it! The mount is dig up with
ancient caves, which previously were inhabited by people. Later in the
evening, just at the moment of sunset, tired, but contented, we returned
to Bakhchisarai to take photos of the famous Khan's Palace.
Sevastopol is not just a harbour-city: there are a lot of things that
remind of its glorious history which has its roots in antiquity. The
outpost of Telapil — the first settlement on the place of modern
Sevastopol — was founded in the 6th century B.C. Later it was conquered
by the Greeks and changed its name to Chersonesus. Rocky capes and
twisting bays served as good natural fortification of the city. The
modern Sevastopol was founded in 1783. The city played a key role in the
Crimean War and World War II.
[{Image src='03_Cape Fiolent.jpg' caption='Cape Fiolent' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='504'}]
The Sevastopol's embankment is marvellous. We came here in the evening.
Waves were crashing against the pedestal of the Sunken Ships monument,
the sun was casting mysterious shadows, the orchestra was playing some
music. The city, with its wonderful and heroic history, is just
magnificent. We didn't want to leave it, but there still was a bigger
part of our journey ahead of us.
Being in good spirits we went to Yalta, but here we came across the
actions of the bureaucratic system. We missed some documents and stamps
that allowed us to make panoramas, so we spent a lot of time overcoming
red type. Finally, we got the papers and managed to take photos of
splendid palaces and sights of Yalta. Meanwhile the weather was getting
worse.
The mountain which rises above Yalta and which name can be translated as
‘Saint-Peter' is Ai-Petri. We were going to take photos from the top of
the mountain at sunrise. There was a long serpentine road ascending a
steep slope. The sky went overcast and the hope to see a beautiful
sunrise was fading away. For a moment the sun came out from behind
sinister clouds, which were flying above the sea, illuminated them from
beneath and then again hid itself. Nevertheless I decided to ascend the
mountain. The peak of Ai-Petri is one of the windiest places in the
Crimea: the strongest winds can reach a speed of 50 meters per second. I
stood with great difficulty, so I had to hide in the cracks of a rock.
Clouds rushed past me with a great speed. Now and then the cross, which
rises above the teeth of rocks, totally disappeared in fog. As soon as
the wind had died I managed to make several panoramas. But the sun
didn't come out anymore during that day. We were much luckier during our
following visit to the Crimea, but
that's another story.
[{Image src='04_Swallow_s Nest.jpg' caption='Swallow_s Nest' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='469'}]
Ones more remarkable things of the Crimea are the wines of Massandra and
Gurzuf. These wineries were founded in the 19th century. The legendary
White Muscat of The Red Stone was repeatedly awarded at different
international contests: it won the cup of ‘Super Grand Prix', three cups
of ‘Grand Prix', 22 gold medals and twice it was considered to be the
best wine in the world. Grape for this wine is grown on the only
plantation that is situated near the rock named The Red Stone, close to
Gurzuf.
In the Soviet Union camps for Young Pioneers were widespread: the most
famous one was Artek. Its territory covered 208 hectares, a half of it
was occupied by parks, and the camp also had the 7-kilometers long beach
which lasted from Ayu-Dag to Gurzuf. The camp still owns these
territories and creates a great impression, despite the fact that some
buildings obviously need to be repaired. Here we were welcomed
cordially, and moreover, we were lucky enough to visit the closing
ceremony of the International Children's Film Festival. There, in Artek,
we were working for several days.
After that the night's journey followed. The day's heat had warmed up
the road, so heavy raindrops which were falling on asphalt immediately
became fog and created ghostly figures in the headlights. The following
day we were to take photos underground — in the caves of Chatyr-Dah,
which are ones of the most interesting in Europe.
[{Image src='05_Ai-Petri peak.jpg' caption='Ai-Petri peak' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='495'}]
They are unique for their immense dimensions and great number of calcite
formations. The most beautiful of them is the Emine Bair Hosar cave
(sometimes called Mammoth's cave). We spent there the whole day, because
being underground time flew very fast. This is the place where the
skeletons of ice-age animals had been found: mammoths, bisons, woolly
rhinoceroses and cave bears. Here one can also see extraordinary natural
sculptures, which have been forming for thousands of years. These
include the sculptures called King and Queen (two giant stalactites),
the shimmering vault of the hall called ‘Treasury', the keeper of the
cave — mysterious and severe White Speleologist, whose figure is
situated in the hall ‘Kechkemet'.
That would be endless to talk about the Crimea, as well as the journey
around the peninsula can last for a very long time. But the two-week
expedition is fulfilled and you can see the results in our virtual tour.
The team of AirPano would like to thank the government of the Republic
of Crimea and Sergey Aksyonov personally, staff members of the
International Children's Camp Artek, the Speleogoly&Tourism center
Onix-Tour, the wineries of Gurzuf and Massandra, and all those people
who helped to organise the expedition.
The Crimean Peninsula is situated on the northern coast of the Black
Sea. It's washed by the Sea of Azov from the north-east and connected to
the mainland by a narrow 8-kilometer wide Isthmus of Perekop. Since 19th
century Crimea is considered to be one of the best tourist resorts
thanks to its good climate and warm Black Sea. Peninsula's coastline is
over 2500 kilometers long and has numerous beaches on greater part of
its coastal territory. But they are not the main sightseeing spots of
Crimea. With the financial support of the Russian Geographical Society
AirPano team conducted an aerial survey of the peninsula, and our
panoramas can show you interesting natural monuments, architecture,
historical landmarks, and culture of Crimea.
[{Image src='06_Sevastopol Bay.jpg' caption='Sevastopol Bay' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='656'}]
One of many Crimea's mountain ranges, Ai-Petri, happens to be the
foggiest place of the peninsula. It's covered in fog 215 days a year.
The highest point of Ai-Petri mountain range, Mount Doom, has an
altitude of 1346 meters above the sea level. Ai-Petri opens a wonderful
view on the shore of the Black Sea and whole Yalta, and it's equally
popular among nature lovers and climbers. You can get here by taking a
cable car from Miskhora. Also, it's worth noting that there are no
support towers between stations Sosnoviy Bor and Ai-Petri and the
distance between them is 1670 meters, making it the longest cable car
route in the world.
[{Image src='07_Livadia Palace.jpg' caption='Livadia Palace' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='602'}]
Closer to Alupka, at the foot of Ai-Petri, there is incredible Vorontsov
Palace. It had been under construction from 1828 to 1848 and served as a
summer residence of a prominent Russian statesman, Governor-General of
Novorossiya, Prince Mikhail Vorontsov. At the time its architecture was
innovative. An important feature was the building's position against the
terrain of the mountains, which allowed the palace to blend naturally
with the surrounding landscape and defined its original artistic and
expressive image. It's interetsting to note that the British architect,
Edward Blore, didn't visit Alupka, but his theoretical study of the area
allowed him to create an ideal and, at the same time, unusual project. A
surrounding landscape design was a work of a brilliant German botanist
Carl Antonovich Kebah. Thanks to his talent Vorontsov's Park is now a
recognized monument of landscape art.
[{Image src='08_Foros, Church of Christ_s Resurrection.jpg' caption='Foros, Church of Christ_s Resurrection' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='684'}]
Beside Vorontsov Palace, there is another contestant for the title of
Crimea's most luxurious residence — Livadia Palace — a summer resort of
the Russian emperors. This building in light Italian style was built in
the late 19th century under the direction of Monighetti and N. P.
Krasnov.
Another Crimea's famous landmark, undoubtedly the most original one, is
a palace with a romantic name the Swallow's Nest. From outside the
building resembles a real medieval knight's castle, and just like a nest
it's resting on top of the 40-meter high Aurora Cliff that overlooks
Cape Ai-Todor near Yalta.
[{Image src='09_Obelisk of Glory, Mount Mithridat, Kerch city.jpg' caption='Obelisk of Glory, Mount Mithridat, Kerch city' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='468'}]
There is Genoese fortress on the 157-meter high Castle Hill near the
city of Sudak. Legend has it that the fortress was built in 212 AD by
the Alani settlers, although there is no archaeological evidence
supporting this date. Some scientists believe that it was built at the
end of the 7th century by Khazars or Byzantine people. Throughout
history, the fortress was owned by the Cumans, Golden Horde, and Turks,
and its current name was given by the Genoese who, once again, rebuilt
it in 14-15th centuries. Presently, the fortified complex consists of
two defense lines: the external (St. Cross Castle) and internal
(Elijah's Castle). The convenient location and powerful structures made
the fortress almost impregnable: in the south and east it was protected
by the mountains that stretched all the way down to the sea, and in the
north-east, presumably, there was an artificial moat. Nowadays, the
fortress is open to everyone: there is a museum on its territory.
[{Image src='10_Concert in Artek children center.jpg' caption='Concert in Artek children center' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='408'}]
One of the most famous cities, Sevastopol, is located in the south-west
part the Crimean Peninsula. We already made a separate tour for this
city. And on the east coast you can find one the most ancient cities in
the world, Kerch. In the city you can find burial mounds that trace back
to the Bronze Age (c. 3000-1000 BC); at the end of 7th century BC the
site of the present-day Kerch was occupied by an ancient Greek city
Panticapaeum; in the 6th century AD the city was ruled by the Roman
(Byzantine) Empire; in recent history the city of Kerch is known as a
Hero City of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. It will take several
pages to tell you about all of Kerch's sights. While visiting the city,
you can see the royal burial mound, a final resting place of one of the
Bosporan kings (4th century BC), Ottoman fortress Yeni-Kale (18th
century), one of the oldest Christian churches the Church of St John the
Baptist (10th century) and many other unique monuments. We hope that you
will use our panoramas as a
starting point of your own independend studies of history and heritage
of this beautiful city.
[{Image src='11_Feodosia Gulf and Adjigol lake.jpg' caption='Feodosia Gulf and Adjigol lake' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='656'}]
The same can be told about other Crimean landmarks that we photographed:
Alushta, Bakhchysarai, Feodosia, Cape Fiolent, Camp Artek, resort town
of Foros, Gurzuf, Koktebel, Massandra, Novyi Svit resort, Simferopol,
and Port Krym. Every corner of the peninsula is full of its own unique
sights. We invite you to join us on this exciting virtual journey!
\\ \\
[71 Panoramas of Crimea|Geography/Asia/Russia/Pictures/Panoramas_from_Crimea]
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