Day 77 & 78: Anastasia

DAY 77

Did nothing much today. Went to the train station first thing in the morning to check out on the timetable and ticket pricing.



Every train station have a clock tower.



Its quiz time. Haha.. Time to see if you do read my blog or just go through the pictures. What is the russian word written in this picture. What does it mean?



Then I went walking around Simferopol town. Nothing very interesting here except that it is a excellent base for exploring Crimea. Saw another of Jennifer Lopez shop.



Nightfall and I went back to help prepare dinner.



Looks delicious ya?




DAY 78


Day 78 is a very fulfilling day. I visited a couple of very nice places in the west of Yalta. I am sure you will like these photos as much as I enjoyed visiting them.

First attraction, The Livadia Palace. I am sure many of you had heard about Anastasia, be it the movie or the animation. But how many of you know that Anastasia is actually real? It is not a story nor a fairytale. It really did happen on this girl by the name of Anastasia. Here's a little background information about her.

Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia (Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova), (Russian: Великая Княжна Анастасия Николаевна Романова) (June 18 [O.S. June 5] 1901 – July 17, 1918), was the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, the last sovereign of Imperial Russia. Anastasia was a younger sister of Grand Duchess Olga, Grand Duchess Tatiana and Grand Duchess Maria, and was an elder sister of Alexei Nikolaievitch, Tsarevitch of Russia. She was murdered with her family on July 17, 1918, by forces of the Bolshevik secret police.

Persistent rumors of her possible escape circulated since her death, fueled by the fact that the location of her burial was unknown during the decades of Communist rule. The mass grave near Ekaterinburg which held the remains of the Tsar, his wife, and three daughters was only revealed in 1991, but the bodies of Alexei Nikolaevich and one of his sisters -- either Anastasia or her elder sister Maria -- were not discovered there.

Here's a photo of Anastasia.



So what has the Livadia Palace has to do with her? well, The Livadia Palace (Ukrainian: Лівадійський палац, Russian: Ливадийский дворец, Crimean Tatar: Livadiya sarayı) was a summer retreat of the last Russian tsar, Nicholas II, and his family in Livadiya, Crimea in southern Ukraine. That's why.



This is also the site where the dying US president Franklin Roosevelt and heat allergic British prime minister Winston Churchill turned up to be bullied by Soviet leader Josef Stalin during the 1945 Yalta Conference.









Oh well. Enough said. Join me as I take a walk through this wonderful palace.















































This is the beautiful view of the sea from the palace.



Leaving the Palace, I went to see the Swallow's Nest, a castle built by a German Oil magnate, Baron Steingel, as a present to his mistress which perch on the sheer cliff of Cape Ay-Todor.

The castle from far.



Zooming in.



This castle sits by the Black Sea.



You can either choose to walk all the way to the castle or you can admire it from far while enjoying a cup of warm drink.



Hmmm... Although the weather is cold and the warm drink is tempting, I managed to convince myself that it is worth the climb up to the castle. So I went on for the ascend.



As I got nearer to the castle then I realised that the castle actually overhangs the cliff. Look!!



Finally I reach the top.



Here are some pictures of the castle, its surroundings and the views from here.













Looking down the cliff.





Saw this lady there alone.



I asked her to help me take a photo.



And we ended up touring this place and admiring the scenery together.





Others who were around.



Oh.... I forgot to mention that this castle actually houses an Italian restaurant. More pictures.









Next, I went to the Alupka, Crimea's most exotic palace park complex. This palace is so big that I had some problems locating its entrance. Although I got lost, it was still interesting. See these.

































After making a huge detour, I finally found the entrance to the palace but before I was allowed to enter the palace, I was made to put on these shoe covers. Guess they really look after the palace well.



Photos taken inside this palace.

























Coming out from the palace, I entered the Palace Park and at that very moment, I went completely silent. It was awesome!! I love it alot!! Mountains on one side, sea on the other and in between, a huge garden-park. What could be better? Needless to say, I went around snapping tons of photos. Enjoy.






























































Phew... Thats alot of photos isnt it? Leaving this amazing place, I made my way to Yalta.



In my opinion, Yalta is more lovely than Sevastopol.





Its 18/11/2008. Slightly more than a month to Xmas. No wonder the Xmas lightings are up.





Yalta is another playground for the rich where everything are by the sea.













After a quick look around, I made my way back "home" on a very unique and special transport. Its Trolleybus number 52. This is no normal trolleybus. Covering 85km, it is the world longest and slowest trolleybus route!!!! Ofcourse there are quicker way for me to get back but hey, I have to try this!!







WAHAHAHA!! Now that I have been on it. Have you???


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