Yalta – Jewel of the Crimean Peninsula

Yalta – Famous for the 1945 Yalta Conference:

Sunbathing on Yalta’s Pebble Beach, Ukraine

With its mountain peaks serving as a lovely backdrop, warm and sunny summers, Yalta, the jewel of the Crimean peninsula, became a fashionable health resort in the 19th century.

Tsar Nicholas II and other Russian aristocrats brought their families here to recuperate from tuberculosis. People now joke that Yalta was founded on the back of Russian aristocracy’s struggle with tuberculosis.

Brief History of Yalta

In 1883 Yalta was granted city rights and the governor had a road built that was supposed to connect Yalta with Simferopol, the capital of the Crimea in the North.

Within a few years Yalta became the centre of administration for the entire South Coast. Palaces for aristocrats, villas and hotels began to emerge. In nearby Livadija, the Tsar’s family had a magnificent summer residence built – the “White Palace” which became famous for the 1945 Yalta Conference.

Yalta today has a population of 80,000 and is a popular travel destination for local and foreign tourists. Russian tourists in particular flock here to bake on its pebbly beaches and to enjoy everything else that Yalta has to offer. It is not surprising that the writer Anton Chekhov chose to live in this seaside resort.

Yalta Bay is a deep water harbour and river boats are able to moor right at the Embankment, making it very convenient for passengers to visit this city. Even Ocean liners have begun to arrive in Yalta and there was one in the harbour during our visit.

Sightseeing Attractions

• Yalta Bay embankment with its amusement park, shopping arcades and souvenir shops
• Livadia Palace, used for the World War II Yalta Conference of Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt
• Anton Chekhov’s Home
• Nikitsky Botanical Gardens with its 30,000 plant specimens
• Swallow’s Nest, a fantasy castle perched on the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea
• Aloupka Palace
• Massandra Winery

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