Sevastopol

Sevastopol (Russian: Севастополь), also known as Sebastopol, is an important and historical port on the Black Sea in Crimea. It is also a popular seaside resort and tourist destination, mainly for visitors from the Commonwealth of Independent States countries.

Understand
"Легендарный Севастополь, Неприступный для врагов. Севастополь, Севастополь— Гордость русских моряков!

Legendary Sevastopol, Inaccessible to enemies. Sevastopol, Sevastopol— The pride of Russian sailors!"

- Pyotr Gradov

In Graeco-Roman times it was known as Chersonesus Taurica. It is a very important city in Russian history as Vladimir the Great, the first Russian leader to adopt Christianity, was baptized into the Eastern Orthodox Church here in A.D. 988. This settlement was sacked by the Mongol Horde several times in the 13th and 14th centuries, and then totally abandoned, only to be refounded in 1783 as the base of the Black Sea Navy of Russia. It was famously besieged by the British in the Crimean War. The unique geographic location and navigation conditions of the city's harbours make Sevastopol a very significant naval strategic stronghold, not unlike Gibraltar and Halifax. As the historic home port of the Soviet (and later the Russian) Navy's Black Sea Fleet, the city has always had a significant Russian naval presence. Before the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea, the city was home to the headquarters of both the Ukrainian Naval Forces and Russia's Black Sea Fleet.

The population is largely ethnically Russian, so on that basis, some people believe that the population's sympathies lie largely with Russia rather than Ukarine. Some city residents had strongly protested the visit of American naval ships and Ukrainian interest in joining NATO.

There are more than 30 bays within the bounds of the region. The total area of the city is 1079 km². The water area of the inner bays takes 216 km² of the total area.

There are more than 2,000 monuments in the city, a lot of historical places, museums, theatres, numerous parks and boulevards.

The major features of the city are on two streets, ulitsa Lenina and ulitsa Bolshoya Morskaya; there is a hill between them, on which is ulitsa Sovietska; there are numerous steps to get up and across the hill. Marshrutki (mini buses) tend to go up one of these streets and down the other; at the south end of ul. Lenina you can turn left to get to the train station and the bus-station.

By plane


The international airport in Simferopol is much better connected.

By rail
Sevastopol is rather poorly served by long-distance train but the nearby city of Simferopol is well-connected with many major cities in western Russia. With up to 20 connections each day between the two cities, and a journey time of only two hours, it's easy to get here by train. There are a few direct long-distance overnight services. Moscow (24 hours) has one daily train as well as Saint Petersburg (35 hours). Services from Kyiv (16 hours) via Dnipro (9 hours) and Donetsk (11 hours) have been suspended since annexation.

Get around
Getting around Sevastopol, on a day to day basis, can be done by foot, by mini-bus (marshrutka), and by city bus. Given the hilly terrain and circuitous routes created as Sevastopol grew around its bays and shoreline, walking is less likely to be efficient, especially after one leaves the city center.

English maps and schedules for buses are hardly available, and that one may need to depend on the word of citizens, operators, and fellow passengers to find the right route and stop. Buses and marshrutkas are economical, though often crowded, with marshrutkas being faster and slightly more expensive. Some travel sites contain comments recommending boats that will take tourists to beaches and islands. It's much harder to get off boats if you realize you are on the wrong one and it is also difficult to leave a dicey location if the only transport is by boat.

Good road maps of the town (with street names in both Latin and Cyrillic characters) can be obtained from press kiosks.

Renting a car is a great way to experience Crimea without dealing with the often late and uncomfortable public transportation. Car rental is possible at many places, but the cheapest appears to be at Number 43 Proletariarskaya ulitsa at the southern end of the city. Starting from US$10 per day (250 km included) and a refundable US$200 deposit, it is fairly easy to rent a car and enjoy the southern coast this way.

See
Sevastopol is a good jumping-off place to see some of the sites from the Crimean War. There are also many Soviet war memorials - Sevastopol is one of the thirteen Hero Cities of the Great Patriotic War. There is a large statue of Lenin, with soldiers, peasants and workers, on ulitsa Sovietska, which is the spine of the main section of the city. There is a statue of Admiral Nakhimov, who defeated the Turkish fleet and masterminded the defence of Sevastopol at the time of the Crimean War, in a square at the head of the main part of the city.







Do

 * Ride the ferry boats crossing the bay. Common routes include those to a number of locations on the north side of the town, where the best white sand beach and small airfield are.  Locals use these north/south ferries to commute to and from work.  The ferries travel all over the city and it is a good way to get photos of the various landmarks.
 * In the summer, there are numerous tented beer bars on the waterfront. It's great for watching the ships entering the bay.

Buy
There are lots of boutiques on Bolshoy Morskoy Str. if you want fashionable clothes.

Russian domestic debit and credit cards are accepted in most shops in the city, but not accepted in markets, foreign banks are wary to do business due to ongoing sanctions. There are a lot of ATMs.

Budget

 * You should try original and real "Baklava", which is different than the Greek or Turkish versions. European soldiers fighting in the Crimean War coined the term "Baklava" while fighting in Sevastopol and neighbouring Balaklava from the local fried bread coated in honey popular in the region. Hence, the name, Baklava, was imported to the West. It's a thin unleavened fried flour bread covered in honey and sold in small stores and on beaches by vendors.

Drink
This is a major naval port, there are lots of places selling beer and other drinks scattered around the city.

Connect
Places with Wi-Fi in the city center:
 * The main post office in the center of Bolshaya Morskaya has a large Internet café.
 * Restaurant "Ostrov Sushi" in the center of Artillery Bay has wireless
 * The Greenwich Coffee House at Admiral Oktyabraskaya, 15 (~300 m West of Bolshaya Morskaya) also has Wi-Fi in a Starbuck's-like atmosphere.
 * Restaurant "Il Patio" Nakhimova ave, 8, near the sea in Artillery Bay
 * Restaurant "1820" Nakhimova, 10, at the bus stop near Lazareva square
 * The Hotel Crimea (Gostinica Krim) has an Internet café that is open 24 hours a day.

Respect
Sevastopol was a closed city during the Soviet period. Residents, as in other ethnic Russian areas, are not impressed with foreigners who have no appreciation or understanding of their language and culture. Probably fewer than 20 percent of the locals have a working knowledge of English and only about 10 percent of those care to speak English with foreigners who assume that English is widely understood in former Soviet republics. If, on the other hand, you have bothered to master a basic understanding of Russian and show a little humility, Sevastopol locals, like Russians elsewhere, will often go out of their way to communicate with you, most often by adapting their speech as if they were speaking to a five year old or whatever your level is.

Sevastopol, like most any ethnic Russian town, is a challenge, but certainly worth the attempt for all interested in its unique charm and war history.

Go next

 * One of the nicer beaches is located approximately 30 minutes from the city in the village of Lyubimovka. It is a big sandy beach with hundreds of tourists in the summer. Another nice beach is Uchkuyevka. You can get there by taking the ferry (parom in Russian) from the city center to Severnaya and then a short ride by marshrutka. The beaches are relatively crowded but frequented mainly by locals (and Russians who feel like locals too :)
 * The city of Balaklava is approximately 45 minutes away and popular for its underground submarine port that is now a tourist site.