Sevastopol - open for business - if they can be bothered (Sevastopol (Ukraine))

Member Name: fizzywizzy

Product:	Sevastopol (Ukraine)
Date:	08/03/09 (187 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Historic sights, great museums

Disadvantages: Awful service, unfriendly people

The Crimea is an extremely interesting part of Ukraine with many places of cultural and historic interest; perhaps of most interest to British visitors is the city of Sevastopol. It was in this part of Ukraine that many British men lost their lives during the Crimean War and where Florence Nightingale took the first steps in creating the nursing profession as we know it today. For years Sevastopol was a closed city, the home of the Black Sea Fleet and only became an open city in 1996. The, now Russian, Black Sea Fleet is still based here as the Russians leased the port from Ukraine until 2019 and these ships join Ukraine's own navy here.


However, recently, some Ukrainian politicians have suggested that an end should be brought to the arrangement, something which has caused some unrest in the region as ethnic Russians (who actually form the majority in the Crimea) have protested about the possible closure of the naval base.
There is no getting away from the fact that Sevastopol is a naval city. Everywhere you look there are groups of Russian sailors in uniform and the docks are full of huge grey battleships, destroyers and frigates. Many restaurants and bars have a nautical theme with old photographs of sailors and the like. Many of the important buildings associated with the city's naval history and its development as a port are right on the waterfront and make an impressive sight when you are on the water.

But what is not immediately evident is that few of these buildings date before 1945. Sevastopol has been virtually destroyed twice in its history: first in the Crimean War and then again in the Second World War. But it's not really the town that most non-Russians visit Sevastopol to see. Russia's war time achievements are commemorated all over the city in a variety of monuments but the chief one is the painted panorama situated on a hill near the centre of town. The battle scenes are painted on the interior wall of a round building and, along with some 3-d "props" it illustrates the siege of Sevastopol. The trouble is that strictly speaking this, like many other Russian and Ukrainian attractions , can only be visited as part of an organised tour. However, if you are a quite brazen and time it right you can sneak in at the tail end of another party and nobody will be any the wiser - just make sure its a group whose language you understand.

One thing I didn't think I'd enjoy much was the Black Sea Fleet Museum but himself was keen to visit it and so we did. I was surprised to find it quite interesting, not least because it is housed in one of the city's most striking buildings. In 1865, veterans of the campaign decided that there should be a museum dedicated to the victims of the Crimean War and this building was designed, in the Greek Revival style, for that purpose. Inside the museum are a variety of exhibits such as models of notable vessels of the Fleet as well as historical documents and personal effects belonging to officer and ordinary soldiers.

While the Crimean War and the history of the Black Sea Fleet tend to dominate Sevastopol, there are other things to see and do. The Prince Volodymyr Cathedral was restored in 2004 and is definitely worth seeing; it's built in the Byzantine style and has the trademark green domes but the interior is marvellous. Here there are buried several notable admirals from the Crimean campaign.

A few kilometres outside the city, is Chersonesus, an ancient Greek city. It was here that Volodymyr the Great was baptised into Chrisitanity in 989 AD. The city was founded in the fifth century BC and at aits peak had a population of over 20,000. You can see the remains of an ancient theatre, defence walls and a tower. We visited in the late afternoon/evening which a nice quiet time to visit in the summer and made a nice alternative to more military history.

My favourite thing by far in Sevastopol was the Fine Arts Museum which is housed in one of the handful of buildings to survive the wars. Fortunately the contents also survived because the museum director during the Second World War had the foresight to remove the exhibits for safe-keeping. The exhibits came mainly from a variety of collections, including a sizeable number from the Livadia Palace near Yalta, once the summer home of the Russian royal family and my chief reason for wanting to see the museum. For me the "Western European" section was the highlight with a variety of paintings by Dutch, Flemish and French artists from the 17th to 19th centuries. There's also an interesting collection of still life paintings by mainly Dutch artists, the chief exhibit of which is entitled "Fishes and Lobster" and is signed by three artists. One did the main part of the painting, another painted the lobster and another executed the landscape; apparently Dutch still life painter often collaborated in this way because they specialised so much on only one element of painting. I didn't know this before and felt my visit was worth it alone to learn this fact. I loved the collection of Russian paintings - especially the portraits - from the first half of the nineteenth century and, in particular, the work of an artists unknown to me, Tropinin. Finally a section devoted to the work - mainly landscapes - of Soviet artists caught my imagination and, I felt, the difference in styles and landscapes reflected just how diverse the Soviet Union was.

Despite of the interesting things I saw and what I learned in Sevastopol I do not really have positive memories of my visit. I visited ten years after the city had been re-opened and found people largely unfriendly and the service terrible. When you need help - for example with directions - people seem very unapproachable. In a small supermarket the security guard shouted at us because we didn't know we had to leave our bags with him. In cafes the staff did not want to give us time to translate the menu before ordering. In restaurants where the menu was in several languages anyway they took ages to take our order. It wasn't even as if the poor service was remotely amusing as sometimes it can be - it was really just awful and couldn't be laughed at.

The best places to eat in Sevastopol tend to be the Tatar places by the water where you get delicious shashlyk (a kind of kebab) and also manti (similar to the Turkish dish) which is spicy minced lamb served with pasta. There are several seafood restaurants but we were put off by the high prices. The waterfront bars are a good place to pass the evening and are lively without being raucous which can be a problem at other coastal towns on the Crimea.

There are several hotels in the centre but few are anything more than average. Most visitors do not stay in Sevastopol, they are from organised tours from cruise ships or coach trips that take in Sevastopol and nearby Balaclava. In retrospect I'd probably have remained in the Crimean capital, Simferopol, and tried to find a tour going to Sevastopol for a day rather than stay in the town. I found it rather grim and except for a few very interesting sights I wouldn't recommend spending much time there; far better to stay elsewhere and be bussed in and out. This would also ensure a properly guided visit to see the panorama which does require some explanation. Normally I shy away from guided tours but it really is needed here to get the most out of your visit.

For many years I had dreamed of visiting Sevastopol and while it was less thrilling than I had imagined I do not regret visiting - only staying there.

Summary: Don't stay there - go for the day on a tour