Yalta

As we approached Yalta, both the weather and the view were much different from what we saw in Odessa. This is a health and summer resort, and in the sun, it looks like it. There are nice-looking hotel buildings, a few distinctive high-rise buildings, one church had an onion-topped steeple.

Again we had to take the tour, and had to exchange our passports for their red visa. As we left the ship, my backpack was examined by a dour-faced Soviet soldier. He found a copy of our book “Invitation To France,” started to leaf through it, wondering what it was. When I pointed to our picture on the back cover, he gave us a very big smile, and waved us on.

The bus tour took us to Livadiya Palace, built in 1910, to show us the rooms where the famous “Yalta Conference” took place near the end of WW II. After hearing the guide describe the “good” things that happened here, I told her the Americans were unhappy that Roosevelt gave away Eastern Europe, and asked her when they would be freed from Soviet domination. Somehow she didn’t see much problem with things staying like they were. (Berlin Wall was still standing.)

I told the guide there should be two tours, one like this, and another for people who just wanted to walk around in Yalta to see how people really lived.

Yalta has a population of 98,000. There are trolley buses, and the people on the streets were nicely dressed. One lady was selling bar-b-qued chickens, but didn’t want me to take a picture of her displayed goods, just chickens dumped in a pile.

There was a kiddy-land with many rides in operation, and teenagers were playing video games in one store. They are very old fashioned compared to the ones in our country, but it was still a surprise. I was tempted to make a long distance call from one of the phone booths, but there wasn’t much time, we didn’t have any coins, and didn’t know how to do it anyhow.

At drink vending machines, there were one or two glass tumblers for all to use. We saw no way to rinse or clean the glass. There are many palm trees in Yalta, and we believe the weather must be similar to Southern California’s weather.

Emmy still had a few Disneyland pencils and US flags, so gave them to some young boys we met on the street in Yalta.