Yalta

We started today by visiting the Romanov's Yalta palace.  They only ever visited here 4 times before they were killed by the Bolshiveks, but it is said that they really liked Yalta.  This was where the Yalta conference took place between Churchill, Rosevelt, and Stalin.  The tables they met at are still in place.

After this we went on a tour of the coastline and the town.  In the afternon we visited Checkhov's house here in Yalta.  He wrote a number of his plays and poetry here in Yalta.  When he died his sister turned his home and gardens into a museum.  All of the rooms are still furnished with his things.

Sandy and I got off the bus on the way back and went walking in through the town.  There is a carnival going on down by the seashore, the "beaches" were crowded (there is no sand here - all of the beaches are stones), and the shops full.

Sandy wanted a manicur - so we stopped into a beauty salon and she got in!  It cost $22 (is that expensive???) - but got done.  Tomorrow morning we are looking around some more before leaving

The view of Malta from the ship is great!  Malta was originally a Greek colony that remained small, dying out in the 800s.  It started growing when the Romanov's doctor recommended they build a summer home here for their health!  There are now about 90,000 residents.

The Yalta conference was held here at the White Palace.  This is where Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill carved up Europe.  Churchill said they could not have found a worse place to hold the conference if they looked for ten years!  (He was upset because the KGB had bugged everything and planted spies in his company.)

This is the room where the conference took place.  The "big three" used the round table at the rear.

On the walk through the gardens Sandy tried another local beer.

Chekhov had a beautiful house in the middle fo the city.  He died here at the age of 44 from TB.

We got off the bus at the Alexander-Newski Cathedral in the city.  The original cathedral dates from about 600 AD - the current one was rebuilt in the 1900s.

The beach was packed!  No sand here - only small round rocks.

Walking back to the ship we found this shop - so Sandy got her nails done.