YALTA-SEVASTOPOL-KIEV-LVIV Tour program (10 days/9 nights) DAY 1 Arrival to Simferopol airport. Meeting and transfer to Yalta. Check-it to the hotel Bristol ***. DAY 2 09:30 18:00 Tour of Yalta today starts with a visit to Armenian church - beautiful building surrounded by trees and flowers. Take a look at Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (built in 1911)Continue to Livadia Palace built in 1911 as a summer residence for Nicholas II in Italian Renaissance style with pretty Florentine & Arabic courtyards. In February 1945 Stalin, Roosevelt & Churchil held their Yalta Conference here. Lunch in a cafe with a view at Swallow nest - famous castle on a rock. In the afternoon you will visit Alupka the most exotic palace-park complex on the whole coast. Designed & built between 1828 & 1846 by English architects for the English-educated Count Vorontsov the palace is a bizarre combination of Scottish castle on its landward side, & Arabic fantasy facing the sea. Go to Massandra - the most famous Crimean winery. Tour to celler where the wine is keeping for several years. Wine tasting. Back to the hotel.
DAY 3 Check-out from the hotel. Transfer to Sevastopol city (85 km). Stop on Sapun mountain. Look at memorial of WW2, weapon exhibit and great view at "Valley of death" where "The charge of the light brigade" took place. Located on an inlet of the Black Sea, the city is today a naval base and seaport with a reach history that lists some 400 monuments and sites. For many with a particular interest in the Crimean campaign a highlight of the tour is likely to be the time spent at the Panorama Museum. An evocative 360-degree painting merges into a relief model vividly capturing the siege by the British, French & Turks & defense of Sebastopol in 1854-55. Walking tour on central square - Nakhimov's square. Continue to the ruins of Chersonesus, a Greek colony founded in 422BC. Later it passed into Roman, Byzantine and Genoese control and it was from here, considered to be the birthplace of the Russian Orthodox Church, that the Christian faith began to spread all over Ukraine. Some 40% of the 32 hectare site has been excavated to reveal the old port area, the theater, the mint for copper and silver and the site of the main square in the inland part of the city. Transfer to the train station for the train Sevastopol-Kiev (20:17 departure time). Overnight at the train. DAY 4 10:20 Arrival to Kiev. Meeting at the train station. Breakfast at the local restaurant. City tours of Kiev. (Duration 3-4 hours) Kiev is not only the capital of Ukraine but also the mother city for all Eastern Slavic peoples. Kievan Rus, the state from which Ukraine, Russia & Belarus are all descended, was established here between the 9 th & 11 th centuries. The modern centre & the remains of the old city are both on the hilly west bank of the Dnipro- the third largest river in Europe.
Check-it to the hotel Libid *** after 14:00. Free time. DAY 5 10:00 18:00 Today our tour starts with short ride to Old Town of this ancient city. En route we ll see University, Taras Schevchenko Opera & Ballet Theater, the historic main gateway into the ancient city Golden Gate, newly renovated Michael s Cathedral & visit St. Sophia Cathedral, the city s oldest standing church, that was built in 1017-31 in honor of Prince Yaroslav s victory over a rival tribe. Lunch. After lunch the tour continues to Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Monastery. Back to the hotel. DAY 6 Check-out. 10:00 Departure to Pirogovo. Visit to the Pirogovo architecture Museum. The Pirogovo Museum of Architecture and Family Life is an architecture and landscape complex in the open air, where all the historical and ethnographical regions of Ukraine are represented. The Museum was established in the Pirogovo settlement in the suburbs of Kiev in 1969. The exhibits of this Museum tell the visitors about the architecture of the Ukrainian villages, the life of peasants and the folk art of Ukrainians. The Museum has accumulated a huge collection of folk clothes, furniture, wooden and clay dishes, and one of the best collections of folk musical instruments. The authentic houses, wooden churches and mills from the 16 th to 19 th centuries are located on its territory. Lunch. Free time. Transfer to the train station. Departure to Lviv by night train. (Departure time at 21:56) Overnight at the train.
DAY 7 Arrival to Lviv at 07:41. Meeting at the train station. Breakfast at a local restaurant. City tour of Lviv in general: cathedral of St. Yuriy, Lichakovskoe cemetery, panorama of the city, medieval Lviv. Check-it to the hotel George *** after 14:00. Free time. DAY 8 10:00 18:00 Excursion to churches, castles of Lviv. (A guide will provide the program)
DAY 9 10:00 20:00 Excursion to Carpathian Mountains ( a guide will provide the program). DAY 10 Check-out. Transfer to the airport (depends upon flight time) The price includes: accommodation at the hotels (standard double room with breakfasts); train tickets; all transfers; excursions according to the program with an English-speaking guide and transportation during excursions by private car (or minibus) with a driver; medical insurance; taxes. The price does not include: other meals, entrance fees; personal expenses, international flights. Oekraïne Reizen, op pad met Baron Nemirof www.oekraine-reizen.nl