Here’s the embankment semicircle
And a high-rise town,
Looking merrily south,
And the hum of the sea and the wet wind.
С. Marshak
Many people have written about it, admiring the special atmosphere, beauty and liveliness of this amazing city. But you can get to know Yalta, no matter how much you read about it, only by visiting it — especially since it welcomes each of its guests with warmth, warming and caressing them with cheerful rays of sun, enveloping them with wonderful mountain aromas and as if embracing them with a light sea breeze. The beauty of nature, a magnificent therapeutic climate, stunning sights of Yalta — all this speaks in favor of rest in the unofficial capital of Crimea.
Big Yalta is located on the Black Sea coast in the South of the Crimean Peninsula. Almost 80 kilometers from the town of Foros to Mount Ayu-Dag spread its wonderful beaches, always crowded with tourists in the hot summer season. Big Yalta today includes all the resort towns located within the designated areas, and Yalta itself is one of them.
It is believed that the founders of Yalta were Greek seafarers, who wandered for a long time in search of the coast, and finally, having seen it, decided to call this place so and so — Yalta (from the Greek word «yalos» — shore). Although the first settlement on the Black Sea coast in the valleys of the rivers Uchan-Su and Derekoyki, surrounded by an amphitheater of mountains at the head of the picturesque massif Ai-Petri, is mentioned in written sources only in 1154, the city was founded presumably in the distant I century AD. Numerous archaeological finds testify to the history of Yalta going back centuries. Some of them shed light on even more ancient times — in the vicinity were found the remains of the Taurus settlements dating back to VI-V centuries BC. A monument of the next era — the Middle Ages, is the Uchan-Su Isar fortress, located on the bank of the river of the same name and survived to our time in the form of picturesque ruins. These silent stones remember the times when Yalta was filled with Venetian, then Genoese merchants, then Ottoman Turks, and after them Armenians and Greeks, who settled the lands that were deserted after the earthquake in the XV century. After the Ottoman Empire, the next official owner of the city was the Russian Empire — and from that moment begins the modern history of Yalta as it has become today.
The most famous Crimean resort, the pearl of the South Coast of the peninsula, a region famous for its healing climate and health resorts — all this is modern Yalta, attracting tourists from all corners of the world. Some come here in search of a peaceful vacation surrounded by beautiful nature — dense ancient juniper-oak forests, rocky gorges and high mountain ranges, others find here the opportunity to bask in the warm sun and swim, others want to see the numerous architectural sights of Yalta — lush palaces, man-made parks, which grow exotic plants. Whatever the goals of tourists, in this marvelous city they always achieve them. Solitary or fun vacation, active or relaxing, informative or entertaining — Yalta has opportunities for any kind of leisure.
Especially interesting for all those who are partial to beautiful architecture, will be excursions to the palaces of Big Yalta. Since this city in the middle of the XIX century became a place of rest for the royal family, who built especially for this Livadia and Massandra palaces, beautiful residences with luxurious parks here began to build many representatives of the nobility. Today, such historical monuments as the Swallow’s Nest estate — the visiting card of Crimea, White Dacha — the house-museum of A.P. Chekhov, Vorontsovsky, Dulber, Kichkine, Golitsyn and Yusupovsky palaces, Kharaks estate testify to the new period in the history of Yalta, which began after the end of the Crimean War. Having seen these impressive buildings, you can continue your informative vacation by going to see the non-man-made sights: Uchan-Su waterfall — the largest waterfall in Ukraine, which is almost twice as high as the famous Niagara waterfall, rocks Adalary and Krasny Kamen, mountain ranges Ayu-Dag and Ai-Petri and many others.
Impressions in this fantastic place can be gained in just a few days of rest for several years ahead. Especially memorable vacation in Yalta for those who are familiar with the legend that Yalta is the holy place about which Christ said: «On this rock I will put a church…», which is confirmed by one of the sights — the church in the rock, which existed in the Iograph Cave.