Day 2 - The Black Sea Expedition
Saturday May 13, 2006
(that’s better)
a 5 ½ hour layover, and then a 3 hour flight to Simferopol in the Ukraine, we were happy to be done traveling. Unfortunately, we still had another 2 hour ride from Simferopol to Yalta. Sergei, the driver, picked us up at the airport, and we were on our way. It would’ve been a 1 ½ hour ride, except Sergei had to take apart his car’s carburetor on the side of the road. It seems it wasn’t working right, and when we told Jim Newman (one of the Chief Engineers with IFE) he chuckled and said, “He still hasn’t gotten that fixed?”
Originally we were supposed to meet the ship in Sebastopol, but because the customs agents weren’t terribly easy to deal with, they moved us to Yalta. Since Yalta wasn’t expecting the ship, it couldn’t arrive until a free berth became available. That was Sunday, this was Saturday. We checked in at the Yalta Hotel, a 16 story block style building with all the creature comforts of home: 9 restaurants, their own beach, a tank to swim with dolphins, a Cabaret floor, a dance floor, and breakfast. All this for the price of 198 Hryvna (Pronounced Griev-nah), which comes out to $40. The bed was uncomfortable and the hot water took quite some time to come on in the shower, but the view from the balcony was breath-taking. We were located about a mile up a hill over looking the harbor.
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