29 years + Yalta = Happiness!

Dear friends!

How long haven’t I been here for? I think It’s been approximately for 7 months (yes, I’m a real blogger))) … It’s actually very sad. Especially if consider that I managed to visit Lapland and Finland (and it doesn’t matter that it’s the same country), Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Italy. I even started writing an article about Italy, but then I visited the Crimea the other day and I decided that it was much easier to write about a 2-3 day trip to the Crimea than about 3 months spent in Italy))) especially about the country of pasta and pizza, the hot sun and the magnificent sea, I am ready to talk forever))

Anyway in September, I remembered that my birthday was coming on October the 12th and realized that the real traveller (as I was) should celebrate his/her special day in a new place. The choice was between Georgia, Belarus and the Crimea.

A week before the trip I felt unwell, I had a lack of sleep, a lot of work and work again, my eye began to twitch. In other words I felt like Jerom K Jerom at the beginning of his story “Three men in a boat”. That’s why I think that the trip to the sea was absolutely on time!

I flew to Simferopol by Aeroflot airlines. Everything was pretty good. The only thing I didn’t like was that I didn’t see my pretty friend Olya among the flight attendants. In addition to that there were no cakes, no songs, no the orchestra from the aircraft and passengers even though the flight was on 12.10 – on my birthday! How could they!)))

Arriving at the airport, I rushed to the counter, where I was informed about the buses to Yalta. I was not yet sure whether to go by trolleybus, bus or taxi, but when I approached the ticket office and I was told that the bus was going to leave in 8 minutes, and the next in an hour, I immediately bought a ticket and ran to the bus. Whyyyyyy? Why did I do this? It was a terrible start of my birthday.

I seemed to be aware that I was not in Europe, where I used to use comfortable buses of Mercedes company, with air conditioning and comfortable seats. Here I found a very old, smelly, hardly-working bus with dirty curtains and very stuffy. You should see my face on the way. It was not my usual face of happiness))))

At first there were only youngsters on the bus, four of us, but then some old ladies sat down with us and started talking about how one of them lost her wallet, the other had some pain, while the third one had nowhere to stretch her legs. And I believe that each person attracts ANY event, ANY phrase, ANY situation into his/her life, and, therefore all those ladies, lost wallet, and all their conversations I attracted myself (my philosophy might seem strange to someone, but I’m not imposing it on you, but just sharing) … For a while I was kind of analysing my thoughts, why I needed this situation, and then put on my headphones and went into the world of music and dreams, and the lovely old women were left by me behind …

At the car-station in Yalta I was met by the son of a man from whom I rented an apartment. The site where I found this place was called “apartments to rent in Yalta” or something like that. Andrew (it was the name of that son who was 1.5 times taller than me))) met me at the bus station and lead me to the apartment. It’s great that the way took us less than 5 minutes. In general, I really liked the location of “my flat” and the apartment itself. If anyone decides to go to Yalta, I would advise this option.

a bit of my flat (on the photo) and my happy face as not every year  have an opportunity to wear a summer dress in October.

On my birthday I had a very nice walk, enjoyed a cable-car and had dinner at the beautiful Fusion café called “Apelsin” located on the pier. I was sitting for a long time there and thinking about eternity or more precisely whether to inform the waiter about my birthday or not. I just didn’t want any hype and congratulations, but oh, this Russian soul that loves presents and free things))) in the end, after the most tender duck fillet I ordered (please forgive me for this my vegetarian friends! I’m not guilty! The meat itself is guilty! with baked apple with berry + raspberry sauce, the restaurant made me a nice compliment in the form of dessert “Madonna”. These were pieces of broken meringue, served with strawberry mixed with sugar, where I needed to dip the meringue. It was very tasty and free! Haha

Was I bored? Absolutely not. Was I lonely? Not. Did I get upset from my birthday alone? Not! It was beautiful: a new place, a new atmosphere, emotions, experience, meetings, dishes … And, in general, I love my own company, to be alone with myself. And I sincerely wish everyone to have the opportunity to be with themselves, alone with their thoughts, desires, their inner selves.

It’s a city of contrasts! Indeed, the weather was very incomprehensible. Although I came out in a light white dress, there was a very strong wind and against the background of swimming and sunbathing people it was possible to observe pedestrians in jackets and hats)))

On the cable-car I was talking about…It was high and lovely! I loved it.

Where I had my dinner – Apelsin (orange in Russian language)

I cannot take good photos (or maybe I haven’t really tried). Anyway it was much lovelier and tastier than it looks like.

The next day I went for a ferry ticket. I really wanted to go to the Swallow Nest. But, alas, …The sea wasn’t calm at all and all the ferries were cancelled on that day Octover the 13^th.

Then the seller of the excursions persuaded me to go to Paradiso Park. In fact, she really tried to persuade me to take an excursion to Ai-Petri, but I was not ready to spend 5 hours on an excursion, even if it was breathtaking. However I did agree for 3,5 hours for the park. To be honest I like to walk on my own, so that no one rushes around, does not buzz next to my ear and throws at me facts and dates. But then I thought that I would soon be again a guide and it would be very useful to see how others cope with this position, to see this job from the tourist’s point of view. Tatiana was the guide on the bus, but we had another woman as our guide in the park. She had a very rare name which was Natalia or Natasha, haha.

I was really pleased with the decision to take this excursion. We had a very good and comfortable minivan to go there with. When I arrived at the park, I also got a bracelet with a happy number (and this is really important for me because it once again confirms the fact that life loves me and this is our mutual feeling). The park itself seemed magical and if only I could explain you how clean, fresh and pure the air was there!

157 760! My lucky bracelet which was also very suitable for my nails. I can see that the park was waiting for its special guest – birthday girl))) 

The guide told us many interesting stories and facts about different tress, flowers and even kind of cactus in Mexico from which juice people make alcohol. And I did cover some of the stories in my Russian version of this article but somehow I feel that it won’t be so interesting or understandable in English and that’s why I don’t want to write about it so here are some photos from the park.

 

7:30, October the 14^th –  I rushed to the bus stop (it was bus service again – as you can see I don’t learn from the life, haha))) in order to go to the Swallow Nest.

Thanks to the driver, who stopped after seeing the crazy-rushing girl (myself), because that bus number 132 runs every half an hour and as it was my last day in Yalta, I had a schedule planned for every minute so I didn’t want to wait for 30 min for the second bus.

The bus ticket cost me 30 rubles to the Swallow’s Nest. The road there was quite comfortable, although everyone has different ideas about comfort. Let’s just say that I didn’t smell anything, I sat, looked out the window, listened to the music and tried to convince myself that I had enough sleep even though I did not, haha.

A woman selling excursions said that the road would take about 15 minutes to go there by bus, but actually it took me around 40 minutes. Frankly speaking I noticed that Crimea residents often say inaccurate information regarding travelling time, so I advise you to not trust everything that is being said to you and, just in case, be ready to spend more time on your way there.

The way from the bus stop to that fairytale castle took me about 10 minutes on foot (more or less as it depends on the length of your legs and the breather).

There was a very strong wind on the day of my visit so it all fascinated me even more. It seems to be a bit uncomfortable with the feeling that you are Baba Yaga with hair tangled in an infinite number of balls))) and when you turn to the sea, you sometimes feel such a strong gust of wind that it is impossible to breathe in, but at the same time this magical sight of the sun shining, the unlimited sea, raging waves and, in fact, a little toy castle, evoking the atmosphere of a fairy tale. And I was also lucky, because I arrived there by 9 in the morning (the Swallow Nest opens at 10, but they let me in earlier), so it was quiet, calm …it’s just a text but if only I could express that pure happiness I had at that very moment. I felt harmony with myself, with the world, with everything around me. This is true unconditional happiness, and a phrase from the advertisement “And let the whole world wait …” would very much fit here. I admit that if I went there in the summer, at the height of the tourist season and tried to observe something through a crowd of foreigners, I might not have experienced such pacification and happiness.

Even National Geographic supported me in my decision to visit this wonderful place!

I will not talk about my way to Russia, because there was nothing interesting on the way back, except that my flight was delayed, I lost some money on the ticket exchange, panicked that I would be late for work, and so on and so forth)))

It was a very happy time spent with Yalta together though…

In every strange situation go to see the sea. It works! I am sure 🙂

See you lovely people!