What to do on your first trip to Crimea? These two ancient cities are worth a visit.

🔅In October 2019, I departed from Hangzhou and flew to Moscow before transferring to a plane to Simferopol, starting my 5-day trip to Crimea. 🔅Crimea Island is not very big, with two main tourist cities, Sevastopol and Yalta, both of which are well-known. Sevastopol, also known as Sev Harbor, is home to the famous Black Sea Fleet, while Yalta was the venue for the Yalta Conference 1️⃣To get to the point, let's talk about something more pleasant, like travel! First, let's talk about Yalta. This is a city located near the Black Sea, with many mountains. It looks a bit like Chongqing, a mountain city, and most of the attractions here are related to the sea. 🔅The seaside avenue is beautiful and artistic, where you can always see various performances, guitar, accordion, juggling, skateboarding, and performance art on the street. 🔅The suburban Mount Aibidetan is a bit like Huangshan, especially in October, when the autumn colors dye the trees on the mountaintop red. For a moment, I seem to feel that two trees and the welcoming pine have a similar charm. 🔅On the way of taking the aerial cable car, you can have a panoramic view of the Crimean Peninsula, the Black Sea, city buildings, and the coastline, which are all very beautiful. By the way, for an additional 50 yuan, you can also walk on the aerial plank road, which is very exciting and thrilling. 🔅After descending the mountain, you can also take a look at the landmark building of Yalta - Swallow's Nest. This is a castle with a strong medieval knight style, named after its resemblance to a swallow soaring in the blue sky when viewed from afar. 🔅There is a pier under the Yanzi Castle, where you can take a boat to reach the seaside avenue of Yalta. You can choose to take a boat at sunset, and the sea view along the way is very beautiful. 🔅On the second day, I also visited the Alupka Vorontsov Palace at the foot of Ai-Petri Mountain. This is a Moorish revival-style building constructed in the 19th century. 🔅The entire palace can almost be described as magnificent, with Gothic chimneys, Arab-style arches, medieval knight-style banquet halls, and even a very Chinese-style study. This mixed architectural complex seems to have no sense of violation. 🔅If you are careful enough, you may even find that Chinese silk is embedded in the grass mats on the walls. By the way, this place was once the venue for the Yalta Conference. 🔅The cuisine in Yalta is also very unique, mainly focused on Caucasian barbecue. Of course, the most impressive culinary experience is to visit the century-old winery, Massandra Winery, where you can spend 750 rubles to tour the wine cellar and taste 9 different flavors of wine for free. The wine is very delicious, worthy of being a land of red wine production. 2️⃣The second city is Sevastopol. Compared to the hustle and bustle of Yalta, I actually prefer the quiet and natural atmosphere of Sevastopol. On the seaside avenue near the Black Sea, there is always a lively atmosphere, with locals walking in twos and threes. I followed them to feed the pigeons and even found some unique wooden refrigerator magnets and slightly old-looking medals. 🔅Of course, when I arrived in Sevastopol, I wouldn't miss the cultural relics here. My favorite is the ancient city of Chersonese, which has more than 2,500 years of history on the outskirts. It was once a colony of ancient Greece and was once known as the Pompeii of Ukraine and the Troy of Russia. 🔅Inside the ancient ruins, I saw many city wall ruins, city gates, and my favorite Roman-style theater. Because the ancient city was built next to the Black Sea, the scenery is also very beautiful. 🔅By the way, besides the ancient Roman ruins, I also discovered an Eastern Orthodox church in the Ksenisi site. Walking into the magnificent hall, it was very dazzling. 🔅In addition, I also discovered numerous monuments in the city, such as the sunken ship monument built in 1905, which commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Crimean War and the defense of Sevastopol. It bears witness to Sevastopol's resilience after the war and to the fact that it is a city of heroes. 🔅My trip to Crimea passed in such admiration. Even after several years, I still miss every day in Crimea, with its colorful scenery, culinary delights, and endless emotions.