Yalta Ukraine Information
Yalta (Ukrainian and Russian: Ялта, Crimean Tatar: Yalta) is a city in Crimea, southern Ukraine, on the north coast of the Black Sea. The city is located on the site of an ancient Greek colony, said to have been founded by Greek sailors who were looking for a safe shore (γιαλος – yalos in Greek) on which to land. It is situated on a deep bay facing south towards the Black Sea, surrounded by wooded mountains. It enjoys a warm Mediterranean climate with many vineyards and orchards in the vicinity.

 
The term "The Greater Yalta" is used to designate a part of the Crimean southern coast spanning from Foros in the west to Gurzuf in the east and including the city of Yalta and multiple adjacent urban settlements (the area of the Greater Yalta is marked dark blue on the map).

 History - 12th-19th centuries
The existence of Yalta was first recorded in the 12th century by an Arab geographer, who described it as a Byzantine port and fishing settlement. It became part of a network of Genoese trading colonies on the Crimean coast in the 14th century, when it was known as Etalita or Galita. Crimea was captured by the Ottoman Empire in 1475, which made it a semi-independent subject territory under the rule of the Crimean Khanate but the southern coast with Yalta was under direct ottoman rule forming the Eyalet of Kefe (Feodosiya). Yalta was annexed by the Russian Empire in 1783, along with the rest of Crimea, sparking the Russo-Turkish War, 1787-1792. Prior to the annexation of the Crimea, the Crimean Greeks were moved to Mariupol in 1778; one of the villages they established nearby is also called Yalta.

In the 19th century, the town became a fashionable resort for the Russian aristocracy and gentry. Leo Tolstoy spent summers there and Anton Chekhov in 1898 bought a house ("Belaya Dacha" - The White Mansion) here, where he lived till 1902; Yalta is the setting for Chekhov's short story, The Lady with the Dog and such prominent play as "The Three Sisters" was written in Yalta. The town was also closely associated with royalty. In 1889 Tsar Alexander III finished construction of Massandra Palace a short distance to the north of Yalta and Nicholas II built the Livadia Palace south-west of the town in 1911.

 In the 20th century

During the 20th century Yalta was the principal holiday resort of the Soviet Union. In 1920, Lenin issued a decree "On the Use of Crimea for the Medical Treatment of the Working People" which endorsed the region's transformation from a fairly exclusive resort area into a recreation facility for tired proletarians. Numerous workers' sanatoria were constructed in and around Yalta. There were, in fact, few other places that Soviet citizens could come for a seaside holiday, as foreign travel was forbidden to all but a handful. The Soviet elite also came to Yalta; the Soviet dictator Stalin used the Massandra Palace as his summer residence. NKVD shot all prisoners in city prisons on November 4, 1941.

Yalta's Sea Promenade (Naberezhna), containing a great number of hotels, restaurants, and cafés.

The front façade of the Livadia Palace, located in the town of Livadiya, used for the Yalta Conference during World War II. Swallow's Nest near Yalta; built in 1912 in Neo-Gothic style by the order of German baron Stengel according to a design by Russian architect A.Sherwood.The town came to worldwide attention in 1945 when the Yalta Conference between the "Big Three" powers - the Soviet Union, the United States and the United Kingdom - was held at the Livadia Palace.

Modern Yalta

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Yalta has struggled economically. Many of the nouveaux riches started going to other European holiday resorts, now that they had the freedom and money to travel; conversely, the impoverishment of many ex-Soviet citizens meant that they could no longer afford to go to Yalta. The town's transport links have been significantly reduced with the end of almost all passenger traffic by sea (on conditions for 2009 sea passenger lines return to Yalta. New line Yalta - Novorossiysk (Russia) is operating in July and August. + Line Yalta - Sinop (Turkey) ). The longest in Europe trolleybus line goes from train station in Simferopol to Yalta (almost 90 km). Yalta is really overcrowded in high season (July-August) and prices for accommodation are very expensive. Most of tourists here are from former Soviet Union countries. Foreigners (this would be approximately 7% to the total number of tourists visiting Yalta) are mostly from Europe and United States.

Yalta has a beautiful embankment along the Black Sea. People can be seen strolling there all seasons of the year, and it also serves as a place to gather and talk (actually the place "to see and to be seen"). There are several beaches on left and right sides from embankment. Yalta has a movie theater, Drama Theater, plenty of restaurants, open-air market.

Climate

As Yalta lies to the south of the Crimean Mountains and within an amphitheatre of hills, the climate is very mild. In February, the average temperature reaches 4°C. Snow is rarely seen and the city's thin layers of snow thaw quickly. In July, the average temperature reaches 24°C. The sun shines approximately 2,250 hours per year. Since the city is located on the shore of the Black Sea, the weather rarely becomes extremely hot due to the cool sea breezes. The average year temperature for Yalta is + 13 C.

Yalta Attractions

Livadia ( The White) Palace

Is one of the most interesting places at south coast of the Crimea. The White Palace, designed by architect Nikolay Krasnov in Renaissance style, was constructed for imperial family in 1911. It was summer residence of the last Russian tsar Nicholas II and his family. In February 1945 it became a place where the Crimean Conference of the Government executives of the anti-Hitler coalition countries (Stalin from USSR, Roosevelt from USA and Churchill from Great Britain) took place, besides it was residence of US president Franklin D. Roosevelt for the period of Yalta conference. 

Massandra Palace

The Palace of Emperor Alexander III, built by design of French architect Bouchart on the slopes of the mountain ridge in the lonely place surrounded by the wood. The construction started in 1881 under the order of the governor's heir, grand duke S.M.Vorontsov, but only after seven years since his death uncompleted palace was bought by emperor Alexander III and was finished in 3 years. In Soviet period this architectural monument was the closed object as Tsar's Palace, became the state cottage, where Communist party and government leaders stopped to rest. Nowadays the palace is opened for your visit. 

Vorontsov ( Alupka ) Palace

Was constructed for Count Vorontsov in 1828-1848 by serf-masters according to the project of A.Blore. The Palace is built in pseudo-gothic style with the eastern style elements. Opened for visitors since 1921, the Palace-museum has the original interiors, collections of furniture, painting, and china. Bronzes, cut-glass ware. Around the Palace there's a wonderful Alupka Park, grounded in 1820 - one of the most known landscape parks in Ukraine. The park consists of the upper and the lower zones and has a large amount of landscape architecture..