The first stop on our trip to Crimea (strictly speaking our second stop after getting pulled over by the cops again. That detour cost 150uah - this time Dasha did the handiwork so I am now off the hook - she didn’t like me paying the odd “facilitating payment” so now we’re even) was Sevastopol - the sea port that is currently more Russian than a stoli vodka. The Ruski’s have their Black Sea Fleet stationed there - next to the Ukrainian fleet - and the town is predominantly pro Russian. Putin even issued free passports to the locals. This will be a hot spot in the future if something similar to the Georgian conflict erupts as Ukraine currently leases this base to Russia so could get dicey if there is a dispute. The boat above would settle things pretty quickly - this is the Russian flagship Moskva - a missile cruiser capable of destroying Turkey in 12 minutes - sitting where it is - according to our friendly guide. This ship is monster and pretty frightening when up close.

After this tour we decided to take in something a little more sedate with a walk around the ancient greek ruins at Hersones. These ruins look old and pretty interesting but, as most things in Ukraine, there isn’t enough money to protect them. I can see this place gradually disappearing as more tourists run over the ruins like they were scouring for gold!

Back to the hotel for the night and we were pleasantly surprised. Each room was designed like the history surrounding this place - from wooden genoese ships to greek theatres - we had it all. Cool in a kitsch way. The hotel, of the same name, turned out to have a great restaurant, beer and a top nights sleep - just what we needed.

Check out the pictures of the Black Sea fleet & Hersones.....