Chasing Aivazovski...

Here is another one of  my never ending Crimea Posts..but promise this is the last one..

I LOVE art, and definitely dont mind making extra miles to see a great one. Same thing happened in Crimea. When I learned that a great portion of Armenian Russian painter Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky's paintings are at a museum at his home town Feodosia, it was a must for us to go and see them instead of a leisurly day at Yalta.

In order to reach Feodosia we have covered almost half of the coastline of Crimea, and on the way did not hesitate to stop at Sudak to see this grand castle built by Genoese at the 14th century. 

Aivazovsky( 1817-1900) is famous with its seasecapes and considered as one of the best among the seascape painters of all time.It is also possible to see some of the great paintings of him in Turkey as he served as the court painter during the Ottoman time. Later he returned to his hometown and opened an art school here.

Museum is located in his own house as well as some adjacent buildings. It was really such a pleasurable experience to see a lot of his paintings, especially the wall size ones, and its also a nice surprise for us to see a large size painting of İstanbul in this corner of the world.

  

Summer Residence of the Last Tsar

I keep showing you pictures from our beach house at Turquoise Diaries, but today how about the beach house of the last Tsar of the Russia, Nicholos II. and his family. Among them you probably know most about the beautiful Grand Duchess Anastasia, thanks to Hollywood...

If you are a bit interested with history, you can meet lots of ghosts in this palace. Here at this hall in the first floor, the world has been reshared, reshaped among the victors of the second world war.You could almost smell the big cigars of Winston Churchill. Yalta Conference held in this room in February 1945. Its been told that, Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill were seated at the round table at the end of the room.

Livadia Palace also served as the residence of Roosevelt and the American delegation during the Conference due to its convenience.

If you are tired of the 1945 politics, move along the corridors of the first floor, and while you are at the souvenier shop, you might hear the murmurs of the Tsarevich Alexei and his teachers, as this rather large room served as the study of the next Tsar.. It should be very difficult for him to learn the necessary lessons to rule a large empire while hearing the happy sounds and laughs of  his four elder sisters Grand Duchesses Olga, Maria, Anastasia and Tatiana, from the upper floor.

While the first floor designed in a rather formal way to serve the daily needs of an emperor's summer residence, the second floor looks like a cozy family home.
The first family of Russia moved to this palace in 1911 after its completion but only spent four happy summers before the Russian Revolution which led to their murder.

Unfortunately almost all of the items used by the family lost after the Revolution, but thanks to photography hobby shared by all the members of the family, its possible to see the life in Livadia Palace.

Yalta

Yalta is the fun and bright face of Crimea. In the 19th century, it was the favorite holiday resort of the Russian aristocracy. During the Soviet Union it kept its special place as the main vacation place of the Soviet citizens as foreign travel was forbidden to all but a handful.

The seaside of the city of Yalta, is the place where you can find all sort of attraction and as well as many highend shops. Always a joy to stroll in the early hours of the evening..

 Yalta is also full of palaces. Here is one that we have visited: Vorontsov Palace, built by the Governor of Novorossiya Prince Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov. Consruction completed between 1830 - 1848. During the famous Yalta conference of 1945, it served as the residence of Winston Churchil and British delegation.

 Famous Swallow's nest

 I also loved the artists' street where you can find very talented as well as untalented artists selling their painting. Check what Dimitri drawed for us on the right side of the photo..

 and last but not the least enjoyed the great wines of the region..

Sevastopol

Its been almost a week that we have left hospital. Hubby is resting at our home in İstanbul and taking his medication. He is doing much better. We are hoping to go back to our beach house next week after getting the approval of his doctor.

As we rushed to İstanbul with the first available plane, I dont have with me the necessary stuff for blogging, ie- a proper internet connection, a proper pc, camera...Thank God ( and my laziness) I have the ever reliable unpublished Crimea photos with me.. Here are some more from Sevastopol..

Sevastopol was the so called 'closed city' during the Soviet period as it was the host of mighty Black Sea Fleet of those days. Today it is still hosting them as well as the Ukranian navy. It was totally rebuilt after the 2.WW and today it is still a beautiful city..

Unfortunately we couldnt spend much time there as we found out very late that the translator and the driver who have been hired for us were also visiting the city for the very fist time. Lost so much time just trying to find our way in the city, but still we have managed to visit the famous Panorama museum and drank some cold wine while listening the sounds of the city..

Evpatoria

Another beautiful place from Crimea with some beautiful Ottoman buildings..The most important one is the Khan Mosque built in 1552 by the famous Architect Sinan of The Ottoman Empire..We had the chance to witness the religious weddings of  some Tatar couples there..

Another one is a dervish lodge and its mosque from the same period.

Evpatoria is an important harbour city in Crimea but it you are looking for sandy beaches you should go outside of the city..

It is full of beautiful old buildings from the imperial days of Russia, but the whole city is waiting a strong hand to renovate them..

Bakhchisaray - Crimea

Our hospital days are continuing..We slowly started to have some results from all the tests that hubby gone thru. Thank God, its not the scary ''C'' word.. It looks like he has secondary reactivated tuberculosis on his lungs. A kind of mutated tuberculosis bacteria which found a place on his lungs when he was young and slept there all these time.

As our hospital days are following one after another, here are some photos from our Crimea trip from June, I neglected to post them for such a long time.

Bakhchisaray is one of the important tourist destinations in Crimea thanks to the palace of the Crimean Khans. Its one of the Muslim palaces located in Europe, along with its famous sisters in İstanbul and Elhamra in Spain. Its a beautiful palace with so much homey feeling. I just loved it.. They started to build it in the 16th century.

Bakhcisaray is a Turkish word (means palace garden) and the name escaped from the Russinization of the names of the places thanks to great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin. He visited this palace when he was exiled in Crimea during1822 and wrote his famous and very long poem ''Fountain of Bakhchisaray'' after this visit. The fountain is still in the palace..

This beautiful town has also a special place in my heart. It' s where my paternal grandmother and grandfather spent their adolescence years before they start their big journey to Anatolia.