During the Soviet era Balaklava was completely closed to anyone who didn't live there. The reason is the former Soviet nuclear submarine base burrowed into the cliff under the Tavros mountain. It is now a museum which includes a tour of the James Bond movie-like submarine tunnel and dry dock. Good value and a good opportunity escape the high summer Crimea heat.

Tavricheskaya Quay 22, Balaklava

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Built in the 19th century, this white-walled church is not of the golden onion-dome variety, but its Byzantine style is still quite pleasing to the eye. During WW2 Sevastopol suffered heavy damage and if you look carefully you can see the bullet holes that still remain on the sides of the building.

Towards the Chersonesus area along Pozharova, about 10 minutes from the centre;
www.chersonesos.org/?p=ct_map21&l=eng

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This is a purpose built structure to house the famous Sevastopol panorama, which depicts the siege of Sevastopol in the Crimean War. On the inside of the circular wall, a 360 degree canvas is mounted showing the battlefield from the top of a hill. Spectators walk around this interior as though they are standing on the hill observing the action.

It’s all well presented and gives a very good impression of what mid 19th-century warfare must have looked like. On the lower floor is a museum and the surrounding park includes some artillery installations that point out over the adjacent valley.

Istorichesky

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This is something that every visitor should see. The original was created by Franz Alekseevich Roubaud ("Rubo") (1856-1928) in three years in Munich, then moved into its special classical building in 1905. The building and the panorama were badly damaged during World War II, but the canvas has been completely recreated and the building restored and reopened in 1954. The Panorama vividly depicts one of the 349 days of Sevastopol’s defence, and its canvas is 14m x 115 m, the area of the life-size plan is about 1000 sq.m.

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There is a wonderful display of fresh fruit stalls with the best strong garlic tasted in years. Hats are in profusion. Art stalls offer paintings worthy of inspection at cheap negotiable prices.

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Standing in the village whose name it takes, this Muslim khan’s palace is one of the highlights of the Crimea. It was built in the 16th-century and became home to a succession of Tatar Khans. A complex of buildings sits in a walled enclosure including a mosque, a harem and the living quarters. Pleasant gardens surround the buildings and today it seems an incredibly tranquil place – as long as you visit outside of peak tourist times. T

he interiors of the living quarters are beautiful and one fountain in a small courtyard hides a sad story which so moved the Russian writer Pushkin when he visited here that he wrote a whole poem to it – The Fountain of Bakhchisarai.

This was my first encounter with an Islamic domain and I have to say that I found it a very beguiling one.

The village is on the Sevastopol – Simferopol road, equidistant between the two. Guided trips are fine, but beware the tourist hordes;
www.blacksea-crimea.com/Places/KhansPalace.html

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It’s worth a walk down here as you may well see, as I did, naval ships and vessels coming and going, and you can view the monument to the scuttled ships, probably the most famous icon of Sevastopol. The view across the south bay is also a very pleasant one.

Go to Nakhimova Square, then down a flight of stone steps to get to the harbour side

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The entrance to and situation of this harbour is all gently picturesque, with some elegant buildings and a hill gently rising to the main part of the city and beyond. There are a number of cafés and restaurants here, varying from cheap and cheerful to just about as exclusive as Sevastopol gets. You can also catch a ferry from here to the northern side of the city.

Nab Kornilova

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So named by Tennyson in his Charge of the Light Brigade poem, the valley is considerably more peaceful today, being largely covered as it is with vineyards. There are various memorials to the different nationalities that were involved in the battle, and I was told that you can still find pieces of bone among the vines if you go for a stroll along one of the small footpaths. Better perhaps to stay on top of one of the surrounding hills, survey the scope of the valley and imagine the fatal charge taking place. If you go on a guided trip, they’ll give you the whole low-down of where everyone was and the exact path of the charge.

A couple of miles outside Sevastopol on the Balaklava road

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