This morning, Eugene greeted us with cups of Turkish coffee and he had pre-ordered breakfast, which turned out to be blini, cheese pancakes, salami on bread, and a tomato salad – and more coffee. Very filling and delicious. We walked down the Koktabel boulevard to the beach – large round stones that took good balance to walk on – and went swimming in the Black Sea.
Then we had showers, packed, and went to Feodosia and found where the slave market would have been in 1500. It looked similar to the Genovese fortress.
Our next order of business was to find another “hole in the wall” — aka bank machine. We visited one that didn’t work and another that wouldn’t accept our cards and finally a third that worked.
We drove to Stary Crim and visited the oldest surviving mosque which would have been from about 1299.
Then we visited a Tatar museum and had a lovely couple of hours with a woman who taught at the Tatar school and ran the museum as well. Her enthusiasm for her nationality shone through her eyes. It was a joy to see. Natalia and I both bought prints from her and then we returned and gave her some Canadian souvenirs.
Drove to Simferpol, but stopped along the way at a restaurant on the way. I had a soup called salynia which had a savory/spicy broth and small squares of meats. Yummy. Then had rabbit stew. Again, yummy. There was a dog and cat that went along with the restaurant and begged for food, but the dog was so picky he wouldn’t eat bread. Felt sorry for it because it had a ripped nose and seemed feverish. Fed it a bit.
Just before Simferpol, Eugene took us to a memorial where Nazis had killed thousands of Jews in 1941. There had been a lot of vandalism during Soviet times but the memorial went up after that and the graves were protected underground with cement. It was a moving experience. So much sadness. So much suffering.
He took us to an amazing hotel. Cheap – 300 hryvny – and so clean with a superb bathroom!
