Other destinations

Beijing

Beijing is the capital of China and China’s second largest city after Shanghai with more than 17 million people in the greater Beijing area. Beijing is recognized as the political, educational and cultural center of China while Shanghai and Hong Kong predominate in economic fields. Beijing is one of the world’s greatest cities and has been an integral part of...

Feodosiya

A port and resort city in Crimea, Ukraine, located on the Black Sea coast. For a long time the town was known as Caffa or Kaffa. The city was founded under the name of Theodosia by Greek colonists from Miletos in the 6th century BC. Modern Feodosiya is a popular resort city with a population of about 85,000 people. It...

Istanbul

Istanbul formerly known as Byzantium and Constantinople is the largest city in Turkey and the 5th largest city in the world with a population of over 12 million. The city is located on the Bosphorus Strait and encompasses the natural harbor known as the Golden Horn. It extends both on the European and Asian sides of the Bosphorus and is...

Kherson

An important city along the Dnieper’s route towards the Black Sea. Until 1774, the region belonged to the Crimean Khanate. Kherson was founded in 1778 by Grigori Potemkin on the orders of Catherine the Great. The city was built on the site of a small fortress called Aleksandr-Shants. The name Kherson comes from the name Chersonesos, an ancient Greek colony...

Kiev

The capital of Ukraine and one of the oldest cities in Eastern Europe, Kiev has much to offer in terms of history and sightseeing. Kiev was founded in the 5th century as a trading post and became the capital of the Kievan Rus (the medieval state of Russia) in the 10th century. Kiev flourished as the center of power and...

Nesseber

The city has an interesting history; it was founded as a Greek colony in the 6th century BC and was later annexed by the Roman Empire in 71 BC. It was one of the most important strongholds of the Byzantine Empire from the 5th century AD onwards. During the time of the Second Bulgarian Empire it enjoyed particular prosperity under...

Odessa

The area that is now Odessa was first settled by the Tatars in 1240. In 1529 it became part of the Ottoman Empire but was annexed by Russia after the Russo-Turkish War of 1792. Officially the city of Odessa was founded by the decree of Catherine the Great in 1794. In the 19th century, Odessa was the fourth largest city...

Sevastopol

The city, formerly the home of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet is now home to a Ukrainian naval base and facilities leased by the Russian Navy and used as the headquarters of both the Ukrainian Naval Forces and Russia´s Black Sea Fleet. Sevastopol is one of the most famous naval citadels in Europe. It was founded in 1783 by Rear...

Sulina

Sulina, a town and free port in Romania, is the easternmost point of Romania. Once a prosperous port and important shipyard, from 1856 to 1939 the seat of the Danube Commission, Sulina has become a disadvantaged location. The reason is that the town has no road access, the only way to reach it is by boat that leaves Tulcea and...

Ulaanbaatar

Ulaanbaatar is Mongolia’s capital and largest city with a population of over 1 million. The city was founded in 1639 as an initially nomadic Buddhist monastic center. In 1778, it settled permanently at its present location, the junction of the Tuul and Selbe rivers. Before that it had changed location 28 times, with each location being chosen ceremonially. By the...

Yalta

Yalta has a fascinating history, the city is located on the site of an ancient Greek colony (yalos actually means “safe shore” in Greek) and is situated on a deep bay facing south towards the Black Sea, surrounded by wooded mountains. The city enjoys a warm Mediterranean climate with many vineyards and orchards in the vicinity. In the 12th century...

Zaporizhia

Famous for its connection to the Cossacks. From the fifteenth through the seventeenth centuries the area was famous for the Cossack’s fortress Zaporizhian Sich located on the Island of Khortytsia. Cossacks were members of military communities who formed the Cossack Republic in Southern Russia and the Ukraine and who defended their lands from the Crimean Tatars and the Ottoman Empire....