| Tarhankut:
The Anomaly Of Crimea |
| The Unknown
Jewel Of The Crimea |
| When most
people think of Crimea, they envision beaches with low mountains rising
in the background. Yalta is usually the first city to come to mind,
being Crimea’s most famous coastal resort and historical site, and was
also known as a summer playground for the soviet politburo and high ranking
communist officials. While it is indisputable that this area possesses
an almost Mediterranean beauty, it is also true that that southern Crimea
is overcrowded and littered in the summer months of May through September,
and most of the well-known tourist destinations can be tacky and run down.
Crimea is a tourist destination primarily for Ukrainians and Russians who
go to the peninsula often for the sole purpose of showing off their affluence,
which has in turn created an uneasy atmosphere. Its lack of hospitality
is remnant of the soviet ways, which contrasts greatly with their relaxed
Mediterranean neighbors across the Black Sea and beyond. |
|
|
|
|
|
However, if
you find yourself in this neck of the woods and you are not interested
in casinos and crowed beaches, there is salvation, and that is Tarhankut.
Located on the most western point of the Crimean peninsula, Tarhankut has
remained in relative obscurity, and receives no pass through traffic; in
fact, the place receives relatively little traffic at all.
| Search
4Escape - The International Lifestyles Search Engine |
| -
4Escape is a search engine that searches our network of websites each of
which shares a common theme: International relocation, living ? investing
overseas, overseas jobs, embassies, maps, international real estate, asset
protection, articles about how to live ? invest overseas, Caribbean properties
and lifestyles, overseas retirement, offshore investments, our yacht broker
portal, our house swap portal, articles on overseas employment, international
vacation rentals, international vacation packages, travel resources,
every embassy in the world, maps of the world, our three very popular eZines
. . . and, as they are fond to say, a great deal more. |
|
|
Tarhankut
is a treeless rolling steppe that reaches to the Black Sea and then
drops straight down a hundred meters or so to the sea. |
|
|
| There is a
roughed beauty to the land, but people come to Tarhankut to visit the cliffs,
caves and sea. It was a pleasant surprise to find that this place had not
been littered to the extent of the rest of the peninsula. We found visitors
to Tarhankut to be true nature lovers who come back year after year, have
respect for its natural beauty, and make all efforts to keep the cliffs
and the sea clean.
My wife Natasha
and I were traveling by car and just happened to come across several “lagers”
located
next to the sea cliffs about five or six km. past the village of Olenivka.
Lager is the Russian word for ‘expedition camping’ and involves an array
of outdoor ‘camping’ activities. I was the first non-Russian or Ukrainian
that ever stayed at the lager, and people were curious but respectful.
People at the lager are healthy in body and soul. Most spend their
days doing a variety of activities including scuba diving, wind surfing,
and water sking. |
|
|
Offshore
Resources Gallery
|
|
|
| The lager
has two boats used for excursions to remote water caves formed in the sandstone
sea cliffs. The lager is set upon a cove with an excellent rock beach for
swimming, and the water is clear and unpolluted.
The lager provides
three clean but very basic meals a day. It is a look back to the soviet
euphoria of communism, where people from different levels of society are
treated equally; a place where Russians and Ukrainians have dropped their
veil of protection of status and have become equal members of the team.
This is what the soviet spirit of communism was suppose to be all about,
but never was. Now, there are a few ex-soviets who have chosen (key
word being chosen) to live as a community.
Social status
in Ukraine and Russia today is heavily determined by wealth or at least
perceived wealth.Tarhankut is the rare exception as the lagers are from
a wide array of backgrounds: from professors, doctors, and CEOs
to more simple vocations of plumbers and even pensioners.Since Ukraine
has a history of Russian domination, some Russians view, unjustly, Ukrainians
as peasants. At the lager, there were many Russians, and none of them set
themselves upon a pedestal above the Ukrainians. |
|
|
| It is the
only place that I know of in Ukraine where the people don’t care if you
are rich or poor, Russian or Ukrainian.
The majority
of the lagers are from culturally Russian Ukrainian city of Donetsk –
a large mining city in the western part of the country, therefore you will
only here Russian spoken. The lager was originally set up by the Polytechnic
Institute in Donestk. Marina (Camp Manager) and Valeriy (Camp Director)
are both enthusiastic about how the lager would work and have a good idea
of what is acceptable and what is not.
There are about
100 lagers altogether, most of which have been returning to the place for
several years. Half of them camp on the steppe above the cliffs and
the other half choose the more beautiful, yet challenging, campsite on
rocks, caves and beach within the cliff. Marina related to me that the
camp is about twenty-two years old. |
|
|
Offshore
Resources Gallery
|
| Escape
From America Magazine - The Magazine To Read To If You Want To Move Overseas |
| - Began Summer
1998 - Now with almost a half million subscribers, out eZine is the resource
that expats, and wantabe expats turn to for information. Our archives
now have thousands of articles and each month we publish another issue
to a growing audience of international readers. Over 100 people a
day subscribe to our eZine. We've been interviewed and referenced
by the Wall Street Journal, CNN, The Washington Post, London Talk Show
Radio, C-Span, BBC Click Online, Yahoo Magazine, the New York Times, and
countless other media sources. Featuring International Lifestyles
~ Overseas Jobs ~ Expat Resources ~ Offshore Investments ~ Overseas
Retirement - Second Passports ~ Disappearing Acts ~ Offshore eCommerce
~ Unique Travel ~ Iconoclastic Views ~ Personal Accounts ~ Views From Afar
~ Two things have ushered us into a world without borders... the end of
the cold war and the advent of the world wide web of global communications
? commerce. Ten years and over one hundred issues! We're just
getting started - Gilly Rich - Editor |
|
|
| Which is amazing
that it withstood the time of soviet disintegration of the early 1990s
and “perestroika” which was a period of soviet self-destruction
during the late 1980s.
If the lager
were to be open to the general public, it would quickly turn into a land
of disco techs and casinos. Therefore, guests come by reference.
Expect to be charged around $8-$10 per day which includes three meals a
day, the use of the boat, beach, wind surfer and water skis. Prices are
usually discounted if you stay longer. Scuba diving costs an additional
$15 per dive or $10 per dive if you have your equipment. You can
get internationally certified.
The lager
is open for two months every year, starting June 19 and finishing August
19. Most people come for two weeks if they are planning to get certified
in scuba diving. Those not planning to scuba dive stay a week or so.
Marina says that once the person arrives, he or she gets contaminated quickly
by the spirit of the lagers. We personally were planning to stay
one day but ended up spending six.
If you speak
Russian and are willing to pay the heavy price of an international call
to Ukraine, then the lager’s director, Valeriy Reutskiy, can be contacted
personally at (0622) 58-60-69 (home) or 8-050-564-49-10 (mobile).
He may also be contacted via e-mail at vr@aquatic.donetsk.ua.
To contact
Jason Click Here
Return
To Magazine Index |
|
 |
|
Article
Index ~ Europe
Index ~ |
Copyright 1996 -
EscapeArtist.com
Inc. All Rights Reserved