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Yalta is a well known city! There are some reasons for that. For the older generation, Yalta is the place where the Crimean Conference was held in 1945, they remember this important and dramatic event from the end of WWII. The younger generation has usually heard something about the former Soviet Union and the name Yalta. But all people who heard about Yalta at least once know it is a nice and most famous resort area on the shore of the beautiful Black Sea. And it is true!
Yalta was founded a long time ago by Greek people. People lived there in ancient times but they didn't call this place Yalta. When you come here you will learn a small nice legend how the name Yalta appeared. You should be aware there are two "Yaltas" - Greater Yalta and Yalta City. Yalta City is Yalta itself, but Greater Yalta is several small towns which situated between Bear Mountain (Gurzuf) and Cat Mountain (Simeiz). So if you'll stay in: Gurzuf, Massandra, Livadia, Koreis, Miskhor, Alupka or Simeiz you may tell to everybody you stayed in Yalta.
Yalta City is surrounded by high mountains and that's why it is always warm, the climate is like Mediterranean Climate. There is much activity in Yalta. It is "non stop" in Summer time and of course less in Winter.
There are many restaurants, cafes, bars and night clubs. The main promenade is always full of people walking forward and back, many artists, singers and performers. Many people do offer their service, souvenirs etc. etc. Many well-knows artists do their performance in Summer here. There is a big hall, a theater,and a cinema. Yalta is a pretty expensive city - the average prices are close to Western standards. Many restaurants and shops accept credit cards (Visa and MasterCard), and ATM machines are also avaliable.
Coming to Yalta by road across the mountains, your first sight of the town will be spread out below you against the dazzling blue of the sea. I remember arriving in a trolleybus full of children down for their summer holidays, and the buzz of excitement as they caught sight of the town made all the adults smile with memories of their own childhoods.
Look up almost anywhere in Yalta and you'll see the mountains which ring the town on three sides. And at night the slopes sparkle with the lights of houses so that the dark shapes of the mountains look like the embers of some huge campfire.
Seafront, palm trees, beaches, shops, restaurants, nightlife - Yalta is a town that knows it's got style. Since the Tsars began abandoning Moscow to holiday here in the 19th century, Yalta has been a magnet for people with taste and, it has to be said, in many cases with money. The counts and princes who built the nearby palaces were followed by rich merchants who built town houses, many of which remain. But during the 20th century a different kind of holiday-maker began to arrive. In post-revolutionary soviet society, ordinary people began to be able to afford seaside holidays, and it is these people, as much as their aristocratic forebears, who have made Yalta the town it is today. Now the soviet union is gone and free enterprise is creating new wealth for some and new aspirations for many.
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