Yalta Zoo “Skazka” (“Fairy Tale”) is located in a remarkably beautiful and unique place with a magnificent view of Yalta and the Crimean Mountains. This is the first and currently the largest private zoo in the former Soviet Union.

The zoo was opened in 1995, and from that time it was visited by more than 1 million people. Today more than 120 species of animals brought from all over the globe live at the zoo. Most of the animals have their names that are written on the plaques.

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Tags: Yalta city

Demirdzhi is a mountain range located in the Alushta region of Crimea, Ukraine. “Demirdzhi” translated from the Crimean Tatar language means “smith”. In the Middle Ages, the Greeks called it Funa – “smoking”.

Over time from exposure to wind and water the limestone collapses, forming numerous “sculptures” of the more solid rock. When the clouds are covering the mountains you can see mysterious silhouettes in the fog, which disappear in a moment.

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Tags: Alushta city · Crimea Republic

Yalta was founded by the Greeks approximately in the 1st century. The legend says that Greek sailors lost their way because of a storm, they searched the shore for a long time and when finally they saw the shore (“yalos”) they decided to call the founded settlement this way.

Yalta started developing as a health resort in the 1860s. By early 20th century a lot of representatives of Russian elite, including members of the emperor’s family and monarchs themselves had dachas and palaces in Yalta and Yaltinsky region.

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Tags: Crimea Republic · Yalta city

Belaya Skala (White Rock) is the rock in the Crimea, located near the village of Belaya Skala (up to 1948 – Aq Qaya), Belogorskiy area. The vertical white rocky wall rises over the valley of the river Biyuk-Karasu. The altitude is 325 meters, elevation between the valley and the top of the rock – 100 meters.

The name translates to Crimean Tatar language as Aq Qaya (aq – white, qaya – rock). In 1981 it received the status of monument of regional importance. Photos by Dmitry Mordolff.

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Tags: Crimea Republic

National dendrological park “Sofiyivka” is a park and research institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, located in the northern part of Uman city in Cherkassy oblast, on the banks of Kamenka River.

Today it is a place of rest annually visited by about 500,000 people. Total area of the park is 179.2 hectares.

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Tags: Cherkassy oblast · Uman city

Pripyat was home for people working at one of the largest in Europe nuclear power plants – Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The city was built close to Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. The distance is about 100 km.

The population of the city was about 49,400 before the disaster (April 26, 1986). After the disaster Pripyat was abandoned, all the residents were evacuated. Today it attracts tourists and scientists from all over the world.

Let’s see how Pripyat looks today in freezing weather and covered in snow. Photos by Sergei Nagorny.

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Tags: abandoned · Chernobyl · Pripyat city

The chocolate factory located in the historic center of Lviv (Serbskaya Str., 3) is one of the attractions of the city. Through the glass walls you can see how the chocolate is transformed into candies, different figures, figurines, etc.

The candies have very interesting and fancy names: “Cherry Agrafka”, “Gratulyatsiya”, “Frau Zimmer Black”, “Walnut Bandzoh”, “Sweet Patsorki”, “Strawberry Tsemka”. The chocolate shop offers 39 varieties of candies. You can buy them individually and in sets. On the walls you can see large pictures of all the candies with a detailed description of the chocolate and fillings.

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Tags: Lviv city

The January weather in the Crimea and, in particular, in Sevastopol is pretty cold (about minus 10-15 degrees Celsius). The beach is empty and covered in ice.

Sometimes the beach is looking like the remains of the lair of aliens from the famous movie with all this slime and other strange objects. The photos were taken by aquatek-filips who miraculously escaped before the aliens came back :)

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Tags: Crimea Republic · Sevastopol city

The construction of the “electric cable railway” connecting Mikhailovskaya Mountain and Borichev Tok in Kiev began in 1903 and ended in the spring of 1905. According to the initial project the length of the railway was 250 meters, but because it was impossible to take down one lower private house the construction was limited to 200 meters.

The equipment of the cable cars was made in Switzerland, which had extensive experience in building cable cars. Both cars had a capacity of 70 passengers and moved up and down at a speed of two meters per second. May 8, 1905 the railway was opened and the carriage of passengers started.

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Tags: Kiev city

The beach located close to Sevastopol between the Blue Bay and the Beacon (Chersonese Cape) is known for unusual stone panels. You can see various figures of animals carved on massive stone slab.

The authors are guys from Sevastopol living in another city now, but every summer they return to the place and continue their work for a month or two. Photos by aquatek-filips.

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Tags: Sevastopol city