Crimea

Arrived in Crimea on a train that had left Kiev in Ukraine, to which this Black Sea peninsula belonged at the time. Crimea already enjoyed a certain autonomy back then, thanks to the presence of a large Russian community. After a long journey, in the early afternoon, I finally reach Sevastopol, a large city and port, home of the former Soviet Black Sea fleet, now in Russian hands. The city was the theatre of the important Crimean War, in which Sardinian troops also fought — an episode that later allowed the Kingdom of Sardinia to sit at the related peace congress and claim sovereignty over the Italian peninsula. We are far from Italy, but the Italian Risorgimento also began here. The centre of Sevastopol sits high up, overlooking the military port, and is not very interesting except for the museum run by the navy, which recalls the Crimean War with realistic dioramas.

They say this area is dangerous, but I travel with a raffia bag picked up in Romania and I look like one of them. Besides, I avoid speaking, also because, whether Russian or Ukrainian, their language is incomprehensible, and it is even hard to make out the Cyrillic writing. I am alone and there is not much to see, so in the evening I set off again by train for Odessa, leaving Crimea.