Where to go and what to see in Feodosia (Crimea)?

Feodosia belongs to the group of the largest resorts of Crimea, and this is even despite the fact that it is located in the southeast - where the subtropics no longer reach. There are many reasons for this - the ancient history of the city has ancient monuments, and modern rather large sizes make it possible to intensively build modern infrastructure.

The proximity of the city to the recently built Crimean Bridge is also of some importance, thanks to which those who come from the continent by private cars prefer to stay here. In addition, in the eastern segment of the Crimean peninsula, it is one of the largest and most interesting city, where vacationers from smaller neighboring resorts come with one-day excursions.

Feodosia is located on the shore of the Feodosia Bay, in the southeastern part of Crimea, 136 kilometers from Simferopol and 99 kilometers from Kerch, located at the exit from the Crimean bridge. There are no real mountains nearby - their last spurs are located in the south-west and cover the city only partially, although the picturesqueness of the urban environs is added.

Due to the lack of reliable protection from northern winds Feodosia no longer belongs to the subtropical southern coast of Crimea, which has a positive effect on the prices of the main tourist services here: no palm trees - no extra charges. At the same time, the climatic difference with neighboring Alushta or Yalta is noticeable to a greater extent in winter, but in summer it is also hot and sunny here, like in the neighbors, therefore tourists in Feodosia do not disdain.

As befits most large Crimean cities, Feodosia is an ancient city with a rich centuries-old history. This is evidenced by even its name, which from the ancient Greek language can be translated as "given by God." Of course, it was not the Crimean Tatars or the Slavs who called it that; this is its original name, under which it was once founded by the Hellenes themselves.

The history of this God-given city begins 2.5 thousand years ago, when the Greeks arrived from Miletus, located in Asia Minor. On the Crimean peninsula, the Greeks who arrived founded a policy, and two centuries later, in 355 BC, it was included in the large state of this region - the Bosporus kingdom.

The times of the great migration of peoples greatly battered the Crimean peninsula, and Feodosia was repeatedly hit during this period. In the 4th century AD it was destroyed by the Huns, in the 5th century it became the property of Byzantium, in the 6th century it was repulsed by the Khazars, and some time later it returned to Constantinople. All these twists and turns could not but affect the appearance of the city. Today we know all this only from the results of excavations and the study of ancient written sources, but no visual monuments of architecture of that era are found here.

Because of this, the city fell into decay and individual evidence, for example, from the 9th century, argue that there was nothing at all on the site of the present Feodosia. However, most sources say that there was still a small settlement in this place, and in the XIII century it fell under the influence of the Golden Horde. It remained under the Mongol-Tatar rule for literally a few decades - in 1266 it was bought by the Genoese, with whom, perhaps, the brightest pages in the history of the city, which now began to be called Kafa, are associated.

Newcomers from the Apennine Peninsula specialized in maritime trade and highly appreciated the qualities of the Feodosia Gulf as a port bay. A small fishing village for some two centuries has grown to the capital of the Genoese colonies in the Northern Black Sea region, the number of the local population has almost reached modern indicators, which at that time was very large. It even built a theater and a mint, whose coins were widely accepted in the region.

During the XIV century, the kafu was repeatedly besieged by the Golden Horde khans, but the Genoese throughout the entire time managed to find a peaceful way to resolve conflicts. In 1475, the Ottoman Turks came to the peninsula, and the Genoese could no longer agree with them - the city passed to the new owners.

Under the Turks, Kefe (as they called the city in their own way) remained a major port and trade center of the region, but nevertheless it gradually decreased. His main profile remained the sale of slaves, whom the Crimean Tatars hunted in their forays into the territory of modern Ukraine, but the Zaporozhye Cossacks did not like this, and in 1616 they even destroyed the city itself. Another previously popular commodity, wine, was banned from production and consumption by Muslims, and although Christians, even within the Ottoman Empire, were not prohibited from all this, the volume of trade, of course, fell.

Meanwhile, in the north, the Russian Empire was gaining strength, while the Ottoman Empire in the south was gradually fading away.In 1771, the Russians took Feodosia for the first time, and at the end of the Russian-Turkish war of 1774, they did not take it for themselves, but demanded that the city be subordinated to the Crimean Khanate. Just a decade later, this whole state, together with Kafa, became part of Russia.

In the century before last, they tried to develop the city, but to no avail: the greatest success at that time was that an outstanding person lived here - the famous marine painter Ivan Aivazovsky. Only at the very end of the 19th century, a railway reached the city, and then a port was opened here, which finally led to industrial development and growth.

In many ways, today's Feodosia is based on the tourism business, and although the city can offer a lot of interesting things in terms of excursions and attractions, the main influx of guests comes here for the sake of a beach holiday. For this reason, our We will start the overview of interesting places with local beaches and highlight some of them, where you should go.

Crimea is known for the fact that its beaches are mostly pebbly, and in this regard, Feodosia is very different for the better, since sand predominates here. The fact that the city is not included in the subtropical belt somewhat reduces the popularity of these places, because there is a little more free space here, but there is also a little less investment. so be prepared that the beach areas are not always perfectly beautiful and well-groomed.

If you absolutely want to get to the main city beach, then you can expect a slight disappointment, since it is just made of the usual Crimean pebbles. The locals call it “Pebbles”. It is good not only for its central location, but also for the fact that the infrastructure here is presented at its best throughout the city. There is a beautiful promenade nearby, which houses a huge number of cafes and other establishments for tourists.

On the sides of the "Kameshki" beaches are already half of pebbles and sand, but rest here, frankly, is not for everybody. The fact is that the coastline is not at all well-groomed - it is constantly interrupted by some kind of fences, breakwaters and concrete blocks. Nobody really monitors the state of the coast here, and the water is full of protruding fittings and other unpleasant "surprises".

Whoever wants the beach to be at the same time uncrowded, clean and spacious, you should leave the boundaries of Feodosia in the northern direction. Here the coast is already made of sand and not every tourist gets here, while the breakwaters that spoil the landscape remain within the city limits. This ten-kilometer strip is usually called By the golden beach. But be prepared that not all that glitters is gold: Of the amenities nearby, there is only a road, but there is practically no infrastructure for vacationers.

The two beaches described above are quite widely known, and most often you will be advised either one or the other. "Pebbles", as we understood, are suitable for those who care about infrastructure, and the Golden Beach - for lovers of privacy, even to the detriment of minimal amenities.

It will be difficult for a visitor to single out something worthwhile from the rest of the strip, but we will still throw in several options that claim to be considered.

• Cote d'Azur. A relatively small beach, whose length does not exceed 200 meters, is located near the Komsomolsky Park. It is made of sand and differs not only in general grooming, but also in the presence of all the necessary infrastructure - there is even a cafe where your vegetables and fruits will be washed for a fee, as well as lockers for storing things. The most convenient way to get here from the center is by bus.

• "Northern beaches"... They are located closer to the city border, along the Black Sea embankment. The local sandy beaches are well-groomed due to the fact that most of them belong to local hotels and sanatoriums, but almost always you can get to them without any restrictions. The further north you go, the fewer tourists there will be, but the infrastructure will not diminish until you reach the city limits.

• Beach at Cape Chumka. If you want the most complete savagery, it makes sense to go here - to the far outskirts, behind the Genoese fortress. To be honest, it is difficult to call this place a full-fledged beach - here the width is only 30 meters, and a bunch of sharp stones both on the shore and in the water. There are practically no people here, therefore, there is no infrastructure either here or anywhere nearby. Another thing is that local stones are considered compressed volcanic ash - they can be broken without any tools and soaked in water to a state of mud.

In a resort town, there is often no reason to look at the number of local residents - its capabilities are designed for a huge flow of tourists during the peak season, which means that the entire infrastructure looks as if the town is at least three times larger. For this reason, even the local Feodosia parks are of certain interest, especially if you come on vacation with children. Naturally, there are no excursions to such places, but you can get here on your own.

It is worth highlighting at least three parks of Feodosia.

• Komsomol. Perhaps the best solution on the scale of Feodosia, since there is absolutely everything that vacationers might like. It is located in close proximity to the aforementioned Cote d'Azur beach, which means that you can visit it before or after swimming and even during breaks. For children, there are not only playgrounds and attractions, but also pony riding, while adults are also not completely offended - there are picturesque ruins of an ancient settlement nearby.

• Anniversary. This option quite claims to be the central one in the city - at least in terms of attractions, it is clearly in the lead. The park located on Gorky Street is far enough from the beaches, so you will have to visit it separately, but here you can see purely Feodosian symbols - for example, a fragment of the Genoese fortress, the Fountain of the Good Genius or the Alley of Heroes. Naturally, the "children's" infrastructure is also presented - there are playgrounds, and the same horses.

• Sailor. This park is small in size, it is very quiet and cozy - there is no special entertainment here, but here you can find solitude. It is located in the place where Lenin and Armenian streets converge. Today, complete pacification reigns here, but for many centuries it was this place that was the focus of grief and suffering in Feodosia, since it was here that the famous slave market of Kafa was located.

Unlike many small resorts in Crimea, characterized by the well-known ugliness of the architectural appearance, Feodosia can be called a beauty - she is well-groomed and has a number of beautiful buildings and simply monuments. You can even just walk around the city center to see the main attractions.

So, from Gorky Street begins The Heroes Alley, where is located monument to the Knights of the Deep Sea, that is, submariners from Feodosia who died in the service.At the end of the alley, you can see a stele with a submarine engraved on it. In the same place, on Gorky Street, one of the towers of the Genoese fortress - Constantine, which is a very interesting exhibit.

Morskaya Street will delight those walking with ancient Armenian fountain, built in the Middle Ages. Even from afar, it looks monumental and much more impressive than most of its modern counterparts, and its description would not be complete if not to mention the finest carvings that have survived to our time.

Aivazovsky Avenue is most interesting for local sanatoriums, but there is no need to rush to dismiss them in disappointment - at least two buildings here are a good hundred years old and are a real masterpiece of architecture. For example, in Eastern Europe, you do not often find the Spanish-Moorish style, but dacha "Victoria" executed in it.

Adjacent to her cottage "Milos" owes its name to Venus de Milo. It not only has a copy of the famous statue, but is generally decorated in the best antique traditions. In addition, the famous dacha-palace of Stamboli, named after the owner of a tobacco factory who came from Turkey and built a luxurious mansion in oriental style.

Must-see on Portovaya street monument to Afanasy Nikitin. The famous Russian traveler is an idol for those who are still carried away by the road beckoning into the distance. For example, he is often referred to as the first European to visit India. It is here that the monument to this man is located for a reason: he visited Feodosia. Imagine - Nikitin saw the city during the Genoese rule, just a few years before the arrival of the Ottomans here, that is, he found it at the peak of its heyday.

It is worth seeing on Tatarskaya street the tower of Giovanni di Scafa. At the first moment, this structure may only cause confusion, but perhaps you will be imbued with great respect if you find out that it has been standing here since 1341. The most interesting thing is that history has retained the name of the man in whose honor the tower was named back in Genoese times, but at the same time scientists have not found an answer to the question of who he was.

Often, architectural monuments of antiquity are represented by temples - they have long been built from the best materials, therefore many of them are well preserved. In Feodosia, such a memorial of history is Archangel Church. Inexperienced tourists from regions with a predominantly Slavic population will probably be surprised why the Orthodox Church looks so atypical, but it is enough to look at the sign and see “Armenian Street” there to get closer to the answer.

For those who love more modern buildings with only a slight touch of antiquity and intelligence, there is the current House of officers, which is worth admiring in the dark thanks to the well-placed backlight. Visually, this building, located on Kuibyshev Street, most of all resembles a typical Soviet theater with references to antiquity in the form of columns. However, the House of Officers has never actually been a theater - it is a former pre-revolutionary synagogue.

For its relatively modest size, Feodosia has an impressive set of museums, many of which claim to be really interesting even for those who are far from history and other typical museum topics. I must say that similar institutions can be found here for every taste, so you need to get here not only in bad weather - do not be lazy to meet the time and such local attractions.

House-Museum of Alexander Grin, Probably, it is simply interesting for a huge number of visitors, since the famous "Scarlet Sails" is known to each of our compatriots from school, and for many of the fair sex this is one of the most romantic and beautiful stories. Naturally, Green was not the author of one book - he had other excellent works, so for someone he could turn out to be an idol, then his house is definitely worth a visit. The great writer lived for 5 years in Feodosia, on the current Galereinaya street, and he considered this period of his life very happy.

Museum of Marina and Anastasia Tsvetaev Is another attraction that allows you to reveal the features of the life path of literary geniuses. Of the two sisters, the most popular was, of course, the former good poet, but the museum is nevertheless named after both of them. Here, lovers of poetic lines will be able to understand in what atmosphere their favorite poems, long learned by heart, were born.

Feodosia Museum of Money it is not in vain that it is located in this city - not everywhere the history of the settlement presupposes such a multiple change of owners. Among other things, Kafa was also a trading city, and after that it is no surprise that during excavations here archaeologists found coins of a wide variety of peoples and eras.

But there is no local history museum in Feodosia - more precisely, in fact it exists, but you will not find one on the map. Today it is called Feodosia Museum of Antiquities, and, contrary to the name, covers all periods of the city's existence, including even the relatively recent Soviet one. The expositions are divided according to the epochs of the rule of a particular civilization.

At the same time, local exhibits do not always strictly relate to the history of Feodosia and its immediate environs - you can see individual specimens donated by Kerch, Sudak and other Crimean cities.

Hang gliding museum - another institution, the analogue of which, even on a worldwide scale, will not be easy to find. The fact is that in the vicinity of Feodosia, namely in the spurs of the Crimean mountains, constant ascending air currents are observed.

In Soviet times, such a feature of the region was noticed, and the city began to be promoted as a center of paragliding, and neighboring Koktebel was called Planerskoye for several decades. Here are presented not only illustrative layouts of hang gliders, but also some specimens that actually took off into the air.

Restoration and Exhibition Center for Underwater Archeology located in the Stamboli cottage mentioned above. Exhibitions of objects thrown ashore by the sea can also be found in other Crimean settlements, but the local exhibits were extracted from the depths of the sea by the efforts of underwater archaeologists.

As a result, being on the shore, we can personally see the remains of long-lost ships, get acquainted with their situation and life, and at the same time with the history of the period when the ship was built and sailed.

Fish and Fisheries Museum opened relatively recently - in 2015. As befits a seaside town and a busy port, Feodosia boasts a thousand-year-old tradition of catching the inhabitants of the depths.In different periods of history, the fishing business assumed a completely different organization of the process, especially since the museum contains not only local, but also overseas sights.

Vera Mukhina Museum, in comparison with many of the competitors described above, may not seem so interesting, but for everyone who is interested in sculpture, it is simply necessary to look here.

The future academician, People's Artist of the USSR and five-time Stalin Prize laureate spent her childhood and youth in this house. It is known that it was here that little Vera first began to learn drawing and modeling, here the foundations of her creative profile were laid. The creators of the museum managed to restore the approximate appearance of little Vera Mukhina's room and her workshop, where she sculpted her sculptures.

Feodosia in the minds of most people is a purely beach resort, but at one time there was a real center of bohemian life, which over time caused a huge flow of tourists who want not only to lie on the beach, but also to touch the life of their adored idols.

If all these Greens and Tsvetaevs lived in the city for only a certain part of their lives, then one outstanding person managed to be born here, live his whole life and even die despite his fame. We are talking about Ivan Aivazovsky - the best marine painter in the Russian painting tradition.

Having become a big figure during his lifetime, Ivan Konstantinovich took an active part in the life of the city, because there is simply a huge number of objects, one way or another connected with it. You can even form a small excursion route from them.

• Picture gallery. Where else can you get acquainted with the work of artists, if not in an art gallery - from here we will begin. The institution consists of two buildings, in the first of which you can find a large collection of marine paintings by the author, after whom the gallery is named. The second somewhat expands the “repertoire” of the collection - both “marine” works by other artists and alternative subjects in the works of Aivazovsky himself are presented here, who nevertheless did not limit himself to only one sea.

• Monument. It would be unforgivable rudeness not to erect a statue to their most famous native, and the Feodosians, of course, did - the monument is located right at the main entrance to the art gallery. The sculptor depicted the artist admiring the Feodosiya Gulf - as it probably happened more than once during the life of Ivan Konstantinovich.

• The fountain. Aivazovsky is widely known primarily as an artist, and not everyone outside Feodosia knows that this man was also a philanthropist. He invested in practical, but no less wonderful things - it was with the money of Ivan Konstantinovich that the first water supply system was built in the city. As for the fountain, it has a twofold function: firstly, it symbolized the construction of an aqueduct and decorated the city, and secondly, it allowed anyone who wished to get access to clean drinking water for free.

• The grave. The famous native of Feodosia rests in his hometown, and even his contemporaries understood the scale and significance of this figure, therefore he was not buried in a public cemetery. The place of burial was the church of St. Sergius, to which Ivan Konstantinovich himself owed a lot - it was here that the baptism, wedding, and then the funeral service of the artist took place. The grave is beautifully decorated with a memorial plate, which does not allow doubting that a truly great man is buried under it.

In addition, there is great interest among arriving tourists. Genoese fortress "Kafa"... Even if the study of history is not your favorite pastime, you can hardly pass by such monumental structures, because this is one of the largest medieval fortresses in the whole of Europe.

Of course, it has not survived to this day in its original form, and it would be more correct to say that today you can observe only individual towers left from it, but even these remains allow us to judge the former greatness of the fortifications. These towers (among which the Tower of Constantine, mentioned above) are scattered here and there throughout the city, but if you want to see the maximum of the Middle Ages in one place, go on foot from the train station or go from the center on the bus of the first route.

The Genoese fortress is interesting not only for its antiquity, but also for its architectural uniqueness, because there are surprisingly few preserved architectural monuments created by the hands of the Apennine guests. Since there is nowhere else to take the real Italian medieval architecture from us, in this regard, the Genoese fortress is a real find.

Despite the fact that Feodosia itself is interesting and capable of entertaining tourists for a long time, it is strongly recommended to leave it and go for a short while to the immediate vicinity to see the Karadag reserve with your own eyes. It is formed around the extinct volcano Karadag and is the last refuge for many species of flora and fauna listed in the Red Book.

note that independent visit to the Karadag reserve is not provided - being on its territory is possible only in the presence of an employee, therefore, you should make an appointment in advance. Going on a hike, first get to the neighboring Kurortnoye, which can be reached from Feodosia by buses or minibuses.

You will see about where you can go and what to see in Fedosia in the next video.