California has a city of Sebastopol, named after this one.
Understand
One of the most important Black Sea ports. Founded in 1783 as the base of the Black Sea Navy of Russia, it was beseiged by the British in the Crimean War. In the 20th century it was the home port of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet, and the city retains a Russian naval presence.
Get in
Getting around Sevastopol, on a day to day basis, is much like getting around many Ukrainian cities -- by foot, by mini-bus (marshrutka), and by city bus. Given the hilly terrain and circuitous routes created as Sevastopol grew around its bays and shoreline, walking is less likely to be efficient, especially after one leaves the city center. Note that English maps and schedules for buses do not appear available (based on internet searching) and that one may need to depend on the word of citizens, operators, and fellow passengers to find the right route and stop. Buses and marshrutkas are economical, though often crowded, with marshrutkas being faster and slightly more expensive. Some travel sites (e.g., virtualtourist.com) contain comments recommending boats/skiffs that will take tourists to beaches and islands. Note that its much harder to get off boats if you realize you are on the wrong one and it is also difficult to leave a dicey location if the only transport is by boat.
See
Sevastopol is a good jumping-off place to see some of the sites from the Crimean War. There is an amazing museum called a Panorama, which depicts the siege of Sebastopol (from the Russian point of view) with a display a little like a diaorama, but much more impressive. There is a park (can't remember the name) with war memorials on one of the hills defended during the seige. You can visit the "Valley of Death", where the famous Charge of the Light Brigade occurred, and you can also visit nearby Balaklava, site of another famous battle, and an interesting little town, formerly a Russian submarine port.
Drink
For comfortable apartments in the center of sevastopol please see
www.travel2sevastopol.com
Sevastopol (English pronunciation: /ˌsɛv.ə'stoʊ.pəl/ or /sə'væs.təˌpoʊl/) (Севастополь; Aqyar), formerly known as Sebastopol, is a port city in Ukraine, located on the Black Sea coast of the Crimean peninsula. It has a population of 342,451 (2001). In May 1997, Russia and Ukraine signed the "Peace & Friendship" treaty ruling out Moscow's territorial claims to Ukraine.
Like in the rest of the Crimea, Russian remains the predominant language in the city, although following the independence of Ukraine there have been some attempts of Ukrainization that had very little success.
Etymology of the name
The name of Sevastopolis (Σεβαστόπολις), or currently Sevastopol, was originally chosen in the same etymology trend as other cities in the Crimean peninsula that was intended to reflect its ancient Greek origins. It is a compound of two Greek nouns, (sebastós, Modern sevastós) "venerable, reverend" and (pólis) "city". is the traditional Greek translation of the honourable Roman title Augustus "venerable, august", originally given to the first emperor of the Roman Empire, C. Julius Caesar Octavianus and later awarded as a title to his successors (see Augustus).
Despite its Greek origin, the name is not old. The city was probably named after the Empress (= "Augusta") Catherine II of Russia who founded Sevastopol in 1783. She visited the city in 1787 accompanied by Jozef II, the Emperor of Austria, and other foreign dignitaries. The royal guests were very much impressed by the look of the new city.
West of the city are well-preserved ruins of an ancient Greek port city Chersonesos founded in the 5th c. BC. The name means "peninsula" reflecting its location and is not related to the ancient Greek name for the Crimean Peninsula, Chersonēsos Taurikē ("the Taurian Peninsula").
Sights and monuments
After World War II, Sevastopol was entirely rebuilt in its former glory after its total destruction by the Germans. The downtown core situated on a peninsula between two narrow inlets features beautiful, mostly Mediterranean-style, typically three-story residential buildings with columned balconies and arches, with retail and commercial spaces occupying the ground level. Some carefully restored landmarks date back to the early 20th c. (e.g., the Art Nouveau Main Post Office on Bolshaya Morskaya St and the gorgeously eclectic Art Museum on Nakhimovsky Prospect). It has been a long-time tradition for the residents of surrounding suburbs to spend summer evenings by coming to the downtown area for a leisurely stroll with their families along the avenues and boulevards encircling the Central Hill, under the famous Sevastopol chestnut trees, and usually ending up on the waterfront with its lovely Marine Boulevard. Visiting the Central Hill with its 19th c. classical-style houses, walking down its cobblestone streets under old shady trees is a treat for any visitor to this romantic seaside city with its often dramatic history.
Due to its military past, most streets in the city are named after Russian and Soviet military heroes. There are hundreds of monuments and plaques in various parts of Sevastopol commemorating its glorious past.
Demographics
The population of Sevastopol is 342,451 (2001), making it the 15th largest city in Ukraine and the second largest in Crimea (after its capital Simferopol).
Economy
Apart from navy-related civil facilities, Sevastopol hosts some other notable industries, such as "Phiolent" - Ukraine's largest power tools manufacturer and Stroitel one of the leading plastics manufacturers in Ukraine.
Russian naval base and ownership dispute
According to the 1997 treaty, the Russian naval base is declared to be "located in Sevastopol" on the terms of lasting rent, following a long diplomatic and political dispute between Russia and the newly independent Ukraine. At first, Moscow refused to recognize Ukrainian sovereignty over Sevastopol as well as over the surrounding Crimean oblast, arguing that the city was never practically integrated into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic due to its military base status. This was later resolved by the bilateral "Peace & Friendship" treaty stating that Sevastopol belongs to Ukraine. A separate treaty establishes the terms of a long-term lease of land and resources in Sevastopol by Russia.
The ex-Soviet Black Sea Fleet with all its facilities was divided between Russia's Black Sea Fleet and the Ukrainian Navy after a continuous, sometimes violent struggle. The two navies now co-use some of the city's harbours and piers, while others were demilitarised or used by either country. Sevastopol remains the home of the Russian Black Sea Fleet Headquarters with the Ukrainian Naval HQ also based in the city. A judicial row continues over the naval hydrographic infrastructure both in Sevastopol and on the Crimean coast (especially lighthouses used in civil navigation support).
The status of the Black Sea Fleet has a strong influence over the city's business and cultural life. The Russian society in general and even some outspoken government representatives have never accepted the loss of Sevastopol, and tend to regard it as temporarily separated from the homeland . The Moscow city authorities under the current Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov continue their sponsorship of Russian social (primarily housing), educational and cultural programs in Sevastopol, especially those related to Russian Navy servicepeople and their families. Kiev-appointed authorities retain formal control of Sevastopol's life (such as of taxation and civil policing) and try to avoid confrontation with the base command and pro-Russian groups. A few years ago, the Communist-dominated city council rejected a EBRD loan to renovate Sevastopol's poor sewage system, declaring that the project was intended to increase the city's dependence on the Ukrainian government and the West.
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