Feodosia in Crimea: features, attractions, travel, overnight

The Crimean peninsula remains an attractive location for recreation for citizens of many post-Soviet countries, and its resorts, despite widespread criticism and easier access to foreign countries in recent decades, are still in considerable demand. One of the largest such resorts is Theodosia - perhaps it will not be the first choice in the Crimea, but it has its own interesting features.

Theodosia, whose name is translated from ancient Greek as “God-given,” is one of the oldest cities in the post-Soviet space — the Hellenes founded it 2,500 years ago, in the 6th century BC. For a good thousand years, it was part of the Kingdom of Bosporus, until in the V century it came under the control of the Byzantine Empire, from which it was separated by the Black Sea. Like any other settlement on the Crimean peninsula, in the following centuries, it repeatedly got from its nomadic neighbors, and in the XIII century Theodosia, who was then a small settlement, was captured by the Golden Horde.

In 1266, the Genoese merchants agreed with the Tatars about the redemption, and for some 200 years turned the village with a rich history into a huge city for that time. Prosperity was achieved due to the fact that Kapha (as the new owners called Theodosia Hellenic) became the main colony of Genoa in the region. At that time, the population of the city reached 70 thousand people, and this is more than, for example, it was in 2018.

Formally, Tatars remained masters, but they did not climb inside the city walls, only by appointing their prefect to manage the adjacent agricultural territory of the current Feodosia district.

In 1475, the Turks came to the peninsula, and the identity of the city changed again. After the change of owners, he remained a trading center and a large port, but they mostly traded here as slaves, which is why the Zaporozhye Cossacks occasionally sailed with an unfriendly visit. At this moment, the value of Kafa, as a center of salt mining, is growing more and more, but on the whole the city has become very deserted.

In 1771, Kafa was first subjected to a large-scale attack by the troops of the Russian Empire, and in 1784 was incorporated into this state. The authorities tried to develop a city that suffered from rivalry with Taganrog, but it did not work out too quickly. The local native Ivan Aivazovsky, who wrote outstanding seascapes, brought a certain fame to Feodosia, but in 1888 Chekhov described the city as quite boring, although it marked the sea.

Like any other resort, Theodosia has its own advantages and disadvantages. When choosing a destination for a trip to the sea, you should carefully consider the pros and cons of each option. Let's start with the good:

• the abundance of sandy beaches will please lovers of sunbathing;
• Theodosia lies on the shores of a shallow water bay, due to which the water warms up quickly here and in the summer it is never cold;
• the ancient city offers its guests many interesting historical monuments and interesting museums;
• modern entertainment is also presented here - there is a nightlife, and the possibility of excursions to other cities of the Crimea;
• Connoisseurs of creativity Ivan Aivazovsky should come here at least once to view the art gallery of a genius.

At the same time, there are several reasons why the majority of tourists arriving on the Crimean peninsula would prefer non-Theodosia. Here they are:

• The main tourist “magnet” is the Southern Coast of Crimea, which is attractive for its subtropical climate, but Theodosius is not included in it, despite the pretty good local climate;
• due to the fact that the city is located in a temperate zone, nature here is no different from the one that millions of our fellow citizens see every day, and in fact it is enough to drive a little further to rest under palm trees;
• the town itself is not too big, and because of the two reasons described above, there are relatively few tourists here, so fans of first-class resorts may get the impression that they have come to an ordinary small town;
• Not far from the beaches, there is a tank farm and a small port, and although their activity cannot be called lively, for lovers of the purity of the sea this can be a huge disadvantage;
• for many citizens of the post-Soviet countries, purely from a logistical point of view, it is easier to go to the same Turkey, where the level of service is completely different than in Feodosia.

For a beach holiday is extremely important pleasant climate. In the case of Theodosia, the conditions are special: it is located exactly in the middle between the two distinguished climatic zones, one of which is moderately hot, and the second is subtropical.

Theodosia, like most other Crimean cities, is very sunny - the number of hours when the sun shines, here is 2320, and this is 3% more than in the popular and popular Yalta. The most sunny month is August. The swimming season is estimated at an average of 114 days, it starts in May and can last up to the first half of October.

Despite the proximity of the sea, Theodosia is no different rainy - the average annual rainfall here is 495 mm. Naturally, there is something of a dry and rainy season, but July is considered the least dry, with an average of 30 mm of precipitation. If you look at the statistics of the days with precipitation, it turns out that it often waters 114 times a year in Feodosia, but only 6 of them fall on August.

This resort is often criticized for the fact that the city, unlike the southern coast of Crimea, is not protected by mountains from the northern winds, which are quite strong here and are characterized by coolness. However, their peak falls on the winter months, but in the summer, judging by the opinions of many of those who rest here, the influence of the winds is not so significant, and they do not interfere with the rest.

The city, whose history goes back over two and a half millennia, simply cannot fail to have any sights that could be of particular interest to tourists who do not want to be limited to just the beach. Again, in this sense, Feodosia is not mandatory for visiting the city, but there is still something to see.

At the same time, ancient monuments, which are accessible for review, have not survived, but from the Genoese times there remained both fragments of the main fortress and separate defensive towers - Dock, Foma, Round, St. Constantine. Separate parts still look very picturesque and remind of the colorful history of the city.

What is more remarkable about the city is the abundance of ancient Christian architecture. The peculiarity of the local architecture is that the buildings here are completely atypical for this region, since the local Christian population, as already mentioned, at a certain period consisted mainly of Armenians, and they used their own motives in the construction.

At least you should see Armenian churches of John the Baptist, St. Sergius, St. George and the archangels Michael and Gabriel. All of them have a long history and were not destroyed, even despite the long stay of Kafa in the composition of Muslim states.

If we are already talking about religious architecture, it is worth seeing and Mufti-Jami Mosque. Apparently, the Slavs, who had mastered the peninsula at the end of the 18th century, were less sympathetic to the religious buildings of the Gentiles, since this is the only mosque preserved from the Ottoman times. The building was built in 1623, and although it was rebuilt several times after that, it still represents cultural and historical interest.

For those who know that a museum can also be interesting, an impressive number of museum establishments are concentrated in Feodosia for such a small town. Start worth from the art gallery Aivazovsky, which has been given national status - since the famous marine painter was born and lived here, this is the best place in the world to admire his talent and learn as much as possible about his life.

The theme of art can be continued beyond the boundaries of painting, since here are the museums of the romantic writer Alexander Green, known to the general reader for The Scarlet Sails, and the sculptor Vera Mukhina.

Ancient Kafa, pleasing with an abundance of fountains, is able to offer its guests a more active holiday. There are many different thematic festivals dedicated to chamber and author music, non-traditional fashion and theater, tourism and Christianity. If you are an athlete or an avid fan, here you can watch various interesting competitions - from sailing regatta to racing on hot air balloons, from judo to the championship of mountain rescuers.

Most tourists coming to Feodosia for their summer holidays simply cannot pass by. Black Sea Embankment. No one knows for sure when this street was first laid, but for a long time it was not particularly popular until, in recent decades, it was built up with elite hotels and private villas.

Some of the above attractions are here or within walking distance, in addition, right there is the beach and any infrastructure that the tourist may need.

If you look at the map of the Crimea, it turns out that Theodosius is located in that part of the peninsula that is located closer to Kerch and the Krasnodar Territory. With the opening of the Crimean Bridge, the task of getting here has been greatly simplified for residents of southern Russia - from Anapa, the nearest major city on the mainland, the distance is only 215 km, the journey time by car will be approximately three and a half hours.

Despite the fact that there is a railway station in Feodosia capable of receiving trains of up to 20 carriages, since 2014 there are no long-distance trains, therefore this type of transport is hardly suitable for tourists arriving in Feodosia. Moreover, a few suburban trains, which still run, do not connect the city with Simferopol, which remains the main air gate of the peninsula.

Bus routes mainly connect Feodosia with other Crimean cities, there is even a direct route to Simferopol airport, in many respects designed specifically for arriving and departing tourists. If we talk about the major cities of Russia, where you can come without transfers, then this is Moscow, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Astrakhan, Krasnodar (and many other cities of the Krasnodar Territory), as well as Stavropol, Bryansk, Lipetsk and other localities through which passing these buses.

As for the airport, then by plane you can arrive to Feodosia only through Simferopol airport. Since 2014, it does not accept international flights, but in contrast to this, a very intensive air service has been established with all regions of Russia - so, in the tourist season, you can fly here without direct flights from almost any airport in the country, except for those in the Far East. Due to certain difficulties in order to get to the peninsula across the bridge, for some categories of the population, preferential conditions for air travel to the Crimea were invented.

The port of Feodosiya provides services, including the carriage of passengers, but we are not talking about full-fledged transport routes - only excursion and pleasure boats depart from here.

Through Theodosia itself and its immediate environs, it is possible to move around with the help of a developed network of intercity public transport routes, of which there are about two dozen. City transport is represented exclusively by buses and taxis.

As befits a fairly large resort, here are the possibilities for accommodating tourists of any type. At the same time, a certain provinciality and silence of this city, as well as the fact that the bottom slope is rather gentle, leads to the fact that this place is often chosen for family holidays.

For Feodosia, as well as for most other resorts in the post-Soviet space, the tourist infrastructure is a huge problem, because many local hotels, boarding houses and sanatoriums were built in Soviet times, and have never been completely reconstructed since then. At the same time, prices can be equal to Turkish prices, although the service, of course, is completely different.

For this reason, one of the best ways to live in Feodosia is to rent housing from private individuals. Entrepreneurial locals offer the guests of the city not only apartments, but also houses - both full-fledged individual estates and guest houses. The price of such pleasure can vary considerably, since everything depends on the proximity to the sea and the level of comfort provided, but this is almost always somewhat cheaper than a hotel.

The most budget tourists, or those who want maximum unity with nature, can come here and rest with the expectation of a savage. There are no full-fledged campgrounds in Theodosia itself, but in its vicinity you can find them, for example, in Mysovoye or Tikhaya Bay. In the latter case, there are no outstanding amenities, but the tent camp is free here, there are several cafes nearby, and this place was once chosen by Soviet filmmakers that it’s something that says so.

Reviews about Feodosiya, as well as about rest in the Crimea, in general, are very ambiguous - there are both positive opinions and very critical ones. A positive attitude to the town usually develops with those of its guests who wanted a quiet family vacation without undue proximity to the lush nightlife.

Such tourists are usually relatively undemanding, all they need is peace and warm sea. Of particular interest is the ancient Kafa for those who want not only to lie on the beach, but also to see something new and interesting - for such people the main purpose of the visit can be not only and not so much the sea, as the same Aivazovsky, picturesque Genoese ruins yes various festivals with competitions.

If we consider the negative comments, then the main charges can be identified two - the excessive provinciality of the town and a very mediocre service, which seems to be especially bad against the background of local prices. The fact that many Crimeans put up price tags at the Turkish level, although they offer typical Soviet "comfort", has been known for a long time, and this applies to both private owners and hotels with infrastructure.

In the next video, see the review and features of recreation in the city.