Yalta

Yalta is a spectacular resort town on the southern coast of the peninsula and is found right between Cape Ai-Todor and Montedor. The town's located in a vast amphitheater, which means it's surrounded by a semicircle of mountains of all shapes and sizes. Ai-Petri (1234 meters) is on the north/northwest, the picturesque Nikitskiy plateau and the Avinda peak (1473 meters) are on the north-east, Mogabi is on the southwest (804 meters), with the southern hillside ending in the sea with cape Ai-Todor.

It was the Greeks who founded the city around the 1st century. The legend claims that some Greek sailors were beaten up by a sea storm and couldn't find the shore for a long time, so, when they finally found the coast (Yalos), they instantly knew what to name it. The Roman (Byzantine) Empire conquered the city in the Middle Ages. Then, it became a part of the Genoese colonies.

At the end of the 19th century, Yalta was a pretty famous resort town. That's when Livadia became the official residence of the Russian royal family in the south.

Nowdays Yalta is a beautiful, scenic resort town with hills, winding streets, ancient parks, numerous sanatoriums and first-class luxury hotels/resorts. The locals call Yalta a gigantic open-air museum. Initially, it was built as a retreat for the country's elite, upper class, and that is why it has so many mansions, estates, and palaces that are "carved into" the rocky, mountainous landscape. The streets in Yalta are quite curvy and give the tourists an amazing opportunity to take long walks and admire the views and there's a huge number of superb buildings from the end of the 19th century.