July 9

We docked in Sevastopol, Ukraine.  It had been part of Russia and, some years after the breakup of the USSR, it was given to Ukraine.  Most residents consider themselves Russian and don't like having to speak Ukrainian.  We took a tour of the battlefields of the Crimean War,  We started at the Sapoune Ridge which overlooks the Valley of Death, the place where the British lost so many in the Charge of The Light Brigade (Tennyson wrote a well known poem about the battle.)  We stopped at several monuments of the war and an area with guns & vehicles from WWII when Sevastopol was battling the Nazis.  We got a lot of history of the Crimean War from our guide, covering both sides in the conflict.  This was the only war between Britain & Russia.  We then went to Balaclava harbor where the Russian Black Sea Fleet and Ukrainian Navy are based.  The Cold War USSR submarine pens are there but are now a museum.  It is now a resort area and was filled with beach goers.  It was another hot & humid day so we sweated a lot.  We drove by some other Crimean War sites and then returned to the port in time for a late lunch.  After lunch we returned to the town and explored for a while and eventually stopped for a glass of local wine.  The bill came out to 50 US cents for 2 glasses.  We don't eat big meals on cruise ships so we went for a late dinner and had appetizers.