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Discover Ukraine with Silversea

Leaving the Crimea on Silver Whisper illustrated the spectrum of human experience

By: Mary Gostelow

A few hours before we had been metaphorically blown away by the Panorama in Sevastopol, sometimes still known as Sebastopol. If the Panorama is not on the list of Must-Dos before you die, it should be added, now.

It relays the story of the tragic defence of Sevastopol 1854-1855 in a way that makes Disney seem child's play. The classical circular building that holds it is just under 100 feet high, and the same in diameter. Inside, the 350-feet endless painting, 45 feet tall, is blended so brilliantly with a three-dimensional landscape in front that you cannot tell where the sculpted carnage ends, and the painting behind begins. You see the British, French and Turkish troops desperately trying to take Sevastopol from the Russians, with in all about a million or more soldiers portrayed. This world wonder artwork was designed and painted, at the beginning of the 20th century, by the so-called founder of Russian Panoramic art, France Alekseevich Rubo, 1856-1928. During World War II the painting was cut down and smuggled away for safety, after which teams of restorers were led by VV Yakovlev and PP Sokolov-Skalia (the Panorama re-opened in 1970), www.sevastopol.russian-women.net

And then we sailed away, passing top missile launching ships of the Russian navy as we left harbour. Yes, Sevastopol is in Ukraine, but it still gives mooring to the Russian Black Sea fleet, www.tourism.crimea.ua/eng

This was the end of our three-stop cruise of Ukraine. First after we entered the western part of the Black Sea was the attractive port city of Odessa. We moored by the famous steps (photo), as shown in the 1925 movie Battleship Potemkin (and, by the way, there are 157 steps, not the 193 that seem to be mortalised, erroneously, for evermore).

Odessa is chic-chic, and Roberto Cavalli and Jimmy Choo were among the many brands seen in chic boutiques in 19th century buildings, many beautifully restored, in tree-lined avenues. The young women here all look and dress like models, and it was not only our discerning party who found them attractive: a few days later, our taxi driver in Istanbul told us that he often flies to Odessa for a couple of days, telling his wife that he has to drive out of town on business (for anyone interested, he said the return Istanbul-Odessa airfare is the same for the 55-minute flight as the amount for the return 28-hour ferry ride).

But we were in Odessa for culture. Those old buildings, when painted up, look like multi-colored wedding cakes (the opera house, designed by Viennese architects F. Felner and H. Helmer in 1887, is now a tasteful shade of palest caramel highlighted in white, with deep raspberry back-painting). My lasting memory of Odessa will be going into the crypt of Uspenskiy church in the middle of morning service, with a pair of Orthodox priests in full green robes, lots of incense, women of all ages in headscarves and a sensational all-women choir.

In general, Odessa is high business, fuelled by oil, shipping and technology. By contrast the next day we were at the leisure base of Yalta. Here the mood was definitely that of holiday, pleasure, an abundance of everything - which, judging by some of even the younger visitors, included food. The idea in summer is to make your way as early as you can to one of the miniscule areas of grey sand and pebbles by the sea wall: by 8am, every square foot of these

sandy areas is a pointillism of multicolored umbrellas and bodies that spill out into the sea. Highlights of Yalta also include the long, leafy tree-lined pedestrian-only Pushkin Avenue, walking past supplies of historic clothes that you can put on, to be photographed for posterity - and our visit to the cool calm of the dacha (home) and beautiful garden of Anton Chekhov, www.blacksea-crimea.com/Places/Chekhov.html

And in between all this sightseeing, history and culture we still had life onboard Silver Whisper, which was full for this rare week-long Black Sea cruise. So, nearly 400 of us were looked after by the same number of amazing crew, people who thanks to the passion of the Silversea family realise that every single one of them helps to make a Silversea experience. Donato the Italian maitre d' literally stored a table out of sight so that when we arrived late for the weekly barbeque he was able to find us somewhere to sit, Lucky from India learned how to make my breakfast coffee (espresso topped up with filter), the Cape Town-based cruise director Ron made the daily trivia sessions into a major highlight, the Hungarian tour manager Gabor (a former fencing champion who on an earlier cruise taught me pilates) was there as we disembarked early at six a.m, and the Sicilian captain, Angelo Corsaro, yet again just beat my husband at backgammon.

The most important things about cruising are the choice of destinations, the company and the regular clientele it attracts. The Black Sea beautifully filled the first requirement. Silversea's Silver Whisper was spotless, and the 60 percent or more repeat cruisers this time included the former CEO of one of the world's best airlines and the best-known television linkman on British television of the last 30 years. Add to this recipe such spices as an omnipresent and really knowledgeable IT instructor in the library, which has good wireless and we were able to print out our plane boarding passes before leaving. An unexpected highlight was night was a tutored vertical tasting of Quintessa Meritage wines from Rutherford, in Napa Valley (this was at a private dinner hosted by the winery's owners, Chilean-born Agustin Huneeus, one time CEO of Conch y Toro, and his equally-talented wife Valeria, www.quintessa.com). Another night we shared a bottle of Dom Pérignon with our radiologist friend Arlene Segal, from Kansas City, and our new friend Sue Richardson, the very-English onboard Hotel Manager, who had joined Silver Whisper after looking after Paul Allen's 416-ft Octopus yacht (plus his other two ships and his three houses). On Silversea, by the way, all drinks - including the house champagnes, Nicolas Feuillatte and Pommery, and whatever you want, whenever - are included, as are all tips. So put those ingredients together, add Sealy mattresses, Frette linens, an Elemis spa and your choice of Acqua di Parma, Bulgari or Neutrogena toiletries and the resulting dish is pretty addictive. www.silversea.com

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