Horses, Jeeps, Beach & Planes

Well, it's hard to top shashlik and ultralight planes, but we did our best to take advantage of Valery's last day of entertaining and chauffeuring us around.  He lives in a city far north of Crimea.

We found a ranch and decided to try horseback riding.  The plan was to ride horses early in the morning, then drive about an hour to Novis Sviet on the seacoast and hike to the king's wine vault located in a huge cavern next to the sea.  Because we only have room for 5 people in the car, Eli came to translate instead of Vera, and Malvina brought her friend, Nastia.  Valery really loves to talk.  He could go on for hours repeating himself over and over, and Eli really doesn't like to translate.  That combined with the fact that Eli is still mad at me for not letting him ride a bus for 6 hours to have a birthday lunch with his new girlfriend of 2 weeks, made communication a bit difficult.

They saddled up our horses with a mixture of English and Western saddles (I knew that was a bad sign) and then gave us instructions.  I have no idea what was said.  All I wanted to know was how to say Giddy Up and Whoa, but when I asked Eli, he just shook his head and rolled his eyes.   None of the kids had ridden horses before, so it was probably good these were slow-walking, old horses who knew exactly which path to take regardless of where we tried to direct them.  The guide put me on the lead horse in front of the pack and started yelling Prava at my horse.  I assumed that meant Get Going, so I kicked my heals and yelled "Prava, Prava,"---- the entire ride.  I hoped at the end, when the horse saw the barn, I might get a little trot out of him.  I stroked his neck, told him I'd come half way around the world to gallop along the seashore, kicked my heels in his side and yelled Prava one last time.  Not going to happen!  It was still beautiful, and we had fun going through a herd of sheep and goats, across some small streams and through some steep gorges.  Later I found out Prava means right.  It didn't matter because I don't think my horse understood Russain any better than I do.

It didn't take long for this horse to put me to sleep.

Valery had heard about a car race he thought the kids might enjoy.  Malvina loves cars and had asked him lots of questions the day before about cars.  She even has a stack of car magazines in her locker.  Oh great!  We all thought that sounded fun.  It was actually a 4-wheel-drive off-road competition in the hills close by.  There were lots of people watching from vantage points at the tops of hills along the course----and many of them were cooking shashlik.  We arrived while the drivers were testing out the course before things really got going.  It was hot and sunny, and Eli got bored.  He wouldn't sit by us.  But after an hour, the races started, and it got very exciting.  Two vehicles would race against each other, one starting after the other completed the first half of the course.  The course began with a 2'-3' ditch, followed a steep downhill embankment with a mud hole at the bottom, then a flat curvy road, up a steep, curvy mountain and down again, a big ditch, another steep hill with a 2' deep pond to cross before the finish line.  We watched for 2 hours, then left sunburned and hungry.

Valery took us to his favorite Tartar cafe.  We had a traditional food that was similar to a scone the size of a plate that's filled with meat and cheese.  You fold them in half to eat, and they're delicious.  Then we made the long drive to Novis Sviet.  Valery suggested a 30 minute boat ride, but I thought we'd been sitting for too long, and you can't drive the boats yourselves.  Eli refused to go hiking, so we watched the many people out sunning at the beach---a few of them even swimming in very cold water.  We began the long drive back, but I was disappointed we'd traveled so far and not done anything much different than we could have done in Feodosiya.  

I felt badly we hadn't been able to take Nastia flying with us the day before (because only 5 people can fit in the car), so I suggested we stop at the airport on the way home and let her have a turn flying.  I thought Eli would love that too.  Nastia was thrilled.  Eli was mad.  He was anxious to take a nap, and was ready to get out of the car and walk home.  

The plane we'd flown in yesterday was being serviced, so Nastia flew in a little larger bi-wing plane that seemed to be able to make much sharper turns.  It held only one passenger and looked even more exciting.  I had to commit to pay for two rides, so Malvina flew a second time while Eli napped in the car.  She had an especially wild ride and said it was much more fun than the day before.  I'm making a movie which I'll post soon.

Valery left town this morning.  He really went out of his way to show us a great time.  It's going to be so boring without him today.