Yevpatoria
Understand
Yevpatoria is an ancient city with more that 2500 years of history. The first recorded settlement in the area, called Kerkinitis (Κερκινίτις), was built by Greek colonists around 500 BC. Along with the rest of Crimea, Kerkinitis was part of the dominions of King Mithridates VI of Pontus, from whose cognomen, Eupator, the city's modern name derives.
From roughly the 7th through the 10th centuries AD, Yevpatoriya was a Khazar settlement; it was later subject to the Mongols and the Crimean Khanate. During this period the city was called Kezlev by Crimean Tatars and Gözleve by Ottomans. The Russian medieval name Kozlov is a Russification of the Crimean Tatar name.
For a short period between 1478 and 1485, the city was administrated by the Ottoman Empire. Afterwards, it became an important urban center of the Crimean Khanate. In 1783, along with the rest of the Crimea, Kezlev was conquered by the Russian Empire. Its name was officially changed to Evpatoriya ("Евпатория"- after Mithridates VI of Pontus, "aka Eupator Dionysius") in 1784. The city was briefly occupied in 1854 by British, French and Turkish troops during the Crimean War, when it was the site of the Battle of Eupatoria. Adam Mickiewicz visited the town in 1825 and wrote one of his Crimean Sonnets here; it was later translated into Russian by the mighty poet Mikhail Lermontov.
During the summer more than 100,000 people from Eastern Europe, Ukraine and Russia visit the area due to the popular annual festival of Kazantip.
Get in
Simferopol is the transportation hub of the region.
Get around
On foot
Walking down the ancient streets you will fell the atmosphere of multicultural heritage of Evpatoria and will have opportunity to teste a real Karaite's food. These days you can have a walking tour called "A Small Jerusalem" by analogy with the real one, as the ancient part of this city gathered different religious denominations: Christians, Muslims and Jews.
Do
Kazantip
Kazantip is an electronic dance music festival held every year in late summer, and the main reason fo tourists to arrive to the area. The entrance ticket is called a "viZa". More than 150,000 "paradiZers" visit each year. There is a cult of orange colored fashion and yellow suitcases associated with the festival. With over 300 DJs on more than 14 dance floors which play 21 hours per day, it is easily the biggest happening on the electronic music scene in the world, shunning even the notorious fullmoon festivals held every month in Koh-pang Nga in Thailand. The scale of the party is so immense that the nearby town of popovka (where the festival is actually located, some 15-minute drive from Evpatoria) basically earns its living out of it, not surprising since the amount of ravers (or "paradiZers") supersedes the local population by a factor anywhere between 100 and 500).
In the kazantip area Bio sells health products and remedies for the body after an weary day of partying and sports. Among their services are, alongside tea mentioned elsewhere, a bathhouse, Thai massage and such, all available in specially air conditioned area constructed to resemble a real jungle. Massages start from around 100 USD (steambath from 100USD/hour. Pizza Casanova sells pizza made from the local foodstuff available which are fresh, clean and naturally grown.
Buy
- Chillout Planet. Psywear t-shirts and sleeveless are readily available from Solnechnaya 25. Excellent for sunbathing, raving and other outdoors activities in the Crimean summer, complete with fluorescent and psychedelic decoration appropriate for the Kazantip festival.
Eat
Drink
Try local herbal drinks. They are ravishing in the crimean heat, ranging from more familiar ginger to more obscure local herbs.
Sleep
- Chill-out lounge/hotel, Solnechnaya St 25. Probably the best accommodation option for festival goers. The two-story building is, as pretty much anything else in Popovka is made out of "rakushniak", beige in color, ecologically sound material resembling coral somewhat. Literally cut out of the earth, the chunks of rakushniak are basically very compressed and robust slates of chalk dug out from the ancient seabed of the black sea. Although there are no rooms with showers, the public ones that exist are clean and working. Staff is friendly and international, and the place employs a top chef from St.Petersburg, and good DJs regularly plays sets here, From €10 a night.