Crimean Express by Private Train

This regal journey by private train carries us through the capitals of Russia, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine and on to the sunny Crimean Peninsula, where the warm Mediterranean climate created “the playground of the czars.”

Begin in St. Petersburg, touring the Amber Room in Catherine’s Palace, then board the train to Moscow, where we explore Red Square and the Kremlin. Back on board, we speed to Minsk, capital of independent Belarus, and then Brest, famous for its 19th century fortress, almost destroyed during World War II.

Ukraine’s best-preserved city, Lviv, is next.  Then on to Moldova’s capital, Kishinev, where we sample the deep red wine the country is known for.  Morning finds us in Odessa, Ukraine’s Black Sea port city, climbing the much-filmed Potemkin Steps. Then we head for the Crimea.

In palm-lined Yalta we tour and taste at the imperial Massandra Winery. Next is a visit to Livadia, the palace where Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin met to discuss the fate of Europe in 1945.  In Sevastopol, we relive the Crimean War’s Charge of the Light Brigade and visit the ruins of an ancient Greek settlement at Chersonesus.

We pause at Bakhchysaray, the capital of the Crimean Khanate from the early 16th century.

Our last two days are spent getting to know Kiev, with its beautiful cathedrals and museums.

Trip Details

Length of Trip: 14 Days 5 nights hotels, 8 nights onboard the Siberian Tiger Trans-Siberian Express Departures in 2009: Please call for future departures 2008 Land Tour Cost Per Person: Please call for future pricing

MIR Signature Features

• Admire the newly restored Amber Room in Catherine’s Palace
• Wander Red Square, appreciating the fantastic artistry of St. Basil’s Cathedral
• Pay your respects at Minsk’s monuments to its war dead – up to half of the
  population was lost
• Taste an array of local wines at the imperial Massandra Winery
• Examine Livadia Palace, where history was made at the end of World War II
• Remember “the 600” British soldiers who charged the Cossack cannons as we pause at Balaclava, British headquarters during the Crimean War
• Stroll and shop on Kiev’s Andreevsky Uzviz, the shortest route between the aristocratic Upper Town and the tradesmen’s town, Podil

Map - Click to Enlarge

Day Activity   Days 1-2: St. Petersburg   Day 3: Moscow   Day 4: Minsk   Day 5: Lviv   Day 6: Kishinev   Day 7: Odessa	Day Activity   Day 8: Feodosia   Days 9-10: Yalta   Day 11: Sevastopol   Day 12: Bakhchysaray   Days 13-14: Kiev

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