Belyaus - Terra Incognita in West Crimea

There is a European resort area where on a rather small territory nature’s miracles and great manmade creations are concentrated. There are unique mountains there, green valleys, luscious meadows, lakes of unbelievable beauty and the most luxurious hotels in the world. St ylish spas are at the top of the world tourists preferences. No wonder that tourists frequent those resorts at any time of the year.

This country is also famous for its health care. Local clinics enjoy their well-deserved reputation of some of the best world’s clinics. Top-level professionals and highly qualified medical staff work here. These clinics employ high-tech equipment and sophisticated processes. The main principle of their operation is the provision of a wide range of top-class medical services.

This tourist paradise is located at the point on the map where climatic, geographic and cultural factors provide the best combination for curing and rejuvenation of the body and soul. This area provides opportunities for both the great rest and cleaning and rejuvenating the whole organism, use various cosmetic treatments, massage, anti-stress therapy, bathe in thermal springs’ water and do different sports. They advertise this place as a mean to discovery of hidden energy sources, restoring the harmony of body and soul and becoming creator of one’s own health and longevity.

Well, texts like this one are usually published in Swiss resorts ads. Basically, it is hard to find better places for rest and recuperation in the whole world. However, this is only an illusion. Switzerland has no seas. By the way Tibetan sages recommend spending vacations either in the mountains or at the sea. Though, why limit oneself with this choice when there is a place on this Earth where amazingly beautiful sea waves roll onto the wonderful shores…

Chernomorskiy region in Crimea – this is the place where wide variety of landscapes are reflected just like in a transparent drop of water and no standard phrases from advertising booklets could describe even a fraction of this reality. Average annual temperature here reaches +11°С. This place has the highest number of sunny days in Crimea and represents unique combination of steppe and mountain climate.

Fantastic beaches with fine-grain sand made of ground seashells stretch for miles. Curative wormwood aroma of the steppe is magnetizing, and the history breathes mysteries here. Nowhere in Crimea would you find such landscapes with rocky mountains, grottos and caves going deep into the mountains and elegant harbors. Chernomorskiy region is thought to be one of the cleanest regions in Crimea. On the average, there are 280 sunny days each year here. Shallow water shores are warmed very well with the sun and the sea water is very warm. In the summertime, rainy days are scarce and the air deserves detailed description.

First of all, relative humidity of the air here is lower as compared to Black Sea shoe of Caucasus and even the Crimean South Coast. In the summertime, it is less than 70%, which helps dealing with the heat better. Also, the healthy steppe air saturated with lemony wormwood scent guarantees you no colds during the wintertime. Traditional walk along the beach is worth a few sessions in physiotherapy office. Cool breeze of ionized air filled with brome, iodine, calcium, magnesium, potassium salts and other components of the sea water is inimitable even by the most high-tech medical equipment. Sea breezes that are typical for this area change their direction twice a day thus creating a natural inhalatorium at the shore. Anyway, people from large cities whose lungs have to fight urban atmosphere gases all the time have realized that Crimean Chernomorskiy region is a place where they can flush their lungs with clean air. For those who like combining pleasant things with useful deeds, there are plenty of opportunities here to enjoy historical places.

There are wonderful places for tourist excursions near Chernomorskiy. Just 18 kilometers from Chernomorskiy, there is a town of Mezhvodnoye, resort area with many lakes, harbors and sand beaches in the picturesque Yarylgachska harbor. By the way, near Mezhvodnoye, archeologists found the only existing Ukraine’s statue of Demetra, ancient Greek goddess of agriculture and the patroness of grain fields. Not far away from the west side of Donuzlavskiy bay-bar, there is the ancient settlement of Belyaus. This is one of the few Greek architecture monuments in Crimea, in very good condition allowing easy recreation of the ancient settlers’ lifestyle.

Today, Chernomorskiy region is a popular Crimean resort and even more than just resort. The forty years history of archeological digging in the area have transformed Belyaus into something that serves as Mecca for those who treasure romance and spirit of freedom more than standard set of hotel services. Just building hotels here without doing anything to fit the uniqueness of this Crimean region would be unnecessary and improvident. Therefore, it is worth going back to the roots to find the idea for the future that would be worth the ancient past of this unique place. Such idea does exist. During the digging in Belyaus, archeologists found a sanctuary dedicated to the cult of the dolphin, which has no analogs on the Northern Black Sea territories. Greeks thought of dolphins as a sign of successful sailing. It was for a reason, that the patron of seamen Apollo was nicknamed Delphinium. Therefore, it is quite possible that back in the ancient times Greek sea travelers did appreciate all the advantages of this land. In the light of this, construction of marinas on the shores of Belyaus foreland would not go against the historical traditions and would create good reputation for Belyaus on the international level.

Marinas, i.e. yacht mooring berths are traditionally built not only in never freezing and well-located water areas. The essential condition for marinas construction is the existence of beaches that are attractive for tourists.

Well, nobody could invent a better place than Donuzlavskiy bay waters around Belyaus foreland. This place is ideal from the point of view of nautical art and the ancient heritage of this area improved with modern tourist achievements would break the indifference even in the most experienced travelers. Already at this time, a recreational complex is being designed that would have a well-developed social and technical infrastructure including a yachting club with mooring complex, fitting the purposes of servicing different types of vessels, administrative and technical center, conference hall, hotel complex, entertainment complex and cottages providing all-year-round comfortable accommodations for tourists.

Implementation of this project also serves the purpose of educing the number of “unorganized tourists” thus improving the ecological conditions in the region. Under no circumstances should the development of this region begin without fundamental resolution of the issues of local infrastructure, starting with transport routes and all the way down to waste disposal. The unique design of Belyaus foreland marina complies with European construction standards. It has a number of designer, technology and architectural innovations providing the high level of environmental protection in the implementation of this project. At the same time, this project is focused on forming the infrastructure in the region, which so far has nothing except for the uniquely clean sea and exceptional beach. As for the tourist infrastructure, neither Yalta with suburbs, nor the East coast plan anything comparable to the designed marina at Belyaus. The following tourist services would be mandatory here: Bicycles, horseback riding, water skiing, wakeboarding, jet-ski, tourist guides, excursions, golf, carting, quadrocycles, swimming places on the beach, mini-golf, hunting, car rental offices, boat rental, parachute jumping, entertainment aircraft flights, fishing, sauna, tennis, and extreme sports. It is not impossible that this design could be improved even more.

The attractiveness of investment projects is characterized by many indicators the importance of which is hard to overestimate. In the event of classical type of development the architects take into account both the environmental factors, transport accessibility, infrastructure, ecological situation, proximity and quality of service companies and subjective factors like psychological comfort, attractive views and geographical location. However, when developing such places as Belyaus foreland, one has to stat from scratch, so to say. This is not about the improvement of the habitat by design methods but rather about keeping the balance between the recreational development and ecological stability of this unique resort area.

This marina construction project forms a part of the General Plan of development of Donuzlavskiy region including Belyaus foreland. Therefore, there are plenty of reasons to believe that this unprecedented project would be implemented successfully. When the project is there nobody would call Belyaus the “terra incognita” of Crimea.