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Where is the world's longest trolleybus ride? Here in the Crimea, a peninsula that pokes into the Black Sea from Ukraine's southern coast. The trolleybus is the unique attraction for Simferopol, a town that acts as the peninsula's travel hub. We rode this trolleybus. The driver stopped every 5 kilometers to fix the electrical connections that kept coming undone. Many villagers used this bus - it's the cheapest option, 1 dollar for the entire trip length - and the bus smelled like wet sheep and stale goat cheese. The trolleybus inched its way through the central Crimea, passing vineyards and then crawling over low mountains along the coast until it stopped in Yalta. In three hours we traveled 80 kilometers. | |||
Our tortured trolleybus destination, Yalta, the most famous
resort town on the Black Sea. | |||
Running a toilet is a legimate
business, 3 cents to pee. The X with a vertical line through it marks the ladies
room. | |||
Livadia
Palace, 3 km west of Yalta, where the Yalta Conference met to decide the world's
fate after WWII. | |||
In these rooms of the Livadia Palace Stalin,
Churchill, and Roosevelt drew the post-war map of the world, possibly the most
influential meeting of the twentieth century. | |||