Balaklava landscapes are spectacular and the Fiolent Cape looks even more breathtaking when it appears before your own eyes.
Not much is left in Balaklava from ancient times – the memories find their roots in mythology rather than in architecture. People say that somewhere around the Fiolent Cape there used to be a Temple of Iphigenia. That may be why ancient Greeks used to call Balaklava Bay “Sumbolon-limne” or “The Bay of Symbols”. Ancient Romans had built the Hercules Temple the remains of which can be found here. Only 13 such sanctuaries are known to exist in the world.
The pages of ancient history are followed by those of the Byzantine era. Byzantine monks used to live here for some time. In the 14th century Genoese merchants fought tooth and nail with their competitors the Duchy of Feodoro for this cozy narrow bay that cuts into a granite massif 1500 meters deep. Then the Chembalo stronghold was built by Genoese on the 200-metre-high Kastron Mountain to protect the bay. The Turks who conquered Crimea in 1475, gave their own name to the bay – Fish nest or Balyk-Lav in Turkish which later transformed into Balaklava.
Chembalo Fortress has been invaded by the Zaporozhian Cossacks several times in the 17th and 18th centuries. And in the 18th century they have been keeping the fortress for quite some time following the orders of Catherine II to protect Crimea from the Turks. The Empress herself visited Balaklava in 1787.
The Crimean War of 1853-1856 brought the best forces of British Army to Balaklava’s banks – and sadly covered fields and vineyards with obelisks on soldiers’ graves. The English were the ones who built the first railway in Ukraine in record time in Balaklava, built the embankment and covered it with little shops and casinos. And that’s how at the end of the 19th century, the former village became a fashionable holiday resort where the dachas of Russia’s wealthiest men were built as well as institutions for mud cures. Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, famous painter Ivan Aivazovskiy and Ukrainian poetess Lesya Ukrainka have been attracted to Balaklava by the magic beauty of the bay and adjacent capes of AiYa and Fiolent.
The 20th century has drastically changed the looks of Balaklava. In 1957-1961 Moscow metropolitan engineers drilled the mine for submarine repair plant in one of the rocks of the western coast. The plant, covering 5100 square meters was designed for the simultaneous repair and maintenance of 7 submarines. It could shelter 3000 people in case of attack and could operate autonomously for 3 years! This unique classified facility was guarded so carefully under Soviet rule that the whole city became a “secret” and disappeared from the world map.
Only recently Balaklava is getting back its fame as a resort and tourist sight. The underground submarine base is now one of its major attractions and open for visits. The transparency of the Balaklava Bay waters around the rocky cape AiYa and the size of local crabs never fail to amaze divers. The sun shines above Balaklava for 2300 hours a year!

Plan a visit to Balaklava with UkraineTour and you won’t be disappointed!