3 hours drive from Sevastopol east of Yalta you have Sudak, very spectacular coast line.
Built by the Genoese after their troops seized the town in 1365. The Genoese and the Venetians
competed for a lucrative trade in slaves and spices, taking slaves from eastern Europe via Crimea to
Egypt and buying spices, silk, linen and aromatic woods there brought in by traders from India and Ceylon.
Sudak remained in Genoese hands for just over 100 years, but in 1475 their fortress was not strong
enough to withstand the onslaught of the Ottoman Turkish invasion of Crimea. The Genoese lost control
of all their towns in the region and never regained them. The focus of trade shifted to Kaffa, Sudak went
into decline and the fortress fell into disuse until the mid-eighteenth century, when imperial Russia invaded
to take Crimea from the Turks. In 1771 Russian forces took over the fortress, and a garrison was
stationed there until 1816.
During the Soviet era the fortress was restored and is open to the public. Of particular interest is the
mosque within the battlements - you can just see its dome above the tower on t
e left in the photo
(above). When the Genoese seized the town in 1365, it was under construction as a mosque, and the
Genoese completed it, but turned it into
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a Catholic church. A century later the invading Turks turned it
back into a mosque. During the time of the Russian garrison it was used as an Orthodox church, and from
1883 it became a chapel of the Armenian Catholic church. After the revolution it was turned into a
museum by the Soviet government, which is what it is today.
