Kerch

Introducing Kerch

Although on a clear day you can just about see Russia from the top of Kerch’s Mithridates Hill, this industrial port still feels like the end of the road. Of course, for travellers without Russian visas it literally is. Even those onwards bound might decide that, for all its seafaring ways, the city feels quite insular and provincial. The wave of change that has been sweeping through much of Ukraine recently is only now lapping at its feet.

Frankly, most visitors will come out of necessity rather than curiosity. However, Kerch, stuck out on a 100km limb from Feodosiya, is one of Ukraine’s oldest cities. As the ancient Greek colony of Panticapaeum, it was capital of Bosporan Kingdom from the 6th to 7th centuries BC. So inevitably it contains some interesting sights, although much of its gold treasures have ended up in St Petersburg’s Hermitage Museum. The oil spill that made global headlines in late 2007 occurred on the Russian side of the strait

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009