– Sure they are all know of the gays and there are no problems with this. I had always been wondering about the natives’ attitude toward gays.: A young waiter replied to our greetings with a timid smile, and I could not help requesting an improvised interview of him. On the eve of departure our small male company dropped in this hangout too. But does this matter in this cacophony of music, southern night crickets, guffaw and drunk cries? Drink your sweet Crimean muscatel, enjoy yourself and dance! An observant passer-by, having taken a look at the cafe’s ground lit with multicolored light bulbs, can notice a few tables occupied by strange all-male companies. Those who stay in Simeiz can enjoy evening at a cafe with a strange name “Ezhiki” (Hedgehogs). In former times these buses were rare and “our kind” filled a vehicle to the capacity on the road from Yalta in the morning and back from Simeiz in the evening so the natives gave the bus a name “Gay express”. When the weather is clement, one heads for Simeiz on a bus.
Those who go for Yalta as their residence, use the advantages of a big city’s European standards. Especially this world of ours.ĭepending on financial possibilities folks prefer to stay either in Simeiz itself (this year a bed in a wooden “hut” was priced $3) or in Yalta (where a bedroom-sitting room was worth about $10). A nice place to meet each other! Then – another acquaintance, and one more… So small is this world. By and large stunning encounters take place on a constant basis. This year among the guests were: ordinary elderly Moscovites with a “lady-bird” backpack, a boy from some place in Siberia who was on a special mission from his friend who had warned him “to stay clear of anyone else”, a group of tough boys had “stocked up” on a young pumped body, a doctor from the local sanatorium. At the height of the season – from mid-June through late August – rocks are literally strewn with naked bodies. Luxuriating in the sun, swimming, eating fruit and seeking adventures at places located a bit higher, in chaotic pile-up of sharp cliffs fragments, men and boys are accumulating vitamins and tans and getting a charge of happiness for the long, nasty, cold winter.
But now it is crowded again – people are flocking back to familiar places. It saw the period of heyday at the times of “stagnation”, and later – at the times of perestroika – it went through a decline. We have no idea as to when and by whom this place was “created”, but this happened long ago. It is this fact that Simeiz is famed for (unofficially, of course). Beneath, in a small cove, right on the rocks, lies a nudist beach – “straight” from one side and “gay” from the other. There is a very beautiful place spread over the bay fenced off by the mountain Koshka (Cat) from mainland winds. But we are going to speak of other things. However, now, at these troublesome times, you see far fewer asthenic teenagers come to this place to pep up their health. Evidently, it is due to this fact that sanatoria and rest-houses for consumptive children were built here. To get there take Bus 26 or 43, then go to the Lenin sanatorium, 50 m ahead and down to the sea, right after the rock overlooking the water.Īs the natives say, Simeiz has the best climate in the Crimea – even better than in Yalta itself – created by coniferous woods growing along mountain ridges and by azure sea water in the bay.
It is a part of Big Yalta located at the distance of 40-minute bus ride from it. Simeiz is a spa settlement on the Southern coast of the Black Sea, in the Crimea. Today in summer you can find here gays from Moscow and Kiev, USA and Holland, UK, France, Australia and Belgium. Simeiz’s fame has spread rapidly around the world. In terms of infrastructure, it has not much to offer as compared to Sitges in Spain. In part due to its remoteness from main tourist attractions of the Republic of Crimea haunted by happy heterosexual families, Simeiz used to be (and so remains) the most flamboyant gay beach of the former Soviet Union. The fame of Simeiz (located on the Crimean peninsula, near the city of Yalta) as a gay resort goes as far back as to the 70s, when homosexuality was still criminally prosecuted and hundreds of Soviet gays were jailed each year.