Alupka (1 of 2)
Crimea's most exotic palace-park complex is wedged between the coast and Mt Ay-Petri, in a stunning setting 16km west of Yalta at Alupka. The palace was designed by English architects for the English-educated Count Mikhail Vorontsov, the immensely rich regional governor; and it's a bizarre combination of Scottish castle on its landward side with Arabic-Asian fantasy facing the sea. Vorontsov brought serfs from his estates all over Russia to build the palace and park in 1828-46. A century later Winston Churchill stayed here during the 1945 Yalta Conference.
