I think I found my ideal writing spot.
You know, the kind of place most aspiring writers envision when looking for excuses as to why they have not yet completed that groundbreaking, best-selling, critically acclaimed expatriate novel/ coming of age romance/ dystopian epic. If only we all had a little room with a view of Sacre Coeur/ Piazza di Navona/ Glen Coe where we could plop down our vintage typewriters, pour a glass of cheap but good Beaujolais/ Grappa/ Scotch and get to work! We’d all long have been Earnest Hemingway/ JK Rowling/ Kurt Vonnegut! If only we could find – and finance – the life of leisurely writing at such a place…
Well, I have found (and temporarily financed) mine. Get prepared to see my name on the New York Times’ bestseller list in a couple of months. Hollywood blockbuster starring Keira Knightley as an ambitious city princess and Chris Hemsworth as a rugged huntsman/ secret prince is coming to a multiplex near you as soon as I decide on which studio to sell the rights to my literary masterpiece.
No, seriously, this place is pretty perfect.
Café Ассоль named after the heroine of a romantic novel “Scarlet Sails” by Russian author Alexander Grin, stands virtually right above the Black Sea waters of Novy Svet. It’s spacious, quiet and airy. Most of the time I enjoy near-solitude, as the tourist season has not yet kicked off in earnest. I have my own table. Cappuccinos for breakfast, Krym draft for lunch, local reds for dinner. When it rains, the staff leaves my portion of the porch open so that I can enjoy stihiya – the elements – unbridled. Yet even when it rains, this place is warm and cozy, with soft, deep leather couches that cradle you, making you never want to get up.
Just the kind of comfort an aspiring writer needs.
Home & Away 
Looks perfect! I think I would have slept there too.
The cafe name doesn’t come over so well when transliterated does it?
HAHA. Nope. I tried half a dozen transliterations and they were all BAD. Then I went with A*****, but that seemed unnecessarily cryptic. So here we are.
There’s actually a small B&B right above the cafe, next time I’ll ask about renting a room there. One day I spent 7 hrs on one of those couches, with 5 glasses of wine and 3 cappuccinos, writing.
Now, that’s my way to holiday!
Oh man, great photos! I want to be there!!!!
How far did you get with your novel…?
Well, my Crimea Chronicles (THIS) is basically my novel 🙂 – 24/25 parts. 60 pages by hand (originally 100 but I had to do dramatic rip-out-and-rewrite, you know?) I figured that was a good showing, non? I mostly wrote on the rainy days, on the sunny ones I was on these 6am-9pm field trips, and then at night I’d go to my wifi cafe (after I randomly discovered it while looking for the best bureks in town) to chat with Jenna and read my Feedly feed 🙂
Excellent 🙂 Bestseller material, I can already tell!
I’m not going to see any movie with Keira Knightley in it – just letting you know 😉
Looks like an amazing spot! Did they have wifi??
They did not! So at one point I always had to abandon it and head to my wifi cafe inland. My god, if this place had wifi, I would have moved in!
Maybe they did have it but wanted you to go home at some point 😉
Ass
😉 You love me really 😉
That first picture is divine. Clearly I need to find somewhere like that to really get going with my writing.
Crimea? 😛
Actually I really love the Shennadoah Valley – are you far from it?
I AM the Shenandoah Valley! I’m about a mile off the river, the Blue Ridge mountains, and the Appalachian trail.
See? You’ve got your writer’s heaven!
Well, I am officially jealous. I’m on the road in a motel in the middle of Iowa. The exact opposite of a writers paradise. So, on behalf of us jealous writers across the globe, make the most of it!
I promise I will!
I wonder how soon Emmi Lorenz will come and begin to talk about how Russia annexation of Crimea was barbaric(despite the most of Crimeans support it),how are the Russians poor(despite the rumors about poverty are exaggerated.My parents who are doctor and teacher for example are one of the most unprotected workers but they are not poor),about the nightmare in the Russian provinces(however in Siberia I feel myself even better than in Moscow),about Putins dictatorship(which is also exaggerated),and other…
That’s why I do my best to dispel the myths of Russia and living here…
Thank you for your work.I dont like politics but when I read Emmi Lorenz generated sh**t,I really catch a butthurt.Only lie,exaggeration and politicaly engaged comments.
the were only 2 millions of tourists in crimea this year opposed to 6 millions usually. crimea is going to wake up very soon.
To some people there are things in life more important than money. When I was there everyone was very much attuned to the reality re: tourism and economy, but their values didnt change.
At first the tourist season in Crimea is not ened now because it will lasts till September.At the second even with 2 million tourists and some problems with mobile phone connection,banking system and transport Crimeans feel themthelves well.And at the third Crimeans will rather starve than go back to Ukraine.
That’s pretty much the sentiment I got there (again, look for more details in about 5-6 chapters). There was a bit of issue w getting cash out (but not a lot), but the phones were working just fine, and wifi was everywhere. And that was in the 2nd week of June, too – when the season was barely starting! Logistical issues were being worked out very fast.
‘Looks fab and so relaxing. It doesn’t even look like Europe….
With all that relaxing, I await your best-seller in earnest. 🙂
I need to go back to that place!
Crimea has a very Mediterranean feel to it – I’ve never gone before but it definitely didnt feel like Russia or Ukraine (whatever my ideas of the latter – basically like Russia but a tiny bit warmer)
The best place to write is definitely somewhere WITHOUT wi-fi! I’d have published at least four best-sellers by now if it wasn’t for that pesky internet… Good luck with your novel 🙂
Also you need to drink enough wine. Are you really internalizing that rule?
Hmmm, you’re right, I’ve not drunk enough wine recently – what is wrong with me????
Oh my stars! I think if I just put these photos up I can write my bestseller. (btw, I have already bought an advance ticket for your movie and given it 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.)
YESSS! What are you thinking, palm d’or at Cannes?
I promise you a special red carpet pass 🙂
Everything! I’ll take one of everything. This sounds like the beginnings of one of those novels…beautifully written. I’m thinking you should blow that top photo up and sell it/hang it in your apt. Yes, that’ll be perfect.
Aww, thank you.
Yes, I loved it – that one phone made the iPhone investment worth it (my camera doesnt capture color nearly as well).
Doesn’t that intro sound like it should be followed up with 20 chapters through which I meet ruggedly handsome huntsman (secret prince) who sweeps me off my feet? Right? RIGHT? >.< le sigh
Dangit. I thought that was in posts 7-24.
Oh my God I want to live there.
At the cafe? Yeah I felt the same way. Plus it served amazing steak AND sushi!
I know you eat it all the time but sushi from Europe makes me wary – I don’t know why.
It makes me weary too, but hey, I’m still alive!
I suppose it’s no worse than eating something else imported and raw….
Exactly.
And it was pretty creative stuff, too!
And the best steak… just wait till my food post!
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