Founded by Byzantines at a point equidistant from the equator and the North Pole, Yalta has an ideal Mediterranean climate. Yalta has long been a holiday retreat for the elite of Tzarist Russia and the former Soviet States; the Romanovs, Pushkin, Gorky, Chekhov, and more recently Brezhnev and Gorbachev, have spent time here. Located on a sheltered bay, Yalta is lush with flowers, shrubs and exotic plants.