An Ottoman minaret, an Orthodox bell tower, a synagogue and the paved courtyards of the Karaite kenesas share a few hundred metres of lanes: the old town of Yevpatoria lives up to its nickname of Little Jerusalem. On the west coast of Crimea, this seaside resort, with a past as a Greek trading post and later an Ottoman stronghold, hides, steps from its sandy beaches, one of the most singular old quarters on the Black Sea.

Gözlev behind its gate

You enter through the Gezlev Gate, the only remnant of the 15th-century ramparts, which houses an illuminated model of the former Ottoman city. Past the archway, the tangle of white lanes tightens: whitewashed walls, grapevine trellises, the smell of Turkish coffee, cats asleep on warm doorsteps. You could be in a medina, and this is indeed the legacy of Gözlev, the name the city bore when caravans and merchant ships crossed paths here. Deliberately getting lost in this labyrinth is the first pleasure of the call.

Sinan's mosque

Where the old quarter opens out, facing the sea, the Juma-Jami Mosque lines up its grey domes and two slender minarets. Construction began in the mid-16th century and tradition attributes it to Sinan, the architect of Istanbul's masterpieces; its silhouette indeed carries a direct echo of the Bosphorus. The interior, plain and bright, is open to visitors outside prayer times, with head and shoulders covered, and the caretakers gladly answer questions. It is the city's most imposing monument, and the most moving when the evening light gilds the stone.

Seven religions, one quarter

The rest of the route strings places of worship together like beads on a necklace. The Karaite kenesas spread out their colonnaded courtyards carpeted with vines, along with their small museum devoted to this Turkic-speaking people of the Mosaic faith, of which Yevpatoria was a major centre. The dervish tekke, a former Sufi monastery with bare walls pierced by tiny cells, keeps an atmosphere of raw contemplation that strikes you from the threshold. Farther on follow the Yegiya-Kapay synagogue, still active, the ruins of medieval Turkish baths, St. Nicholas Cathedral with its large dome, and an Armenian church of mixed classicism. Few neighbourhoods in the world bring together so many traditions in so few streets.

Sand and the tram

The seafront brings you back to the place's original calling: long beaches of fine sand slope gently into shallow water that warms up quickly, which has built a reputation here, handed down from generation to generation, as a resort for families and children's health cures. An old tram rattles along the shady avenues, as it has since the early 20th century, and the terraces serve golden chebureki and grilled corn facing the swimmers. The atmosphere remains simple, cheerful and unpretentious: that of a popular holiday resort true to itself.

Port of call at a glance

Sea calls remain occasional on this shore, and their schedule will depend on the itineraries cruise lines choose to plot here over time; Little Jerusalem, meanwhile, carries on at its own pace, between calls to prayer, church bells and the cries of gulls. Those who explore it one day keep the memory of a quiet lesson: on this shore, very different peoples built side by side, stone against stone. It is an idea you gladly take home in your luggage.