The mountains drop steeply into the Black Sea, and shield the narrow coast lands from the wind. The climate here is subtropical. The grassy plains of the north furnish pasture for sheep and horse, and grains are grown on the flat steppes. The climate on the steppes is quite different, and winters are severe due to the cold Arctic winds that blow across the steppes from the north. In the south, where the climate is much more mild, grapes are grown in vineyards that dot the mountainsides.
Salt is dried along the coasts, as the Black Sea is a salt water body.
Resorts and health centers dot the the coasts, especially in the area from Yalta to Feodosiya, and here you can find the summer palaces of the Tsars. The Crimean Mountains are divided into three ridges that run for 180 km from Sevestaspol to Feodosia. Along the South Ridge there is a narrow valley on the south side of the mountains, between the mountains and the sea. In present day Crimea, a canal which is 402 km long, provides water to the peninsula's towns and grain fields. The canal flows from north to south across the steppes and it is called the North Crimea Canal.