Next stop in Ukraine was Odesa, third most populous city of Ukraine located at the shore of the Black Sea.
The city was founded by Catherine the Great in 1794, however it was inhabited since ancient times, and remainings of old settlements - from Ancient Greece through Great Duchy of Lithuania and Ottoman Empire - were found by archeologists. In the past it was Russia's Empire trade, intellectual and artistic center and its main port.
The city was founded by Catherine the Great in 1794, however it was inhabited since ancient times, and remainings of old settlements - from Ancient Greece through Great Duchy of Lithuania and Ottoman Empire - were found by archeologists. In the past it was Russia's Empire trade, intellectual and artistic center and its main port.
Because of the fact that Crimea was annexed by Russia, Ukrainians lost their usual holiday destination and thus this year they (peacefully) "invaded" Odesa. It could result in problems in finding accomodation in Odesa, neverthelles I decided to risk and not to book anything in advance. I did not book the train ticket either, what almost made my trip to Odesa impossible, as there were huge queues at the train station. In the end, realizing that I had a very little time left to the departure, I started explaining (in Polish) that my train to Odesa will leave very soon, and whether I could buy my ticket without waiting. People were very nice and they let me do it. The Intercity train was very comfortable, and after seven hours, at 23:30 I arrived to Odesa.
According to my "great" plan I was supposed to look for accomodation as usually - on spot. Very stupidly though I did not take into consideration that I will be doing it after midnight and I will be doing it in August - thus very high season, and moreover with Ukraine deprived Crimea - thus with bigger than usually number of tourists. With GPS on my phone I found the city centre (around 20-30 minutes walk from the station) and I started to look for some hotel. After several failures (too expensive hotel or no free rooms) I eventually found a hotel - which was full, however whose staff recommended me another hotel in which they booked a room for me.
And while walking to this hotel the most unexpected situation, which of course I did not expect, happened. At 1AM, in the middle of the street I looked at some familiar face and asked:
-Eamonn??
To which I heard:
-Natalia??
Yes, there in Odesa, in the middle of the night, on another side of Europe I met a good friend from Brussels. We agreed to meet the next day, and I continued my walk to my hotel.
The next morning I started to visit the city. Despite the fact that Odesa is relatively young - only 200 years - it is very impressive. Still, there's not much to visit, but it's rather a city to wander along, admire the beautiful architecture and get lost. And so I was just wandering on its beautiful streets, discovering Odesa's hidden gems.
And indeed on the Deribasivs'ka street - one of Odesa's main streets - I saw some of Odesa's beautiful Art Nouveau buildings and an stunning commercial passage, with some amazing sculptures.
But the most famous part of Odesa and its best known symbol are the monumental Potyomkinski Skhody (Potemkin Stairs), which are considered leading from the Catherine Square to the Port. They have 192 steps, and are 132 m long and 27 m high. Interestingly in every era of their existence they had different names: the Boulevard steps, the Giant Staircase and the Richelieu steps, and they received their current names after the Soviet movie "te Battleship Potemkin".
But Odesa is also one of the most famous spots on the Ukrainian nightlife map. Probably I wouldn't go on my own to a night club, but luckily I was there with friends, so after a very satisfying and very Ukrainian dinner at the restaurant Kumanets, we were ready for the pleasures of the night! And for that we chose the most popular night club - Ibiza. Also on that night this wonderful open air venue was very busy and full of guests.
The following day I continued wandering around and discovering amazing Odesa.
Adam Mickiewicz was here :-)
so was Pushkin ;-)
According to my "great" plan I was supposed to look for accomodation as usually - on spot. Very stupidly though I did not take into consideration that I will be doing it after midnight and I will be doing it in August - thus very high season, and moreover with Ukraine deprived Crimea - thus with bigger than usually number of tourists. With GPS on my phone I found the city centre (around 20-30 minutes walk from the station) and I started to look for some hotel. After several failures (too expensive hotel or no free rooms) I eventually found a hotel - which was full, however whose staff recommended me another hotel in which they booked a room for me.
And while walking to this hotel the most unexpected situation, which of course I did not expect, happened. At 1AM, in the middle of the street I looked at some familiar face and asked:
-Eamonn??
To which I heard:
-Natalia??
Yes, there in Odesa, in the middle of the night, on another side of Europe I met a good friend from Brussels. We agreed to meet the next day, and I continued my walk to my hotel.
The next morning I started to visit the city. Despite the fact that Odesa is relatively young - only 200 years - it is very impressive. Still, there's not much to visit, but it's rather a city to wander along, admire the beautiful architecture and get lost. And so I was just wandering on its beautiful streets, discovering Odesa's hidden gems.
And indeed on the Deribasivs'ka street - one of Odesa's main streets - I saw some of Odesa's beautiful Art Nouveau buildings and an stunning commercial passage, with some amazing sculptures.
But the most famous part of Odesa and its best known symbol are the monumental Potyomkinski Skhody (Potemkin Stairs), which are considered leading from the Catherine Square to the Port. They have 192 steps, and are 132 m long and 27 m high. Interestingly in every era of their existence they had different names: the Boulevard steps, the Giant Staircase and the Richelieu steps, and they received their current names after the Soviet movie "te Battleship Potemkin".
Number two of Odesa symbols is Odesa National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet, which was called by some "the best opera in the world" and is a must see and a must do while in the city.
So indeed I decided to go to the opera in the evening. Luckily on that day they were displaying an Ukrainian opera - Zaporozhets za Dunayem (A Zaporozhian Beyond the Danube). Luckily, because it's more difficult to see it outside Ukraine. I bought my ticket in advance. After I met Eamonn, he also wanted to join me. It was though pretty late, and since there were huge queues (people were queuing for different opera though), we understood it was rather unlikely to buy a ticket before the start of opera. But in my very broken Ukrainian, which was rather loud Polish, I managed to convince the lady who was checking tickets to let us in ;-) we paid the amount of the ticket to her colleague, and watched the opera from the first class lodge :-)
During the break we just couldn't not to try champagne and caviar :-)
But Odesa is also one of the most famous spots on the Ukrainian nightlife map. Probably I wouldn't go on my own to a night club, but luckily I was there with friends, so after a very satisfying and very Ukrainian dinner at the restaurant Kumanets, we were ready for the pleasures of the night! And for that we chose the most popular night club - Ibiza. Also on that night this wonderful open air venue was very busy and full of guests.
The following day I continued wandering around and discovering amazing Odesa.
Adam Mickiewicz was here :-)
so was Pushkin ;-)
A monument of Catherine the Great on the Catherine Square
Odesa City Hall
The Ukrainian crisis of 2014 did not avoid Odesa - which is a very pro-Russian and Rusophone city - suffered. In the clashes between pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian protesters 48 people died and 250 were injured.
*Odesa in Ukrainian, Odessa in Russian
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