The Odessa File
July/August
2001
Where is
Odessa?
Odessa is located on the
Black Sea in Ukraine.
What's
there?
Sun, sand, surf, pumping
nightlife, beautiful girls wearing g-strings as a form of national dress
and .... no English. That's why Dan and I went there. At one
point, Odessa used to be the Ibiza for the denizens of the former USSR.
Errr....according to the the
Lonely Planet Guide, this is what there is to see in Odessa.
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"Odessa is a curious mix of enticing seaside holiday retreat and
polluted industrial port. Long the shipping centre of the Black Sea region
and the major urban centre of southern Ukraine, the city is famous for its
role in the 1905 revolution, when the mutinous battleship Potemkin
Tavrichesky supported rebellious workers. Today it's best known for
its excellent collection of museums. The city centre is a few hundred
metres south-west of the waterfront; it's filled with beautiful low-rise
buildings and tree-lined streets, and is home to the elaborate and famous Opera
& Ballet Theatre [SAW IT]. Dating from the 1880s, the theatre was designed
by Viennese architects who gave it a Baroque cast with a Renaissance
twist. Nearby is the Pasazh, a lavishly ornate shopping mall built
in the late 19th century, boasting rows of Baroque sculptures.
[SAW IT]
The city centre is also the locale of Odessa's famous museums. One of
the most interesting is the Archaeology Museum
[SAW IT]. Dating from 1875,
it contains an excellent collection of artefacts from early Black Sea
civilisations, including a tempting display of jewellery and coins. Across
the road is the Museum of Maritime History
[SAW IT], covering the history of
shipbuilding and navigation with lots of models and naval paraphernalia.
Nearby is the Literature Museum, where you can steep yourself in
the lives of Ukrainian masters like Shevchenko and Franko and Russian
authors such as Chekov, Pushkin, Tolstoy and Gorky. Don't miss one of
Odessa's most famous sights - the massive Potemkin Steps
[SAW THEM],
immortalised in the 1925 Eisenstein film Battleship Potemkin
[SAW THE FIRST 15 MINS].
The sandstone on which Odessa stands is riddled with about 1000km
(620mi) of tunnels, known as the katakombi (catacombs) [DIDN'T
SEE THEM].
Quarried out for building in the 19th century, they have since been used
by smugglers, revolutionaries and WWII partisans. In Nerubayske village on
the north-western edge of Odessa, a network of tunnels that sheltered
partisans in WWII has been turned into the Museum of Partisan Glory
[DIDN'T SEE IT],
where visitors are given guided tours (in Russian or Ukrainian) of relics
of the partisan occupation. The catacombs are accessible by city bus".
Lonely
Planet Guide Link
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What's
in the Odessa File?
Girls, discos, girls, buildings, bars, locals, horses ... the lot.
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