Odessa, Ukraine

I caught another overnight train to Odessa and stayed in a hostel that is owned by a family friend of my uncle's (mother's side) wife. I liked Odessa more than Kiev, but I'm not sure why. I did have more fun going to restaurants here as it was the first time I was in a place without someone to translate for me.

Baiky lost an eye whilst watching the AFL with me, now his a one-eyed supporter. This photo encompasses a lot of what I liked about Odessa, it is from a restaurant overlooking one of their many gardens/squares that is a popular meeting place for locals. Most importantly, in the background you can see a fountain!

Most places had at least one employee who spoke rudimentary English, but on occasion I had to rely on my basic Russian to get by. I went on two tours of the city here like I did in Kiev. This time the focus was on the development of Odessa as a trading port by the Duc de Richelieu - governor of Odessa from 1803 until 1814 (I think) and the shenanigans of Tolstoy. This is opposed to in Kiev, which focussed on liberation from various countries and its amazing architecture/cathedrals.

This avenue is in a large park that borders Black Sea. The park includes numerous statues, a sporting stadium, a war memorial complete with an eternal flame (pictured), and an amusement park.

Like most of the places I visited Odessa has a fascinating history. If I remember correctly, due to its location on the Black Sea Odessa has been occupied by many different cultures. There is a huge Greek influence, and this is reflected in some of the large structures throughout the city and also documented in an archaeological museum filled with Greek artefacts including sculptures, weapons, and armour. Also, there was a movie being shot while I was there. One night I even got to watch a comedy scene being shot again, and again...and again. I guess they weren't being very funny (I wasn't laughing).

Y'all seen pictures of buildings, so here is a movie set on the main promenade of Odessa. These are some actors - no doubt super famous. Bit disappointed Bruce Willis couldn't be found.

At one stage I passed the war memorial during a military service. Not sure what was happening (my Russian is not up to scratch), but they laid flowers down, had a parade, handed out medals, and fired their rifles. It was cool! Strangely enough, I later asked a few locals who were not at the service what is about and no one seemed to know.

The marching band. I nearly got caught in the middle of them as at one stage they were walking away, and then suddenly the did a 180 degree turn and came back up the street. One luckless westerner was not as observant as me and got stuck in the middle of them.

Odessa was the first place I saw working fountains. The fountains I had seen for the past month had all frozen over for the winter. Odessa's, however, must have thawed earlier due to the warmer climate. The warmer climate also meant that I got to see a beach, beach volleyball, and dolphins (in a dolphin show). Odessa was also the first place I lost Baiky.

He fell out of my bag during a tour. I quickly backtracked and found him on this ledge. A kind person moved him from the middle of the path to safety! Either that or Baiky is sentient - both outcomes are pretty cool.

Finally, part of Odessa's history includes it criminal underworld and a labyrinth of catacombs under the city. The catacombs are the result of limestone mining and the criminal underworld the predominately the result of a slave trade (I think), mostly because they needed limestone to build stuff and slaves to do the building (and sex, but I didn't learn too much about the criminal history so feel free do your own research). The catacombs apparently have over 1000 entrances, reach a depth of 60 metres, and estimated to be over 2500 kms in length.

An entrance to the catacombs - good thing I'm not claustrophobic.

Not surprisingly people sometimes get lost and die within the tunnels. It is also not considered safe to enter due to the occasional tunnel collapses. So naturally I took a tour with another Aussie from the hostel (extreme tourism, yeah!). During WWII the catacombs were used as a hiding place for soviet partisans (wikipedia). I also seem to remember my guides telling me it was used to hide Jews too.

 Inside the catacombs with one of the two guides. He is explaining the wall markings, which the catacomb guides use to find their way around. If I remember correctly his was the black arrow. The other markings are symbols used by different guides. The guides are fiercely protective of their routes. 

The same photo without the camera flash. It was pitch black inside so we were supplied with two torches each. A smarter me would have realised it might be a week dark inside and brought his head torch along.

There was heaps of cool stuff in Odessa and it is one of the places I would like to go back to. Pretty certain I could woo just about anyone I take to this city so I kinda see it as a cheaper version of Paris (also it does not suffer the reputation of being pretentious). It also has probably one of the funniest sites I have seen thus far (possibly with the exception of the predator hanging around Ulaanbaataar). There is a bridge in town called the "Mother-in Law" bridge, so named because if you jump in the middle of the bridge you can feel it wobble up and down, much like the incessant wagging tongue of one's mother-in-law.

 This is the famous one-walled building. It was built as a movie set for the Three Musketeers. I can't remember if they ran out of money so they didn't complete the building or if they just didn't need a full building for the set, but either way its pretty funny.

 This is the same building two steps to the left.

All to quickly the 23rd of April rolled around and it was time to head to Turkey. Here I could stop focusing on international history and soak up some Aussie patriotism at the 98th anniversary of the Australian and New Zealand troops landing at ANZAC cove in the ANZAC day ceremony of Gallipoli.

I thought I should include at least one building. This is Odessa's famous Opera House. It is a magnificent building (and it has a fountain!). Tickets to see the ballet or the opera cost about $5, but unfortunately the show times seemed to clash with other plans I had.