Kherson Things to Do

So many hars working people got shafted after parastroika, my wife included. You will see people everywhere with a cup or a hand out, they will not hassle you like the bums in Chicago. They are very proud people in need, I gave away a lot of money to these, mostly retired people. I hope you will do the same. I remember giving an old woman 10 dollars, and she looked at me like I was crazy. That will help a Ukrainian eat for a week. Street children will beg for money, but will spend it to sniff glue, If you want to help them, take them to a store and pay for a meal, but dont give them cash.

If you have little time, I do not believe there is a single attraction that stands out in the city. The pedestrian areas and the parks are nice, and just walking around the city is already an experience in itself.

Seeing the naval students strolling around the city in their uniforms, watching the shop stalls in the streets, going to the bazar... Feeling the atmosphere of the city is quite nice.

There are still statutes of Lenin on the main squares, and the influence of the Soviet days is still very present. It seems that there has not been any significant real estate developments for quite some time, and the Soviets even kept a surprisingly large number of buildings and individual dwellings... Instead of bulldozing 95% of the city and building nondescript housing and office 'blocks', I'd say that around 20-30% of the city has been preserved, which is quite exceptional for a former communist country.

Parks are very pleasant and many streets are bordered with large trees and flowers.

The region was settled during the late Paleolithic era. Settlements of the Mezolithic, Copper, and Bronze Ages have been excavated. In the 8th-7th cent. B.C. the steppes of Kherson were part of the Scyphian state, with its center in the Kamyanske Horodyshche. In the 2nd cent. B.C. the Black Sea lands were settled by the early Slavic tribes of Zarubyntsi culture. In the 2nd-6th cent. A.D. Slavic settlements of Chemyakhiv culture appeared. In the 10th-13th cent, the territory was part of Kyivan Rus'-Ukraine. From the 13th cent, the Dnipro Lowland was occupied by the Tatars; during the 15th cent, it was under Turkish rule.
After the establishment of the Zaporozhian Sich in the 16th cent., the lands were settled by the Kozaks, who organized numerous campaigns against the Turks and Tatars. The Kozaks who fought against various invaders during the 17th cent, were led by the chieftains I. Sirko, M. Khanenko, and Colonel S. Paliy.
After the destruction of the Chortomlyk Sich in 1709 the Zaporozhians established the Kamyanska Sich and later, the Oleshkiv Sich. The Kozaks participated in the peasant movement of 1768 (Koliyivshchyna). In 1775 the Russian Empress Catherine II ordered the destruction of the Sich. In the 19th century Kherson region was settled by Ukrainians and Germans. Now Kherson is the city with about 400 thousand population and very impressive monuments, churches and museums.

A comprehensive natural history museum of the area, and a memorial to the military heros of Kherson. There is a good section of historical artifacts, from prehistoric, through Greek and Roman, Scythian, Sarmatian, and then the early history of Kherson as a port city and major shipyard of the Russian Empire.