Odessa Off The Beaten Path

If you are visiting this contrasting wonderland & feel overwhelmed by its volatile extremes, take solace in its ecclesiastical settings, you will always be within walking distance of some such place. You do not need to be religious to appreciate the tranquility to be found in 0dessa's plethora of churches & you do not need to be Sister Wendy Beckett to study the art of the icon, these buildings are galleries to...
I recommend you visit a monastery & soak up the ambience of inertia written the timeless grounds. I strayed into such a place in the suffocating heat of August, when the gardens were lush with the colours of Eden & monastic cats snored prostrate in the shadows. This is an image of 0dessa from my original visit that will always characterise the place for me, even if it is an image at odds with what the city represents to so many...
But for me, that nun-tended garden, with its memorial to the perished crew of the Kursk submarine, parched, yet magicolour flowerbeds, & comatose cats, is the true 0dessa & the best place to dally awhile, before returning to the streets of semi-dressed 'dyevooshkee'...

0dessa might be famed for its packed beaches & sunshine obsessed holidaymakers - each to their own...
I do not go there to sunbathe - & I recommend anybody with a serious interest in the city to go out of season when it is actually at its most scenic...
The magic of standing at a window, watching snow fall, never ceases to touch me - I have witnessed 3 such 'snyekaupat' on my last couple of visits & I hope to see this spectacle again...
If you have ever seen David Lean's epic DOCTOR ZHIVAGO - you cannot forget the scene when a troika ride into the country reaches a house encrusted in rime frost & icicles - such was 0dessa in January 2011
0dessa might be a coastal city, less prone to the freezeovers that afflict the north & east of Ukraine, but this year it suffered a fortnight of freezing, tundra-like conditions, that made it treacherous underfoot, but stunning to witness...
Most spectacular were the record-breaking icicles - 'sausoolkee', hanging from gutters & overhead power lines, all the way to ground level in some places & threatening to topple these already precariously unmaintained structures...
0dessa's local news service was full of images of the overgrown icicles, amidst public concern that walking beneath them was truly dangerous, because even if they did just snap off without bringing a roof down with them, these spears of ice were heavy enough to kill anything they landed upon!
0dessa is a dirty, dusty city at peak season, but in the winter months when the temperature drops below freezing, it is transformed into a feature of a fairy tale...

When you visit Ukraine you will notice there's a big population of stray cats & dogs (if you're afraid of dogs, there's no need to worry about the packs of homeless animals, they're placid & only a few will bark if you approach - I have only been bitten once in the street, & that was NOT by a stray...) These creatures survive on scraps they can scavage, so tend to congregate in public places, like transport stations - why not consider feeding a few of them? I had a long wait last time I used 0dessa autovoksal, & took the opportunity to take along some catfood & feed a nice little 'kot' there - hopefully he will still be alive when I return, waiting, like a friend in a faraway place...

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The Black Sea Hollywood - this is how Odessa Film Studio is often called.
It was founded in 1919 and is now one of the three Ukrainian film studios.
Lots of famous films have been created by this studio.
It's located in French Boulevard.
If you want to see the building, take tram #5 from the railway station in the direction of Arcadia sanatorium and Russia hotel. (10 minutes' ride by tram) or just take a taxi ($5-$10).

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I remember visiting Uspenskaya Cathedral (Holy (Assumption Cathedral) located at 70 Preobrazhenskaya (Transfiguration) Street.
It is not far from the railway station.
The cathedral is quite old. It was dedicated in 1869.
The Orthodox people call it "a temple". It has five domes and a high belfry.
The main relic of the Assumption Cathedral is the wonder-working icon of the Most Holy Mother of God of Caspersk.
This icon is known to have saved the city from complete destruction during the Crimean War in October 1855.
The cathedral dean is Fr. Agaphangel, Metropolitan of Odessa and Ismail.

There are dozens of memorial plaques at the city buildings and apartment houses.
They commemorate people who used to live and to work there.
This is one of them.
It is located in Ostrovidov Street and dedicated to Georgy Zhukov (1896 – 1974), Marshall of the Soviet Union, who used to live and to serve in Odessa from June 13, 1946 till December 1947 as the Commander-in-Chief of Odessa Military District. That was a kind of exile for him for he had been the Commander-in-Chief of the Land Forces of the Soviet Union since March 1946 and then suddenly fell into Stalin’s disgrace and was urgently sent to Odessa: out of sight, out of mind…
He resumed his leadership as the Commander-in-Chief of the Land Forces of the Soviet Union only after Stalin’s death in March 1953 and had to resign finally in 1957.
Marshall Zhukov is considered to be Russia’s most talented general after Generalissimo Alexander Suvorov who died in 1801.

There is an interesting sculpture to the right of the entrance to the archeological museum: Laocoon.
It depicts old Laocoon and two of his sons being stifled by a huge snake.
The sculpture illustrates a famous Greek legend.

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The established car rental companies will not allow you to travel to Moldova as they can not provide insurance, but may forward you to private companies. Eugeny provides an excellent service! (Chevrolet Lancet for 90 euro per day)

On the way to Chisinau you may see lovely villages, picnic along the Dnestr (easy to join some locals and spend a great afternoon together), visit the Purcari vineyards with excellent Pinot Noir and abandoned Kolchoz. Chisinau is lovely for spending a sunny Saturday wandering around along its streets and bazaars