Odessa Things to Do

This museum is in city center, it has vignettes or dioramas of the famous people of Odessa from Odessa's past, and famous buildings of the city.
The clothes on the manequins in the museum were all supposedly worn by the people portrayed there. There are also many models of the more important buildings in Odessa. Not a very exciting place to visit, it is dark and creepy in the museum, but it is cheap (about $2.50 per person) and the entry fee includes a free photo of you and whomever is in your party! The photographer will take 4 or 5 poses of you and whomever is with you; and in a couple hours the proofs will be ready from which you can choose your picture. Picutures are ready the next day to be picked up. I think they will mail them to you if you pay the postage. Additional pictures are about $1 a piece, depending on size. This is a real bargain, as the photos are studio quality and come with various backgrounds. So if you take a cruise to Odessa and want a portrait to commemorate your trip, go to the Waxworks Museum and get a picture done there, don't pay those rip-off cruise-ship prices!

This museum is on Ekaterinskaya, just east of the Palace of Justice and east and across from the Londonskaya Hotel and the Potemkin stairs. Worth a look if you really want to see the history of the area.

Main Train Station is located about a mile (one kilometer) south of downtown. Rishalevskaya Street runs into it and if one follows it north, it will lead directly to the Opera House. Nearby, is shopping, several department and specialty shops and the open-air market. Also one of the main tram terminals and bus collection points is just a block to the east. There are several restaurants in the area including a Vegetarian restaurant run by the Hare Krisnas at 11 Italyansky Blvd, called The Vegetarian Cafe. (Easy huh?)

Although Pushkin only spent xx months in Odessa, the amount of magnification of his holy name in this city would make you think he lived his whole life here. This statue stands in front of the Pushkin museum, which is in the home in which he lived during his brief stay here. Unfortunately, it is entirely in Russian and Ukrainian, so I was not able to understand much of it.

Like anywhere in Europe, there are plenty of flyers and billboards to advertise upcoming concerts, etc., or to entice you into the army. The makeup on this woman is enough to scare me off her concerts.

The magnificent building of the opera (just restored this Autumn) houses a great group of artists. I've been there to watch a ballet performance (the English name would be the "Swan lake"?- anyway, the classic) for an incredibly small fee. For seats in the first row about €4-5, for the next seats €2-3! And there were tickets just before the show, not possible in Krakow for example... just as the prices. Anyway- don't miss your opportunity to go there!

While being there don't miss the fantastic architecture (not always eastern-European, but really good quality, especially those buildings that have been restored like this one next to the text. There are many really worth to see and they are spread all over the old district.

This is a mnument of the local prosperity (I guess). Called THE GOLDEN CHILD, it's just in front of the seaport, in the place with propably the biggest density of attractions. But looks really scary- I wouldn't like my kid to look like this :P