The Grandeur of Odessa

Odessa, Ukraine, 5/21/17 5 PM

A perfect Sunday in the Grand City of Odessa.

I met a guy from Finland as both of us were checking out of the little supermarket. when he asked me where I was from.  He lives here as an ex-pat with his wife and two little sons under 2 years old and divides his time between here and Helsinki.  He's a business coach and involved in the export/import business. Like me, he was quite taken on his first visit with the magnificent architecture.

In describing Odessa he mentions its prominence in Czarist Russia as one of its 4 great cities together with Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Warsaw.  It was also Russia's most important sea port. He likes the weather here particularly, I imagine, compared to Finland in winter.

As do people here in general, he speaks Russian, not Ukrainian and he speaks, unsurprisingly, fluent English.

My new friend tells me the place the ex-pats hang out is the Irish Pub.  So I plan to check that out to learn more about life here from the ex-pat perspective and with the easier acquisition of knowledge with the ability to use English. He tells me that with two young sons he doesn't get to go there much anymore which I told him I can well understand given the time my son and his wife devote to caring for my two young grandsons.

We exchanged cards and he asked me to contact him so we can talk some more as he had little time this day because of an impending flight to Helsinki.  I assured him that I would if, as I hope, I return to Odessa.

And I do hope to come back.  When I arrived, I planned to sleep for a few hours to catch up on the lost sleep on the train but as it was a sunny day and the forecast for coming days didn't look that good (actually the weather has been wonderful). I made myself take just a short nap after a shower all of which made me feel like a new man and I hastened out to walk about and get some photos in the bright sun.

As I walked and saw the grandeur of this great city and its magnificent architecture I wondered that I had not come earlier.  Well, my reasons are it's a bit of a hike from my Lviv base and the language they speak here is Russian, not the Ukrainian which I have tasked myself with learning.

Here is a picture of Odessa's most famous building, the Opera House.

Today I walked to see and photo the St. Sophia Cathedral.  St. Sophia is a big deal in this part of the world with the major cathedral here being named after her as are the main Cathedrals in Ukraine's capital, Kiev and across the Black Sea in Turkey's capital. Istanbul.

Then I walked down to the Philharmonic Symphony Hall.  For some reason, they don't publicize their concerts on the Web or at least I couldn't find them so I decided to walk over there just a few blocks (as is everything) from my hotel.



Much to my delight, there was to be a concert this very evening and using my limited Ukrainian I was able to get directed to the ticket office and purchase a ticket.























Following that, I walked down to and along the harbor where I was surprised and very happy to be able to see the famous Potemkin Steps,  famous for the iconic scene in the Soviet propaganda movie "Battleship Potemkin" which a friend told me I must watch when I told her I was coming here.

and I'm glad I did and for the suggestion, as it gave an appreciation and understanding that I would have otherwise lacked.

On my walk the day I arrived, I had been greatly disappointed that I had not been able to see the steps from the walkway above as the view is completely boarded up due to construction.

What's so interesting about the steps is their width decreases from the bottom to the top of the staircase so if you are standing at the bottom the top of the stairs looks much farther to climb than it actually is. Also if you are standing at the bottom of the steps the landings are not visible from that perspective as they are in this picture due to the elevation of my position across the road.

It was hot in the sun particularly as I had walked several miles and so I removed 3 layers: jacket, sweater, and down vest.

Then I thought about returning the way I had come as I was quite tired.   Pressing onward would take me farther from my hotel and mean a longer way back and I didn't know if there was another way to get up to the city with the Potemkin stairs being closed off for the construction.

But, I wanted to see what I might find so on I went and saw a trail leading upwards.  I thought it might be a dead end leading possibly to a private mansion or something and didn't see anyone on the path.  But I decided to try it anyway as it was definitely leading up in the direction I wanted to go and it was nice and cool.

And so I found myself walking in a narrow tranquil forest, a very pleasant peaceful respite from the busy port to my right and the busy city to my left. In my travels, I've found the best experiences seem to come from just wandering.  I doubt any guide book mentions this fine walking trail.

As I climbed upward I passed a few people. So I thought they must be coming from somewhere and I would get to where I wanted to go. Eventually.

Then I came around a bend and the trail led downward.  Uh oh.  I certainly didn't want to have to retrace my steps down and then make the climb up again another way.

But then just around the next bend, there were steps that led upwards and I got to where I wanted to be. Back in the city.

No chairs to sit down here but a nice wall to sit on.  After a brief respite, I considered whether I should return or move farther on.  The farther I went the more of interest I might see but also the longer the return would be.  Then I thought of Uber.

I had a difficult time with Uber here my first two times.  The first, when I arrived at the Lviv airport I previously described here and what happened the second time when I arrived at the Odessa train station was that again I couldn't locate the car and in fact canceled the ride but then reconsidered when I thought the 25 cancellation charge might be in Euros (which it wasn't) and almost immediately upon withdrawing the cancellation found the Uber car and as it was driverless I called to tell the driver, in Ukrainian that I was at his car and he replied in Russian (I assume) where he was up in the station, neither of us understanding the other, but I knew he would have to return to his car and he did and all was well.

Except that on the way his car stalled out and he had to keep pressing the starter button over and over til the engine would stay running which eventually it did and we located my hotel and he indicated I should get out.

He didn't get out and instead kept pressing the starter button as his car stalled.   I thought he was just wanting to get his car running and then would get out but when he did finally get it running he began driving away with my luggage in his trunk!

Fortunately, I was able to flag him down and avert a disaster.  Except that thinking about it later it occurred to me that this is an advantage with Uber as I could call the driver and get him to come back. Well possibly if the language problem could be overcome.

I gave him a 125% tip for all the time (45 minutes) and effort he had earlier spent trying to find me while I was trying to find him.  And lest you think that was extravagant let me tell you the fare was only around 80 cents.  Yes, you read that right. Thus his well-earned tip was just a dollar.

So now, I thought, since it's so cheap going by Uber I can wander as far as my energy will take me and not worry about returning as I can call Uber and if I'm not in a busy place as in my two previous encounters, I should have no problem locating the Uber car which was the major problem in my previous two experiences.

And indeed when I got to the end of my walk I called Uber, the driver arrived in less than 9 minutes and we drove the 15 minutes to the lovely City Garden where they had this wonderful free concert.







I then sat outside at a table with a delicious chocolate drink facing the garden, a perfect place to people-watch on a perfect Sunday in Odessa and I thought of Paris and how it couldn't be better than this and possibly nowhere near as nice, all things considered.

More than enough had occurred on this fine day except I still had a concert to attend and after grabbing a bite to eat walked over to the Philharmonic Hall.

For the price of admission (less than $2) you get to sit anywhere you want in this beautiful symphony hall so I arrived a bit early and found a nice seat in the fifth row on the aisle where I took pictures.



And indeed it was a wonderful concert in a wonderful setting.

The capstone for, and a  perfect ending to - - -

A perfect Sunday in Odessa.

Thanks for reading!