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!

Solo But Not Alone

It was long ago and far away.

Around 1993 or so.  On a street corner in Sydney, Australia.

My memory of this encounter is vague.  But I think I'm right in recalling he was with his family and we were waiting for a bus when he spoke to me.

He had a broad Australian accent, was missing quite a few teeth and my impression was they were visiting from the Outback.



I'm sure he asked me where I was from and I know he asked me the next question.  One I get all the time when I travel :

"Are you alone?"

I know this because I clearly remember the next thing he said was --

"Couldn't get anyone to come with you eh?"

Well he was being friendly and joking, but in the midst of acclimatizing myself, having recently landed from a 15 hour trans-Pacific flight and suffering the disorienting dizziness of sleep deprivation and jet lag I found his comment a bit disturbing.

And also, if truth be known, I was a little uncertain about traveling alone at that point in my life.

That uncertainty is now, however, long gone.  I love traveling by myself.  Why?  Well because I can do whatever I want to do whenever I want to.  Or not.  No compromising with another human being.

And my focus is on my surroundings. And I meet people I would not otherwise meet, having no one else to engage with.

Will this change with age and growing fragility?  Perhaps.  But on the other hand the need to sleep-in or rest-up increases too and having the flexibility to deal with whatever happens more than compensates.  Or so I've found to be true.   At least so far.

I much prefer the spontaneity of having the day's events determined without a plan. Often on the spur of the moment.  Some of  my best experiences were totally unplanned and unexpected.

Like wandering down a narrow street in Lviv, Ukraine, hearing music from a building, entering and discovering musicians practicing in the hallways of the school which teaches the great classical performers I was hearing in this city, the cultural capital of Ukraine.


Traveling with a group on a guided tour does not appeal to me.  Except were I to travel into the remote mountains of Pakistan like the woman whom I met on a flight to Istanbull.

She told me about the members of the group with whom she was traveling. Amazingly diverse in age and homelands.   I imagine that could be as interesting and perhaps on par with the experience of meeting locals which is far more likely when you travel alone.

Speaking of Pakistan, last night my Uber taxi driver was from that part of the world Nepal as was the Pakastani Restaurant manager where I had lunch today.  Both very nice guys who got into this country, I guess, before Trump is in position to drop the iron curtain.

I had interesting conversations with both of them. I learned from the Driver that Kathmandu, the Nepalese capital, is very crowded something I probably wouldn't enjoy in spite of its alluring name.  And from the Restaurateur that their language Urdu is easy to learn once you learn the far different alphabet. I doubt that's true tho I'm certainly going to check it out.

The restaurant guy told me that his son whom you see in this picture doesn't speak Urdu at home even tho his father and mother do.  No doubt the greater influence of TV. But when they visit Pakistan for a couple of months the boy does speak Urdu.

The Restaurateur tells me that one of the great things about learning Urdu is that, with it, you can
communicate, verbally at least, with Pakistanis, Indians, Arabs and Iranians.  A part of the world that I have yet to explore.  A really huge part of the World!

I love learning Ukrainian in large part because it uses the Cyrillic alphabet which to me is visually beautiful and intriguing.  This is, I think, good for aging brains.  Learning a foreign language is supposed to guard against or postpone the onset of Alzheimer's.

And what a delight to have the light bulb go on above my head when in Ukraine I sound out a sign in Cyrillic and recognize the word is the same word in English as sometimes happens.

Like a door opening into a hidden world.

It's a bit tricky.  You have to rewire your brain (through practive) to have it sound "N" when you see "H", "V" when you see "B" and "R" when you see "P".

Some of the letters are really cool.  At least to me.  A backwards "R" ("Я") (pronounced "ya") is  the letter for "I" as in "I go to the store".

And one of my favorites the elegant "Д", an "A" on stilts is pronounced like a "D".

And there's  "Ч". "У". "Ш". "Щ" which look like English "Y" and "W" but are not at all the same, while the Cyrillic "K" and "M" look like English  "K" and "M" and indeed are the same.

And there are a bunch more interesting letters as you can see from this colorful chart. A total of 33 vs the English language of just 26.

One of the (many) reasons I continue to go to Ukraine is to get a return on my effort to learn the language.  It feels like I've come a long way and at the same time like I have'nt gotten very far. I think both of these statements may be true.  The alphabet and several hundred words and a bunch of phrases.  Were I to spend a year in Ukraine I think I could become quite fluent as the Pakistani Restaurateur says people become in Urdu who spend a year in Pakistan.

And although I don't expect to spend a whole year there, each time I do go, I learn more and see I've grown in capability from learning there as well as from studying at home.

As we get older, make an effort to hold back the clock, stay young or even possibly reverse aging it seems to me learning is a fine way to achieve growth the very opposite of decline.

And I believe that learning in itself has great valuein terms of health and well being whatever the subject and whether or not there is an economic or environmental need . Most important it can and should be fun.

While I travel solo, I am never alone.  Or at least not for long because I write this Blog.

Without the Blog I would not enjoy traveling alone, away from home.  At least not for long periods of time as I do. Typically 6 weeks or so.

As I travel I am commenting to you in my mind and later when I write.  About what I see and experience,  So this sharpens my attention and gives a purpose to my journey, that it would otherwise lack.

And these ongoing conversations with you make me feel I am not alone. Not at all.  Except when I haven't blogged for a few days.

So I really appreciate the comments I got to my last Blog post.  The emails and especially the comments made in the comment section of the Blog which are there for all to read.

And to those who urged me to continue writing I say Thanks!  You too!

Keep writing those comments!

And to those who haven't yet.  Give it a try.  Just think. Your thoughts can and will be read by readers all over the world.   Say whatever is on your mind.  Just click on the link at the bottom of this post and write whatever you're thinking.

Thanks for reading.  And thanks for commenting!