Odessa is a capital city of Odessa region, in Ukraine, a port on Odessa Bay of the Black Sea. Territory is 160 square km. Population 1,122,000 (2006). It is the third largest Ukrainian city after Kiev and Kharkov, a major industrial, cultural, scientific, and resort center in the Northern Black Sea region. Russians, Ukrainians, and Jews predominate in Odessa's cosmopolitan population.
By European standards, Odessa is a young city. It was founded in 1794 by Catherine the Great, when the Russian Queen decided her empire could use a port on the Black Sea.
Odessa has quickly developed. By its hundredth anniversary (1894), Odessa occupied the 4th place in the Russian Empire in size and economic power - after St. Petersburg, Moscow and Warsaw.
Nowadays, Odessa is home to 1.2 million people, and growing. Its development as a seacoast resort community has contributed to a population that has almost tripled over the last hundred years. A mild climate, plenty of beaches, and the Black Sea attract thousands of tourists to Odessa throughout the year, earning it the title of "Southern Palmira."
Deribasovskaya Street is the heart of Old Odessa, with shops ranging from the government meat store to the Levis outlet.
During fair weather, Deribasovskaya is the sight for the best people watching, especially if you stop at one of the numerous cafes with outdoor seating; but after September, the wise go indoors. The City Park (Gorsad) near Preobrazhenskaya Street boasts dozens of craftsmen, strollers and musicians.
Built in 1837 and site of the famous baby carriage scene in Eisenstein's "Battleship Potemkin," the Potemkin Steps are the best place in the city to view the bay and busy harbors. Walk along the yellow-bricked Primorskjj Boulevard and note monuments to Aleksander I, Soviet generals and a British frigate which grounded off shore during the Crimean War. At the bottom of the steps is the city's brand new passenger ship terminal and convention center.
At the Primorskij Boulevard's west end note the (pre-revolutionary) governor's palace, which incidentally was heavily damaged in 1854 when the British and French bombarded it. Count Vorontsov built a Grecian collonade which overlooks the harbor and also provides a fine view of the bay.
Next to the palace is the Tyoschin Most, a foot bridge built over a gorge by a Communist functionary in the 1950s either so his mother-in-law could visit him more easily or so she would not have an excuse to stay overnight, depending on which version of the story you choose to believe. The bridge is a traditional sight where newly weds have their pictures taken.
Once home to Odessa's wealthy merchants, Frantsuskij Boulevard now is home to numerous sanitoria, but the cobblestones and acacia trees are most reminiscent of Old Odessa.
More than 400 km of catacombs are buried beneath Odessa. Both partisans and smugglers have used them over the years, and the part of the catacombs which resistance fighters used in 1941 is open to the public. Located some 35 km outside of town, the partisan catacomb bus leaves (as of this writing) daily from the bus kiosk across Volzhynskij street from the train station at 10 a.m., except weekends. An easier way to find the bus is to ask at the information window in the train station The trip takes half a day and costs 5 hryvnas for the Russian-language version. The bus is not air-conditioned.
The Odessa Privoz is one of the biggest farmers' markets in the world and rivals those in lstanbul and Mexico City. As the saying goes, you can find anything up to and including nuclear devices at the Privoz, but a better description is everything that is edible and in season in the ClS, plus a whole lot more. Although lanes are devoted to construction materials, clothes and consumer goods, the Privoz is best shopped for food. Beware of pickpockets. Haggling is expected, but a lower-stress approach is to comparison shop.
Odessa's beach, which actually is made up of several beaches running some 20 km or more, possesses a sea wall and small-scale eating and drinking establishments. During the summer, particularly the Lanzheron, Otrada and Delfin beaches are wall-to-wall people, but solitude seekers can find quiet by walking farther.
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