ukraine: odessa

I had an open weekend, so I decided to revisit another city in Ukraine. This was my third visit to Odessa, in southern Ukraine.

I had booked myself onto a night train from Kyiv, walking from school to the train station in order to catch the train on time. The train left on time, as most Ukrainian trains do.

Despite leaving on time, the train was just over an hour late in arriving the next morning in Odessa. I didn't mind, since it was supposed to arrive at 0500 but actually arrived around 0615. The late arrival saved me sitting around the train station for an hour, waiting for sunlight.

I took photos of the train station, since this one is pretty grand. It is also quite busy, with plenty of cars and taxis in front, and people walking every which way.

I followed the map and walked straight up the street in front of the station, called Pushkin Street. Odessa was once the third largest city in the Russian Empire, and still has some of the old grace. Sadly, many of the buildings haven't been kept up very well, but you can see what used to be. I really wished I had a ladder and a proper camera and editing software. I took heaps of photos even without all that.

At one point a guy a few years younger than me came up to me and asked for money. I said no, several times. He kept asking/telling me to give him money, I kept saying no, and trying to ignore him. He then called me a 'b***h when he finally walked away. I rarely give money to strangers or beggars, but I can pretty well guarantee that yelling at me and intimating physical aggression are not going to get me to give you money. Argh.

Along the way I stepped into a church, which was in the middle of a Saturday morning service. Do services always happen this early on a Saturday morning? Heaps of people were coming in with bags of bread, then they put candles into the bread when it was sittingo n a table. Is this part of the season of Easter?

Further along the street I passed the Philharmonic Theater, which is a pretty impressive building. The inside wasn't open, which wasn't a surprise at that hour. Maybe I can figure out a way to get inside without seeing a performance?

When I got to the end of Pushkin Street I caught a glimpse of the opera building. It's a pretty magnificent building, an iconic spot in Ukraine. Since it was early on a Saturday morning there were very few people around and I was able to take a photo without anyone else in the frame.

Nearby is one of the many museums of the city, not open at that hour.

I kept walking, and found my way to a statue of Catherine the Great (Katarina the 2^nd,) and the other founders of the city, in the middle of a traffic circle.

My walk took me over a bridge (that crossed a street, not water,) and to the building in which my accomodation was located. Just like many other buildings in the country, it is a big building, with many entrances.

I called the phone number listed on my booking to figure out how to get to the right entry, and found my way inside.

I stayed inside for a couple hours, warming up and relaxing. In the hallway I discovered the (fake) crocodiles who were 'guarding' my room. (Why this place had crocodile statues in the hallway I do not know.)

I got ready to walk again, and when I got outside I discovered it had started to rain. Argh. Not heavy rain, but still really annoying. Rain is by far my least favourite weather to deal with while traveling.

I started walking in the direction from which I'd come to get to my first sight of the day. I didn't have to go far, though it took me a few minutes to find the entrance. The guidebook listed it as a 'house of scientists' but I was attracted more by the photos than by the name. Like the building with the same name in Lviv, the rooms promised interior design beauty.

The outer door wasn't open, and I didn't see hours listed anywhere, but I decided to try anywho. When I walked in, I found two ladies sitting in a coat check area. I indicated that I wanted to look around, they didn't look happy. Was I there when I shouldn't have been?

They were sitting in the coat check area, which didn't seem like an obvious place to hang out, so who knows.

Since I didn't know if there were open hours, I just stood and waited. The lady gave me a number and I handed over the money. It was probably more than it should've been, but I didn't feel like fighting. She seemed really surprised that I was there by myself, not with a tour group.

She took me up the stairs and unlocked the door. Then she left me alone, and went back down to her friend.

I immediately got out my camera and started clicking away. The first room you see when you enter has big windows, goldish coloured paint in areas, etc... It's beautiful. I went into another room, this one decorated in red. Yet another room was also red, this one with a beautifully decorated piano.

As I was walking out of this room the lady from downstairs came into the room and seemed shocked that I was taking photos. She said I hadn't said I wanted to take photos, that that cost extra. The price she quoted was crazy high, I wasn't about to pay that much for photos. I walked through the remaining couple of rooms, thankfully they weren't quite as beautiful, so I didn't feel like I was missing out on photos.

The lady stayed with me as I walked through these last couple of rooms, presumably to make sure I didn't take photos. Argh.

I got back out on the street and continued my walk. My next stop was a building called the building with Atlanteans. Two statues, holding up the world, underneath a balcony, are the photo everyone takes. It's a good photo, but that's about it. Sadly, the rest of the building is not in good shape; you can see where the paint is peeling and everything is just old.

My next stop was what I thought was Vorontsov Palace. It turns out I was wrong. What I thought was the palace was actually called the Colonnade.

As the name indicates, it is a bunch of columns. Despite the rain, I wasn't the only one out exploring, I had to wait my turn. I wasn't necessarily patient about it, but I did wait. A couple girls had an umbrella, which I wished I had, as it would've looked really good in a photo. (Gray skies, white columns, the umbrella was a great pop of colour.)

The building that actually is the palace has Arabic written in a couple places, and didn't look open to the public. Argh. Why do apps and books list sights when they're not open?

More walking took me to what I wanted to see next. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. This set of stairs was closed off at the top, being renovated I think. Argh.

I think the sign said the steps would be open in May, but I'm not really sure.

Potempkin Stairs are well known because they were featured in a movie years and years ago. I haven't seen the movie, but I've been told there is a scene when a baby buggy goes bouncing all the way down the stairs. The stairs are an optical illusion, so they look as if they go straight down the whole way, instead of widening as most stairs look like they do.

Near the top of the stairs is a statue of the Duke de Richeliu, who was a man beloved by Odessans back in the day. I don't know why.

I walked more, ending up at an area called the City Garden. It isn't really much of a garden, argh. There are some green areas, but no special landscaping. There is a gazebo in the middle of everything, but that's about it. My photo looked decent only because of the clouds.

One side of City Garden is bordered by a pedestrian street.

This street took me past bars and restaurants and cafes and shops. One of the restaurants had a statue of a bull in front. I wouldn't have thought of it as anything special, but it was covered in flowers. How often are the flowers changed?

I walked back in the other direction, taking a couple more photos. Both of these were of people from books well known in Ukraine. I don't remember the name of the guy on a bench, but the other photo is from the 12 chairs story.

My next sight was a church. No matter how many of these I see, in countries all over the world, they still fascinate me. This particular church was big, and in the middle of another park. The outside of the church is dark yellow, but isn't very exiting.

I put on my headscarf and walked in. The inside of the church on the other hand is absolutely lovely. Mostly white, with a lovely ceiling, large windows letting in heaps of light, and gold iconostases in the front. I could tell immediately that my neck was going to get a workout from me looking up and around and up and around.

Even though I'm not Orthodox, the atmosphere of this church felt quite welcoming to me. I loved the colours of the church, and I loved the chandeliers. I stayed inside the church longer than I normally do because I liked it so much.

I walked through a place called the Passage, basically a building with a mall of sorts.

The architecture of the interior walkway is totally awesome. Skylights line the entire ceiling, and there are statues leaning off the walls. It's just a mall, but it's really pretty. I stopped into a tiny cafe in one corner and took a break. It's not as if I'd walked a long way, but I was cold and hungry. Tea and macaroons was definitely the way to go.

I started walking again, making my way back to the train station by following another street. I stopped into a couple supermarkets along the way, for more snacks. I took photos of more old but pretty buildings, and admired others. I walked past another church, the old synagogue, and the Arabic center/mosque.

I noticed that security folks were standing outside the synagogue and the Arabic center. Are people behaving inaapropriately at religious sights a thing in Odessa?

Near the train station is a church everyone sees when they leave the train station. St Panteleimon has gold domes, and is not a separate building.

To get into the church, you climb a couple flights of stairs. I put on my headscarf again, and walked in. Immediately I noticed that the center of the sanctuary was being renovated. There was scaffolding around the middle, basically blocking it off. Amazingly, a service of some kind was still taking place along the side aisles of the church. I stayed at the back, staying out of the way.

From there I walked all the way back to my room to drop off a couple bottles of water. They were heavy, my shoulder was starting to hurt.

After that I walked to an Indian restaurant for dinner. At least, that's where I thought I was going. When I got there, I found a sign on the door saying it was closed, argh.

I think the sign gave a reason for the closing, but I don't understand enough Russian to know what it said. It didn't give any dates, so I don't know when it closed, or when it would opem again. I was hugely disappointed, as I'd really liked this restaurant the last time I was in Odessa.

Since I was in the mood for Indian food, I found another Indian restaurant listed on an app, and made my way there. It wasn't nearly as good, but oh well. After dinner I went back to my room and fell asleep rather quickly.

The next morning I woke up early and wasted the morning doing a whole lot of nothing. This is my typical weekend travel behaviour, even though I hate that I waste so much time behaving this way. Argh.

I packed up my stuff and checked out, which seemed to surprise the lady who ran the place. I hadn't checked, but I assumed check out time was around noon, so I needed to get going. The lady let me leave my bag behind the front desk, which was nice.

It wasn't raining that day, thank goodness. I made my way back toward the area with the statue of Catherine the Great, and found a falafel restaurant there. It wasn't big, more like a fast food falafel/shwarma kind of place. They made juice straight from the fruit, it was good.

My first stop of the day was the Museum of Western and Oriental Art. I'd noticed it the day before, while walking up Pushkin Street.

The entrance was pretty, and I was happy as soon as I walked in. The ticket price wasn't big, and I checked my coat. The ticket lady asked me if I planned to take photos, I answered in the affirmative. She told me I could only use my iphone, which didn't make any sense to me, but oh well.

The museum itself is on the second floor, so I walked upstairs. The first room is grand, with a great ceiling. The ceiling was awesome, with guilded gold everywhere. There was some art on display in the room as well, but I didn't pay any attention to it because I liked the decor of the room so much.

The next two rooms were lovely as well, with more art on display. There were also several items of old furniture on display.

From there I went through the remaining five or six rooms of the museum which were very bland in comparison. The focus was entirely on the art displayed on the walls of each room. The walls were painted simply, a different colour in each room. I'm not a huge fan of art museums, but I really liked this one.

Like other museums, this one had an attendant in every other room or so. I assume when traffic is low they turn off the lights.

Back out on the street I continued my walk. The next place took a lot longer to get to, I walked all the way to the beach. Well, one of the beaches in the area. Odessa is more of a summer town, as there are beaches all along the coast, with clubs in nearby areas.

The first beach was close to a set of cable car like chairs, which were tempting just because I like those sorts of things. I didn't see them moving though, and since it was only mid March, I'm not sure whether they were working yet.

I really ought to go back to a beach town when it is a lot warmer.

As I got to the beach I walked to the water just to put my feet in, and say I'd been in the Black Sea. I found a pier and took a couple photos, then got back on a path that was parallel to the beaches, going through park areas. The path was pretty well developed, with lines indicating direction and even separations for pedestrians versus bikers.

At one point I was walking in the pedestrian lane and got honked at by a biker, which annoyed me. Apparently it annoyed the couple in front of me as well, as they yelled at the biker for not staying in his lane. (I don't speak or understand nearly what I should, but sometimes I can figure it out and it's funny.)

I passed by another cute small beach, this one with a couple bigger rocks. With the sky being various shades of gray, I set up a mini photo shoot for myself. Time delayed camera settings are awesome.

More walking eventually brought me to the area of beach and clubs that most people in Ukraine know, Arcadia. I realized really fast that it had been redeveloped since I'd been there 5 years ago. I admit I didn't like the redevelopement, it didn't feel much like Ukraine.

At that point I was pretty chilly and tired, so I found a cafe and ordered a giant hot chocolate. It wasn't nearly warm enough, even though I'd asked for extra hot. I know that baristas don't like it when things are ordered extra hot because they say the milk will get burned, but if I can drink it like cold milk, then it isn't hot enough. Hot chocolate is supposed to be hot!

I found the tram stop, and hopped on the next one that brought me back to the train station area in Odessa. I could've walked it, but I wasn't in the mood. From the train station I walked back to my hotel (which was walking enough,) and grabbed my pack.
From there I walked through City Garden again, the gazebo was lit up at night; kinda pretty to see. I also walked back to the big church, it was lit up at night as well. Since the exterior of the church wasn't all that extraordinary and noteworthy, I was more interested in the groups of locals that had gathered in one area and were playing games like chess. Very cool to watch that for a little while. 

Since I have a tendency to stick with what I know and like, I went back to the Indian restaurant from the night before for another go round. The food was again decent, and I was a happy camper as I walked back to the train station in time to catch my night train.

The train left on time, and I arrived in Kyiv the next morning safe and sound.

If I can find time to take several days to spend on a beach I'm definitely going back to Odessa. I'd also be happy to go back in order to see the catacombs that are somewhere near the city.

Ukraine: Crimea: Sevastopol and yalta

The next weekend was also a long weekend because of another holiday...yippee!!!

I made sure to book train tickets well in advance, as I knew Crimea would be an area people want to visit, I didn't want to be stuck in kyiv with nowhere to go...

My train to Sevastopol took ages, almost 18 hours!! it wasn't expensive though...my arrival was late, but I didn't have any specific plans, so that didn't matter...I took a cab to my hotel, the driver charged me way too much...argh...he also gave me his card, and told me to call if i wanted a ride to go anywhere in sevastopol...um, NO...

After showering and getting rid of the feeling of travel, I started walking...I'd asked the hotel lady for directions, and though it took me a while to find a bus stop for the right bus, I eventually figured it out...

My first stop was a set mod Genoese ruins called chersonese/kersonese...the ruins aren't well protected, people walk everywhere...the ruins weren't super impressive, but I loved the view of the water...blue water going all the way to the horizon...I had fun taking photos and watching people...is it really necessary to take glamour shots next to ancient ruins? there are small rock beaches, and a few people in the water...my favourite part of the ruins was the huge number of red flowers all over...they are beautiful, but if they are not taken care of, they will destroy the ruins...

I took the same bus back into the city centre, then kept walking...as it was a holiday weekend, there were people out everywhere...I watched part of a concert by retired Russian sailors...it was the first time i've experienced such russian patriotism...there were plenty of cars driving through the city, honking and waving russian flags...
i noticed that the ice cream i often buy in kyiv costs twice as much here!!
wandering up this street gave me views of some of the russian ships in the port, and a couple memorials...i don't know what/who was being memorialized...

i had dinner at a bistro...(this is not a french word, though many people think so...it's a russian word that means fast, which is why bistros all over the world serve food quickly)...the food would've been awesome if it hadn't had so much mayonnaise slathered all over...
instead of grabbing a bus to get back to my hotel, i walked...it was long, but nice:)
the only problem with going to bed early is that you tend to wake up early as well...really early...which is not a great thing when you are on holiday, and want to have a lay in!! the price of my hotel included breakfast at a cafe next to the hotel...this was unexpected, but nice, of course...

i took a marshrutka to the town of balaklava...you have probably heard the name referring to the 'mask' some people wear while skiing, (or in cold climates during winter) and this town is where they were invented...little old ladies made them for soldiers fighting in wars in cold climates...i wasn't sure where to get off the marshrutka, so i got off when a heap of others got off...(i figured out later i could've stayed on a bit longer, but oh well)...
i walked for a while, not entirely sure i was going in the right direction, and eventually saw the entrance i was looking for...visitors go to balaklava mostly to see the former (secret, i think?) russian submarine base that is built into a hill...

it wasn't warm inside the tunnels of this base...quite chilly, actually...the sailors who stayed there must've worn warm clothes all the time, even in the middle of summer...the tunnels and various rooms had displays, with some of the signage in english...one docent kind of guy spoke a little english, and was eager to show me around...
on the other side of the bay (balaklava is built around a bay) are some ruins...the only way for me to get to the ruins was to walk all the way around the bay...there is no bridge across the water...
the other side of the bay was much more touristy...there were souvenir stalls the whole way along the water...i admit to giving in and buying a mug...(i'm always thrilled when i find something without english)...

i climbed up the hill to the ruins...they weren't anything special, but i did enjoy the views of the water on the other side...there was also a nice view over the entire bay...it turned out the climb up the hill was easier than the way back down...i slid quite a bit on the way down, falling on my bum a couple times...ooops...
i caught the marshrutka back to a station of sorts, and changed to another that took me to a place called cape fiolent...it's pretty, and the views of the water are nice...there are 700+ steps down to a small beach, which i opted not to do...not because the exercise would be too much, but because the beach was so very small, and i didnt think i would be able to see more from the bottom...there is a lovely monastery at the top of the hill...i wouldn't mind living there, just for the view alone:)
at the marshrutka station i bought a donut (well, sortof) and hopped on a marshrutka headed to the center of sevastopol...i walked back to my hotel and realized i was quite sunburned...ooops...

the next morning i didn't get out the door of my hotel nearly as fast as i should have...i ended up having to wait until 11 for a bus to yalta...i think the ride was around two hours, which meant i didn't arrive until 1300 or so...then it took me quite a while to find my hostel...the google map i'd printed had the wrong address marked, it was very wrong...i ended up walking quite a ways...it turned out not to be a normal hostel...i think it was a teaching hostel, if that makes any sense? hard to explain, but it definitely wasn't the normal hostel i expected...there was only one plug in a room with 14 beds! there was no communal room, no computers, etc...i was able to schedule dinner, which was nice...the bed was okay, i slept well...being so far from the city centre meant it was very quiet...

it took me a while to find the correct marshrutka to take me to the cable car at ay petri...last year, when i visited crimea, taking a ride on this cable car was something i missed, and really wanted to do during this trip...i was surprised at the price (60 grivna each way i think?) and i wasn't thrilled with the experience...maybe because i didnt give myself much time...if i had had more time i would've been able to hike/walk around the area up top, and explore more...the area just outside where you get off the cable car is filled with souvenir stalls...some with knickknacks, some with food...i walked through the area, then took the cable car back down...the skies were clear, but the views weren't as awesome as i had expected...

i caught the next marshrutka to a place called alupka...i don't know if it is a town or village or something along those lines?
i walked through a park to vorontsov palace...since i like to see historical places, i really wanted to see this palace...this was another place i'd missed during my first crimea visit...churchill and his delegation stayed here during the yalta conference of WWII...i liked this palace in that i was able to wander around on my own, i wasn't stuck taking a tour in a language i didn't understand...each room had a sign with information (in english and russian!) about the room...one of the rooms were more interesting than others, one was an indoor garden...i guess that was quite the rage when the palace was built...

there was haze, so i wasn't able to see the water; the palace is built in gardens that overlook the water...if i had had more time, i would've followed a trail that goes for several kilometers along the water...(my next visit to crimea will be planned better, with more attention paid to timing)...
when i got back to my hostel, the lady got my dinner ready, it was tasty:)
after dinner i walked into town to use the free wifi of mcdonalds...there was another chick in my room, already asleep...
the next morning i woke up before my alarm went off...the other chick was still asleep! i walked to the bus station, and bought an orange dreamsicle for breakfast...healthy, i know:)...it was at this bus station that i finally found postcards for sevastopol...why was i unable to find these in sevastopol itself?

on my bus to simferopol the lady sitting next to me seemed put out that i wanted to put my own bag under my feet, and she had to move her bag...did she think i would keep my bag on my lap while her bag was under my feet? this bus took me straight to the simferopol train station, which was a relief...not all the buses from yalta to simferopol do so, i wasn't keen to figure out how to get from the city centre to the train station...
in my coupe car back to kyiv there were three others, i think they'd been camping for days...based on how they smelled, i don't think they had showered for days...yuck...at least the train back to kyiv went on time...