Three unforgettable days in sunny Odessa
If they say "nice" to you in Odessa, don't flatter yourself that you are welcome, maybe they just want to wash their hands. And if a stranger turns to you and asks “what do you think about this life for yourself? ” - know that you are in Odessa.
For me, Odessa is a great Ukrainian city, the city of Isaac Babel, Ivan Bunin, Valentin Kataev, and in general, it seems to me that Odessa is a model of democracy and peace. And by the will of fate, she is nearby. Therefore, when another anniversary loomed ahead, it was trivial to sit at the table and listen for the hundredth time to the same wishes, realizing all the sadness of the event, there was absolutely no desire, but there was a desire to feel something very warm and festive, a thought arose, and not to meet me with Odessa?
My idea was immediately supported by my daughter and we, without hesitation, or rather without thinking at all, quickly booked a hotel and went to the pearl by the sea, more precisely, to the sea, to Odessa. Although it was the beginning of April, nature was just waking up, Odessa was already breathing in spring, there was a heady aroma of cherry blossoms in the air, churchkhela was being sold on the way to the beach, and all conscious citizens were already walking on the beaches themselves. To sea! Well, of course, to the sea! But this is tomorrow, and today we were tempted by an excursion from the agency “Here, Here” with the promising name “Multinational Odessa” and the assurance to tell about the multinational city in the most beautiful details and view it from the most beautiful angles. The tour consisted of 4 parts and included sections: German, Ukrainian, Greek and Jewish Odessa. Each part was given 1 hour and its own special guide. We started, as they say, “for health”, and the German part of the tour went smoothly, examined the old Lutheran Church, listened to the Germans, for their huge contribution to the development of industry in Odessa, the guide Stanislav Galinovsky did not pronounce the letter “r” very colorfully, in general, somehow captivated and charmed.
So we learned why Lutheran Lane and Nemetskaya Sloboda are located in the city center, and also where Lustdorf came from here. And that, it turns out, the best beer was from Sanzebacher, and the best champagne was produced at the Roederer factory. And yet, it was a German by birth, Nikolai Geft, who helped liberate Odessa in 1944. He was a legendary intelligence officer and was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for his help in the liberation of Odessa.
Next came Greek Odessa. Here, things didn’t go so actively, either the guide Alexander Stadnitsky was a little tired, or it wasn’t his day at all, which he decided to make not ours either, but the Greek part of the tour somehow didn’t work out - neither enthusiasm nor zest, no interest - in general, not hooked. Well, remember a couple of facts, of course. For example, that the roots of the city go deep into antiquity and the name itself leads us, according to one of the versions, to Homer's Odyssey. And in the details of the architecture of Odessa there are a lot of ancient symbols, and there are a lot of Greek words in the Odessa dictionary. And that the most beautiful square in Odessa is Greek Square (although it seems to me that Catherine's Square is the most beautiful).
It is located on the corner of Grecheskaya Street and Aleksandrovsky Prospekt. It is named so because it was built mainly by the Greeks. In the center of the square is the so-called "Round House", formerly Mayurov's house.
In general, we looked like some nooks and crannies, and by the end of the tour we were clearly bored, but then it finally ended and a new guide Andrey Dembitsky joined us and we revived somewhat, since then came our native "Ukrainian Odessa", but as it turned out, we were delighted too early. If Oleksandr didn’t really want to talk, but at least walked around the square and streets with us, Andriy didn’t even want to walk categorically, moreover, he probably introduced himself as a lecturer in the audience and started giving us a lecture about what contribution Ukraine made to development of Odessa. It was very boring and not interesting to listen to his monotonous mumbling, we started to fall asleep on the go, people began to grumble and quietly disperse, my daughter also began to pull my sleeve, they say, let's get out of here. The only thing that stopped me was that it was a story about Ukrainian Odessa, and we still listened to it to the end, without moving a millimeter from our spot. Therefore, I turn to “Here, Here”: Listen here (maximum attention, important information), your lure (a tempting offer promising benefits) causes the following at its end: “Chu” (I sincerely hoped that the ending of your story would be different) . Question: "From when" (since when) did your luxury excursions turn into "Oiwei" (puzzle bordering on indignation)?
Well, a couple of words for my native Ukrainian Odessa. After all, Ivan Franko and Lesya Ukrainka loved this city, the famous Alexander Dovzhenko worked here. And the first settlers in Slobodka and Peresyp were Ukrainian peasants, and even before the founding of Odessa, Ukrainian Cossacks went to Khadzhibey. The only interesting moment of the lecture was the story about the outstanding figures of Odessa - father and son Ivan Lipa and Yuriy Lipa. It was they who created the Ukrainian brotherhood and laid the foundation for the idea of Ukrainian nationalism. It is they who own the famous slogan "Ukraine for Ukrainians" and the phrase "From Xiang to Don, from the Caucasus to the Carpathians. " In this story, Andrei was at his best, at least I remembered something from his lecture.
Well, the very clever part of the tour is over, and when we saw Alena Kaletinskaya, we realized that the beautiful part was about to begin. Alena, just the same, saved the situation and pulled us out of a state of lethargic sleep. And she fascinated us with Jewish Odessa, and she succeeded! This one part could easily replace the entire tour. Such love for Jewish culture, along with in-depth knowledge of history, was imbued with the speech of the guide, that we also involuntarily touched such a difficult fate of this people, which made up a third of the population over the 150 years of the existence of multinational Odessa. We heard about the life of Isaac Babel, Sholom Aleichem, Mikhail Zhvanetsky, as well as about criminal personalities - Mikhail Vinnitsky and Sofya Bluvshtein and many other representatives of this great and ancient people, who, it would seem, in Jewish Odessa, have always been trampled and persecuted . One word Holocaust gives us goosebumps and chills. And they endured this horror of war and fascism.
Here we come to the house of Lucy Kaliki, who lived with her family for 820 days in the basement of this house number 7 in Nechiporenko Lane. Later, she wrote a book about that heroic confrontation with death "820 days in the dungeon", which is read all over the world so that the horror of that terrible war will not be repeated.
Yes, on such a sad note we ended our tour of multinational Odessa. As they say, finished "for the rest. "
The cost of the tour is UAH 250 per person.
According to the guides, the places were distributed as follows: 1st place: Alena Kaletinskaya. 2nd place: Stanislav Galinovsky. 3rd place: Alexander Stadnitsky. Well, we didn’t work out with Andrey Dembitsky at all. But in principle, we learned a lot of new information about Odessa, looked at it from a slightly different angle and realized that sometimes excursions from “There, Here” are two big differences.
We are heading to the hotel, where we settled very quickly (in 3 minutes) in the afternoon in order to mark the beginning of the holiday and discuss what we heard. A few words about the hotel, if I may. Hotel "Alexandrovsky" has a very good location, it is located on the corner of Alexander Avenue and Jewish street. The location is very good, it seems to be in the center and there is no city noise. Opposite the hotel is the famous Knizhka market. The hotel is very decent, both the rooms and the hotel restaurant. I will not describe in detail, since I posted a review about this hotel separately on the site. I can just safely recommend it.
Well, glasses of nolita and drink for the beginning of the holiday and for sunny Odessa!
The next morning promised fine weather, my head didn't hurt yet, the breakfast was quite satisfying, the waiters were well-trained and courteous.
Well, breathe through your nose, you are at sea!
True, we had to walk to the sea, but after all, we will go along the most beautiful historical part of Odessa (we even took a map at the reception) and look into all corners, parks, courtyards, galleries, museums and restaurants, in general, to all places, each of which is saturated with the spirit of history and the soul of the masters who created it all.
You can, of course, take a ride on a sightseeing bus, but that will not "be that effect"
It was the Annunciation, and of course, God himself ordered to first go to the Cathedral Square in the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral. Of course, there was no time to listen to the service, but we were able to see the beauty of the Cathedral.
Well, let's start from the beginning - Deribasovskaya is not a street, it's a visiting card of Odessa.
"Do you know how to get to Deribasovskaya? " - “You don’t know how to get to Deribasovskaya? So I feel sorry for you. " By the way, here you can have an inexpensive lunch at the Utochkino buffet, the prices are quite democratic, despite the fact that this is Deribasovskaya.
"And in the city garden, all flutes and horns, and the bandmaster wants to fly up. " A small but very cozy city garden is located here on Deribasovskaya.
Take a seat on the bench next to Utyosov
And also on the famous twelfth chair, feeling diamonds like Kisa Vorobyaninov
Walking further through the city, in which, by the way, it is impossible to get lost, we come to one of the most beautiful theaters in Europe - the Opera House.
We walk further and look around, without exaggeration, here every house is unique, every street and alley is saturated with history, no matter where you turn, and no matter which side you enter.
Be sure to check in at Malaya Arnautskaya, where all the smuggling in Odessa is done
Look into Passage
Walk along Gogol Street
Feel like Vera Kholodnaya on Preobrazhenskaya Street
"- Rose, how do you like my new dress?
- Sorry Sarah, I'm in a hurry, I'm not in the mood for scandals now! "
Be sure to take a walk along Pushkinskaya Street
And finally, count the notorious 192 steps of the Potemkin Stairs.
It was too lazy to go down, so we admired the seaport from above. If it had been a little warmer, it would have been possible to take a boat ride, but a light breeze was blowing from the sea and somehow it didn’t feel like a boat at all.
Let's move on. The building of the City Council, a little pretentious, as for me.
Shevchenko Park
Well, finally, we are almost at the goal, i. e. by the sea - we go to Lanzheron beach. They are not yet ready for the opening of the season, but preparations are in full swing - something is being built, repaired, adjusted, enthusiasts are already swimming.
The sea, the sea, the sound of the surf… The light rustle of coastal waves…
On the way, we had lunch at the Kachka tavern, where they have craft beer, as they have their own brewery, but I liked the cocktail better. Lunch was not bad either, everything was fresh.
For dessert, we stopped by the cafes of the Mary-Beri chain. They ordered cheesecakes - honestly, none at all - instead of a curd layer, some kind of ketsyk (piece) of solid viscous starch. The "Mary-Take" network in Odessa disappointed me, in general, Schaub yes, but no.
We also visited the Wax Museum "At Baba Ooty". Well, how can I tell you, Schaub if in Odessa, then "Tyu" (I sincerely hoped that it would be cooler)
(Founder of Odessa, Cardinal Richelieu, on the right)
(Founder of Odessa De Ribas is on the right)
( beautiful Natalya Goncharova)
Some of the exhibits were similar to the historical original, while others evoked the wrong associations.
For example, Utyosov looked like the actor Makovetsky
Kotovsky resembled the artist Klyuev
Boris Godunov looked a bit like Bezrukov
Only Musketeers were alike
And Michael Jackson had similar traits
In general, the museum had a place to be, but not a “fountain” (a well in the courtyard with clean, non-imported water) as they say in Odessa.
And then we run, because we still have a cultural program and His Majesty the Theater is waiting for us.
The theater was TAKIDA, however, as always. After the theater, I no longer felt my legs, but my daughter said that in the evening Odessa we would go to the hotel on foot. True, before that she said that we would now go down French Boulevard to Arcadia. Well, I couldn’t go for that and quickly agreed to a hotel. And here we are from the theater of musical comedy pophali on Aleksandrovsky Prospekt.
The next day I thought I wouldn't be able to walk anymore. But in the morning, my daughter graciously allowed me to go to Arcadia by minibus, and not, as she had planned earlier, to go down French Boulevard on foot. Phew! Well, thank God!
Arcadia is my favorite beach in Odessa
After visiting my beloved Arcadia, we are going to my daughter's favorite place, the zoo.
« Next Stop Privoz! Citizens! Do not make such a garmider at the door! Do not crush living people! Your flounder will not go anywhere from you! A young man wearing a blue cap! If you like this lady so much, then take her and go to the pyrod, otherwise they blocked your entire anus!
No, we did not go to the import, but went to the zoo, which is located immediately after the import. We love all kinds of animals very much, and therefore, in almost every city where we are, we go to the zoo.
Odessa Zoo, although not large in area, is very well-groomed, and all the animals are sleek, beautiful, imposing.
This time we were fascinated by the monkeys, we fed them tangerines, and they were very funny, just like children, they took them out of their hands, sucked the juice, and even one monkey fed the little tangerine.
The zoo has the largest collection of birds, about 70 species.
There is even an elephant, but it was closed in the elephant den and we didn't see it. Many more animals were in winter enclosures, and it was difficult to lure them out of there, so we did not see all the inhabitants of the park, but nevertheless we got to know some.
Very interesting zoo, I can safely recommend it for walking. Here TAKIDA.
After walking around the zoo, we went to bring in. But they didn’t go to the old import, but went to the new one. But here, too, "well wanted" (unreasonably high price of goods). Well, “shoes to buy” (price reduction by the buyer) does not work here. Therefore, go to the old import and bargain there to your heart's content.
From the zoo we went to Deribasovskaya. "I go out, and again on Deribasovskaya. " A celebratory dinner was coming up, and we decided to organize it in the city garden. We found a very nice little restaurant with the same name "City Garden", and it was located in a cozy pavilion in the open air.
Good level restaurant, food is tasty and fresh. We ordered Italian wine, 3 types, we liked pink Pinot Grigio the most.
The Bouffe Bourguignon met the standard, the meat was tender, juicy, the herbs were unobtrusive.
The seafood pasta was ordinary and not particularly impressive
But the usual "Napoleon" was delicious.
That's it, we spent three unforgettable holidays in sunny Odessa! And it will be remembered forever! According to a good tradition, I thank Odessa and the inhabitants of Odessa for their inexhaustible sparkling humor, for the unique flavor of Odessa, but simply for their good mood and hospitality! And I drink to the bottom, for those who are in the sea!
