The first glimmers are deafening on the Black Sea varnish. The port's snorting. In the distance rise the polyglot clamour of the centuries-old Privoz market. Morning trains to Kiev, 500 km to the north, roar ferociously. Odessa is awakening. A city that Empress Catherine II wanted to be western and free from the moment it was founded in 1794, it has never really been either Russian or Ukrainian. Trade, made possible by its free port and the uninterrupted movement of men from the four cardinal points, made it radiant and multiple. Today there are more than a million of them, divided into 130 nationalities, who breathe their character into the arcaded walkways, creating a stunning ethnic mosaic of which gastronomy has become the ambassador. A cosmopolitan stroll through the corridors of a warm and sparkling city.
City of refuge, city of artists
The Dutch architect Franz de Volan designed the checkerboard layout of the Odessa. Along its avenues run rows of houses with ochre, blue or pink pastel facades, punctuated by Art Nouveau or Neo-Renaissance palaces, all with an ounce of decadence. With your nose to the wind, you move around in this picturesque setting with an iodine atmosphere, following the streets named after those they housed: the street of the Albanians, the Jews or the Greeks. The city has always welcomed pariahs or Jews driven out of Moscow, but also craftsmen, merchants and sailors, for whom it became "Odessa-mama". Here, each house has its legend, its story, dark or happy... and its courtyard, where children have fun while their ancestors chat.
Miraculously spared by the Second World War, Odessa's heritage is the pride of its inhabitants. At No. 17 Boulevard des Français, the centenary Mauritanian Arch is enthroned, from which a funicular railway from 1971 runs to Otrada Beach, while Primorski Boulevard - a perfect image of 19th century Russian Empire style - runs along a lazy seashore, with the splendidly carved columns of the Town Hall and the classic Palace of Count Vorontsov from 1828 at its ends. Between the two, the emblematic Potemkin Staircase - immortalized in the film The Battleship Potemkin (1925), recounting the Odessa uprising of 1905 - unfolds its innumerable steps. Deribasovskaya Street is home to the Passage, a shopping mall built in 1900 with a glass vault and baroque casts, at the end of which is the City Garden, its vernissage and monuments to the famous Odessites. This crossroads city, open to the world and beloved of Balzac and Chekhov, saw the birth of many artists: jazzman Leonid Utesoz, the Soviet satirical authors llf and Petrov (Odessa still has some great joke tellers) or Isaac Babel, who through his Tales of Odessa gave the former Jewish quarter of Moldovanka (whose community created Little Odessa, in New York, in the 1970s) its romantic and scoundrel aura. Impossible to escape the imposing Opera House built in 1884. The 500 m² (5,305 sq ft) facade in the Viennese Baroque style - from its roof two muses stand out - presents a mixture of eclectic styles, between Baroque, Rococo and Renaissance. Gorgeous.
Southern sweetness of life
Nicknamed the Ukrainian Marseilles, Odessa shows a gentle Mediterranean way of life. Festivals (the Odessa International Film Festival in particular), galleries and museums give the city an incredible cultural dynamism, but summer brings with it a delicious holiday atmosphere. We wander between peaceful parks and lustful avenues in search of the famous House with a Wall, we try our hand at trading and practising languages at the Privoz or Starokonny Market. There's a rush on the 30 km of city beaches, too. Arcadia's - linked to Langeron's by a shady pedestrian street - or Chkalova's are among the most popular. When night comes, the seaside becomes clubbers' territory, distilling powerful layers of electronic music. In fact, Odessa is renowned throughout Eastern Europe for its phenomenal nightlife.
If winter is the occasion of numerous festivals and spring sees the acacias bloom, autumn coats the city with a soft golden light, inviting onlookers to rush underground to unravel the mystery of the Odessite catacombs, or to linger at the obsolete coffee counters. We will also not hesitate to explore the city's gastronomic offer, a mirror of its cultures, at once Greek, Bulgarian, French and Italian... The pearl of the Black Sea is a compendium of forgotten mysteries that the winds occasionally revive.
Smart info
When? It is a humid continental climate with no dry season that governs the weather in Odessa. Although the winters are rather cold, without going below 0°C, the city is not lacking in charm. However, the summer season is preferred, a blessed time for beach bathing under a radiant sun, with temperatures around 28°C. Spring and autumn are just as pleasant and the city is less populated.
Getting there. Odessa is located about 440 km from the capital Kiev. Count 1 hour of flight time.
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Duration. Odessa is a great place to visit over a long weekend, although a full week is ideal to enjoy it to the fullest. It will also be possible to devote a long stage to him during a stay in Ukraine.
Public. Odessa is a city that suits all kinds of people because of its history and gentle way of life. Lovers of history and architecture, nostalgic walkers, fans of live shows, lazy holidaymakers, artists, gourmets, party-goers... Feels like home in no time!
The plusses. A unique architectural heritage and a dynamic cultural life.
A cosmopolitan city with friendly inhabitants.
A plural gastronomy.
The least. Temperatures a bit cool in winter.
The language barrier. The vast majority of Odessites do quite well in English.
Useful. In order to best prepare for his Ukrainian escapade..
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