Odesa & Southern Ukraine Одеса І Південна Україна
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
©Lonely¨Planet¨Publications¨Pty¨Ltd Odesa & Southern Ukraine Одеса і Південна Україна pop 4.7 million / area 86,300 sq km Why Go? Odesa. .146 This region feels New World much more than Europe. The Around Odesa . 158 flat steppe between the estuaries of the Dnipro and the Danube was only properly colonised after Russian empress Southern Catherine the Great wrestled it from the Turks. Bessarabia . 159 It was indeed touted as the Russian California when im- Bilhorod- migrants from all over Europe poured in to cultivate virgin Dnistrovsky. 160 lands and build the port of Odesa. Greek, Yiddish, Italian Shabo. .160 and German were all spoken here along with Russian and Vylkovo . 161 Ukrainian. Although less multicultural today, Odesa is still perme- ated with porto franco spirit, displaying Jewish humour and French conviviality, along with crumbling mansion houses, Best Places to which line the streets named after settlers’ ethnicities. Eat & Drink To the west, colonists’ heritage lingers next to the bird- ¨¨klarabara (p154) ing paradise of the Danube Delta. In the east, swathes of virgin steppe are preserved on Dzharylhach island and in ¨¨Tavernetta (p154) Askaniya Nova Reserve, which an eccentric German aristo- ¨¨kompot (p154) crat populated with wildebeest and zebras. ¨¨Bernardazzi (p154) ¨¨Dacha (p155) When to Go Odesa °C/°F Temp Rainfall inches/mm Best Places to 30/86 12/300 Stay 20/68 8/200 ¨¨Hotel londonskaya (p153) 10/50 0/32 ¨¨Frederic koklen (p153) 4/100 ¨¨mozart Hotel (p153) -10/14 ¨¨pelikan Tour (p162) -20/-4 0 J F M A M J J A S O N D ¨¨Babushka Grand Hostel (p152) May Smell bloom- Jul Gorge on Oct Arrive in ing lilacs and join delicious fruit time for the bird the vanguard of and watch silent migration in Odesa’s beach- movies on the the impressive bum army. Potemkin Steps. Danube Delta. 146 Odesa this east–west crossroads makes up for that % 048 / pop 1 million with sheer panache, and Odesans are known Odesa (Одеса) is a city straight from litera- across the old USSR for being stylish, funny, ture – an energetic, decadent boomtown. Its savvy and not easily impressed. famous Potemkin Steps sweep down to the Black Sea and Ukraine’s biggest commercial History port. Behind them, a cosmopolitan cast of Catherine the Great imagined Odesa as the characters makes merry among pastel neo- St Petersburg of the south. Her lover, Gen- classical buildings lining a geometrical grid eral Grygory Potemkin, laid the ground- of leafy streets. work for her dream in 1789 by capturing the Immigrants from all over Europe were Turkish fortress of Hadjibey, which previ- invited to make their fortune here when ously stood here. However, Potemkin died Odesa was founded in the late 18th century before work began on the city in 1794 and by Russia’s Catherine the Great. These new his senior commanders oversaw its con- inhabitants gave Russia’s southern window struction instead. The Spanish-Neapolitan on the world a singular, subversive nature. general José de Ribas, after whom the main As well as becoming a duty-free port, Ode- street, vul Derybasivska, is named, built the sa also attracted ordinary holidaymakers harbour. The Duc de Richelieu (Armand with its sunny climate and sandy beaches. Emmanuel du Plessis), an aristocrat flee- True, the city’s appearance grows tattier as ing the French Revolution, became the first you head south past half-empty sanatoriums governor, overseeing the city’s affairs from towards its beachside nightclubs. However, 1803 to 1814. #\ 0 50 km \# Balta Pervomaysk e# 0 25 miles #] Zaporizhzhya ^# #\ Kotovsk Kryvy Odesa & Rih #\ Ty Pi #\ l Marhanets lihu vd Voznesensk u MOLDOVA e h nn n l I y B ts uh le Berezivka #\ u Chişinău h #_ In Kakhovske So Tyluhulsky Mykolaiv Reservoir lyman ^# l a uthern #] Khadzhybeysky n a #\Kakhovka Tiraspol lyman Kherson k #\ Ochakiv ^# Nova Kakhovka D #3 #\ y ni Heroyske k Askaniya este #\ s ^# #\ Hola v #÷2 #6 #1 Odesa o Nova r #÷ Prystan h Reserve #\ a u Illichivsk K Pe6rekop Novooleksiyivka Black Sea Bilhorod- #\ kraine Dnistrovsky #4#\ Dnistrovsky Biosphere Skadovsk Isthmus #\ #\ lyman Reserve #] #\ Shabo Henychesk SOUTHERN Dzharylgach #8 #\ Sea BESSARABIA Karkinit Krasnoperokopsk of \# Bolhrad Ozero Black Sea Gulf Azov Sasyk Dzhankoy #\ O (Chorne More) Reni Ozero D Katlabuk Vylkovo Nyzhnyohirsky +# #\ e 5#\ OzeroIzmayil # Dunaysky Chornomorske r #\ sa 66\# y #÷ Point h Kahul NP al Danube River Tarkhankut S ROMANIA Odesa & Southern Ukraine Highlights 166 Join the tanning and 4 Launch an assault on the Odesa’s vul Derybasivska party fest on Odesa’s beefy ramparts of Bilhorod- (p147). beaches (p150). Dnistrovsky’s Akkerman 7 Tuck into a plate of 2 Spot zebra and bison on Fortress (p160). Odesa’s endemic and safari at the Askaniya Nova 5 Try to keep your feet dry unforgettable food (p154). Reserve (p159). in Vylkovo, epicentre of the 8 Feel the melancholy of 3 Make an ascent of the Danube Delta Biosphere the steppe on the island of Potemkin Steps (p147) – the Reserve (p161). Dzharylhach (p159). setting for one of cinema’s 6 Crawl the bars and most famous scenes. restaurants in and around .