HAVING A TIME OF MY LIFE IN ODESSA, MY HOMETOWN

Hello dear friends,

Some of you might recall that the main reason behind our 2019 holiday was an invitation to celebrate one of my old girlfriend's 50th birthday in our home town of Odessa in Ukraine and although she and her family, as are many of my other friends are dispersed in the four corners of the world, we all jumped on this incredible opportunity to be together and have some fun like we did in the good old days.  

Besides my husband has on numerous occasions expressed his desire to visit the place I came from, so when the invite arrived, we both knew what we wanted to do.  We added a few other places, mostly the countries of the former republics of the USSR, to our itinerary and that is how our 2019 holiday plan was created.

We were flying with Qatar Air all the way, so the first stop on our journey was in the Middle East and from there we crossed the Russian border and spent the four of the most fascinating days in St Petersburg.   Odessa was our next stop.  Before the USSR fell apart in the 90's, travelling between the republics was the simplest affair.  All you needed was a ticket. These days they are all independent countries with defined borders  and you need to apply for an entry visa for most of them, including Russia and Ukraine.  

To make matters even more complicated, due to political tension between two countries, you can't fly directly from Russia to Ukraine but need first fly to a neutral country that is more than happy to be a go-between and fly you to your final destination.  Our travel agent did all in his power to find us a carrier that would take us from one country to another on the shortest possible route so we landed in Odessa late in an afternoon the same day we left St Petersburg.  

Odessa is a port city situated on the Black Sea in the southern Ukraine.  It's known for its beaches and 19th century architecture, it has a rich history and has been home to many famous artists, poets and writers.  It's cosmopolitan vibe and free spirit runs in the blood of its citizens that together with the great sense of style, delicious food and humour earned us a unique reputation amongst the nations.

I was my first ever visit since I left by beloved hometown 27 years ago. It has been a long time and I felt both emotional and slightly apprehensive.  It was perfect summer weather when we landed and it stayed that way during our stay: not too hot with very little humidity and after a rainy and windy St Petersburg we really enjoyed the warmth of the sun on our skin.  

We checked into Hotel Londonskaya, built in the mid XIX century in the Italian Renaissance style.  It's situated right in the city centre and is one of the iconic institutions favoured by dignitaries, artists, movie stars and the like.   Our suite was very spacious and well appointed.  I loved to sit on a wide windowsill under the big french windows overlooking Primorsky Boulevard and the Black Sea beyond and watch the world go by below.  

As always, our schedule was quite tight.  Apart from spending time with my friends, I wanted to show my husband the city of my youth, the places where I went to school, university, ballet classes, my old house and many others associated with my carefree life.

In no particular order, here are the highlights of our visit

HAVING FUN TIME WITH MY GIRLFRIEND 

On the early morning of our first day in Odessa I called my girlfriend Olga to arrange a meeting.  Within couple of hours she and her husband came over and we spent a good few hours reminiscing about our past when we were young and carefree and did a lot of silly things together and we all had a good laugh about them.  We then walked up Deribasovskaya Street, the main pedestrian street in the heart of city's centre.   

It is lined with lovely looking historical buildings of various architectural styles, in the past a lot of historical figures, famous artists and writes and men of science were occupants of these buildings at any given time.  It was and still is " the destination" to see and be seen, an address to meet with friends or a boyfriend and see the ever changing fashion parade as citizens of Odessa loved to get dressed and had distinctive sense of style. Ever since I was old enough to develop an interest in the life outside school, my friends and I would get together on the weekend and travel by bus to Deribasovskyay Street.  We didn't have money to go into the cafe or a bar so we just liked to walk up and down the street, eyeing each other as we passed, smiling at the boys looking at us and nodding to the familiar faces.  

When we reached it, I was amazed by the amount of food joints and the variety of the cuisines on offer but no matter how exotic the food destination was, the only cuisine I was interested was local.  There was one dish in particular that I have been dreaming to eat for the last 27 years - vareniki.  Vareniki is the Eastern Europe incarnation of dumplings where the filling could be either savoury (beef, chicken or potatoes) or sweet (farm cheese or sour cherries) with the latter being my absolute favourite.   There were quite a few cafes around offering varenikis on their menu, our choice fell on Kumanets where I ordered and devoured a plate of the the most delicious cherry varenikis with thick hot cherry sauce.  That was a moment when I felt that I was back home.

 A TOUR RIDE AROUND OLD ODESSA

The tour around old city is a must as Odessa has such a rich history.  It was founded in the late 17th century by decree of Catherine the Great, the same empress on whose orders the famous Winter Palace in St Petersburg was built which we visited just few days before.  

There are no Hop-off Hop-on buses running in Odessa but there are many other options to explore it: private bus, walking and boat tours.  Also there are small open 8-seater buggies that you can find parked everywhere around the town centre waiting for you to jump in.  

We opted for the introductory bi-lingual tour that took us into the streets of Old Odessa.  It was very informative even for me, the tour guide had a good grasp of English and judging by my husband's facial impression, he was pleasantly surprised at how beautiful this part of Odessa is.  

It wasn't exactly a hop-on hop-off but at every point of interest but we did get out of the car to have a closer look at the site while the tour guide shared with us the facts and history of it.  The whole ride took just under two hours and was quite interesting, informative and pleasant.

A STROLL AROUND TOWN CENTRE AND OLD ODESSA

One morning while the sun was still gentle on our skin, we put on our walking shoes and just went out for a long walk around the town centre without any particular destination in mind taking a closer look at the architectural details of the old buildings, admiring the rich decorative elements of the facades and getting the feel of the city and people who live there.  

I was trying to see my beloved town through the eyes of my South African husband as this trip was his first ever encounter with a socialist country  and I could see that it was sometimes difficult for him to comprehend people's mentality not to mention his occasion struggle to make them understand his English but he was enjoying himself and that is what mattered.

While on a walk about town, we came across the building that was hosting then called Institute were I acquired by degree in Economics.  I was quite surprised to find out that these day it became University.

SAMPLED SOME DELICIOUS FOODS AT FAMOUS PRIVOZ MARKET

This is not just any market, this is an institution.  Privoz Market or as we called it Privoz, is the sprawling biggest food market not only in Odessa or probably anywhere in Ukraine which was first opened back in 1827 where the goods were sold from the back of horse driven carts.  

It sells everything from milk and dairy products, to meat, fish, poultry and all kinds of fruit and vegetables that were in season.   

Dairy, meat and fish stalls all housed in their own buildings while the fruit and vegetables stalls are placed outdoors along the stalls that sometimes run for miles.  For us it was a destination where we can buy the freshest and best quality produce as opposed to the limited stock and poor quality that was sold at the government controls shops and supermarkets.  

In the meat building we tasted the most delicious smoked meats and sausages, in the dairy building we were amazed by the varieties of home-made soft, hard and brined cheeses and other milk by-products.  But the fish hall took our whole attention.  The endless varieties of smoked and cured fish, cooked prawns and yabbies and rows upon rows of freshly caught fresh fish left us speechless.  I brought my husband's attention to a turbot fish, that we called "kambala", known as the noblest fish in the sea that I enjoyed eating as a child.  

The stall holders, predominantly women, where only too happy to let us sample some of their products and by the time we walked to the fruit section, we felt like we just had a big lunch.   We were amazed by the abundance of fruits and vegetables, enjoying the sweet aromas and freshness of raspberries and strawberries that were stacked high on the tables, the crispness of apples and juiciness of peaches, the smell of field grown tomatoes.  How I missed all this goodness.  We bought a small quantity of raspberries and a couple of peaches and they tasted divine.    

HAVING A GOOD TIME WITH MY FRIENDS AT THE PRIVATE BEACH CLUB 

Both of us are not really beachy and although we live within 10 minutes walking distance from the famous Bondi Beach the reason we go there is for a good walk or for food and drink.  

However, a friend of mine runs one of the many private beach clubs that sprung up along the coast in the last fifteen years called Taboo where you can spend the whole day gravitating between the sea and sand and very tasty food and cocktails while away from the noise and over-population of public beaches that are extremely popular in summer season. 

It was a perfect setting for getting together and we all met there for a late lunch or early dinner, depends on which way you look at these things.  When we arrived at the spot, it looked so different from they way it look almost thirty years ago.  

Where it was a long stretch of beaches separated by the low concrete walls, are now divided into smaller parcels of sand and turned into private beach clubs by day, and night clubs, discos and restaurants by night.  I had mixed feelings about the changes, on one hand I liked it, everything looked very modern and swanky, on the other my nostalgic memories about all those weekends spent at the beach were left unsatisfied.

When we all gathered at the club, the owner took one look at the number of people and asked his staff to move a few tables and put them together into one long table.  Then the wait staff brought us food.  Apart from usual suspects like fresh salads, breads and other typical Russian antipasti, the place speciality was fried "kambala" that we earlier saw during out visit to Privoz and we were looking forward to taste it.  

Their other dish of the day was crayfish, that we called "raki" and like to eat accompanied by a good cold beer.  But main attraction of the evening was our party, of course.  There is nothing feels good like reconnecting with your old good friends with whom you've been though the best and the worst.  

A TOUR OF ODESSA ACADEMIC THEATRE OF OPERA AND BALLET 

I was dreaming of going to the Opera and Ballet theatre so see a performance and to show my husband how the classic European theatre looks like.  Since I have been a little girl, ballet was my passion, I even attended a ballet school for four years and seeing a ballet production again was high on my priority list.  

To my disappointment, none of the productions on the bill appealed to my taste so in the end we just booked a guided tour around the theatre which brought back many sweet memories.

TAKE A WALK DOWN THE POTEMKIN STAIRS

Potemkin Stairs, sometimes called Potemkin Steps is a giant stairway and is considered as a formal entrance to the city from the direction of the sea and is the best known symbol of Odessa.  On the top of the stairs in a monument to the Duke de Richelieu,  the city town's governor.  

There are 192 steps there and it's almost mandatory to take them up and down at least once in your life even though you can take an escalator that runs parallel to them.   My husband is not a sporty man by any stretch of imagination so I was very pleased to hear that he is up to it.  Once you reach the top of the stairs and look back at them, you can admire a beautiful vista of Black Sea sparkling in the distance under the bright sun.

ATTEND A WONDERFUL PARTY

The 50's birthday bash that was a motivation for me to come here in the first place, turned up to be an absolute ball.  The venue was located right on the beach with big windows wide open to welcome sea breeze, the food was scrumptious, the menu consisted was a mix of our old time favourite dishes that you can't find anywhere but in Odessa and classic continental fare.  

The guests were treated to a four-piece band, live show, fireworks and a film projected on the big screen full of old photos depicting and short video, depicting the birthday girl, and images of her friends at different events going back when I first met her and her husband at their wedding in 1986.

It was a big party, about 80 people, but somehow, miraculously we all managed to fit into a group photo which sure will be added to our memory albums.

Both my husband and I had fantastic time in Odessa.  It was very emotional for me on so many levels and I was glad that I finally took a plunge and did come back to my roots.  

As for my husband, it was definitely an eye-opener for him, there were moments when he felt lost due to the miscommunication and I needed to step in for help but most of all he enjoyed himself, all my friends absolutely loved him and made an effort to spend some time with him and had a conversation in halting English.  He absolutely fell in love with Odessa as it's architecture around Old City strongly resembled the style we saw in St Petersburg.  He was very happy for me and I was extremely grateful that he backed me up when I said that I wanted to come here and that is probably what a great marriage is all about.

I hope you enjoyed reading my story about our 2019 holiday and if you happened to miss a few posts, you can always catch up on reading the previous posts.  Please let me know if you have any questions or want to know more by leaving a comment or emailing to me directly at annamarcus@optusnet.com.au

Until then,

Anna

xoxo