Odesa, Ukraine

Odesa, Ukraine

Odesa (Odessa/Оде́сса/Оде́са) was our final destination in Ukraine on this trip.  The night train arrived at the station around 9 AM after a 10 or 11-hour journey from Lviv. Luckily, we were in a sleeper car and were able to get some sleep. Our apartment was not supposed to be available for a few hours. However, I contacted our host and they were able to meet us at about 10 AM to let us enter a couple of hours early. The apartment was a short 10-minute Uber ride from the main station, we only had a 20-minute wait for the host.

We dropped off our backpacks and cleaned up after the overnight journey before heading out to grab some necessities. Our apartment was located next to Derybasivska Street in a great area for seeing the town. After gathering some drinks and snacks at the store, we took a short break in the apartment to plan out our day.

Time to see Odesa

A negative test was required for our flight out in a few days. We needed to locate the COVID testing location we found online. Luckily, it was only about 20 minutes away on foot. Unfortunately, the staff did not speak English, and we did not speak Russian or Ukrainian, so it was a bit of a challenge. However, appointments were made with the help of a translation app we had on our phones. Next on the list was Potemkin Stairs. This is a tourist area (not a tourist trap though), but well worth visiting.

There is a long park just above the stairs that is parallel to the Black Sea.  In the park, there are street vendors, people out walking and it is an overall relaxing park to take in the view and have a nice stroll. The area had a Paris feel to it without the dog poop on the sidewalks. We continued through the park and realized that it was only 2 blocks from the apartment.

Lunch

Since we hadn’t eaten a real meal in about 18 hours, we decided to check out the food options close to the apartment before walking around the area. As I mentioned above, we were staying next to Derybasivska Street. This area is full of restaurants, pubs, and food stands, everything I needed. The weather was great, so we found an outdoor restaurant to eat, relax and people watch.  Due to being part of a hotel, it was more expensive than other options, but we were a little hangry and it was still cheap at about $18 for both of us. After eating, we continued to explore the area before heading back to the apartment.

What is there to do in Odesa?

Odesa has a lot of things for people to see while visiting. There are museums, tons of architecture, catacombs, markets, and so much more. If you want to leave the downtown area, there is Arcadia Beach a short drive away. So, the next day we wanted to see the catacombs. This required booking a tour online and we were lucky that there were still some slots available the next day. Therefore, we booked the 11 AM timeslot. This gave us plenty of time for some breakfast before venturing under the city streets.

After relaxing and doing some video editing, we headed out for dinner. While we were walking around earlier, we saw a couple of restaurants that looked interesting.  Therefore, we decided to try the Ukrainian restaurant. This was an excellent choice and a short distance away from the apartment. At night Derybasivska Street really comes alive with pubs, restaurants, street vendors, etc. It is a pedestrian-friendly area for the most part.

Catacombs

We grabbed some breakfast at Lviv Croissants (because that is what you do) before getting an Uber for the catacomb tour. The building where the tour begins is not very obvious. It was designed to be non-descriptive during the cold war for security reasons. Therefore, it only looks like a shack on the side of the street. We met our tour guide and had a short safety briefing before entering the catacombs. If you are thinking they would look the same as the catacombs in Paris, you would be wrong.

These were used for protection during the cold war and are more of an underground museum now. However, they are quite extensive as they would stretch from Odesa to Paris if you extended them out. However, only a very small portion is open to the public due to safety reasons. Also, the section we were in was 5 stories below the street level. The tour included a lot of memorabilia from the cold war. There is an area that is used for events that included a bar. When we reached the event/bar area, they had some snacks and vodka to sample.

Arcadia Beach

Arcadia Beach is well known for its party atmosphere and is considered the Ibiza of Ukraine by many. Although it does attract a lot of families due to the amusement park feel, it is primarily a spot for the young and wild to party. Since we were visiting during the pandemic and off-season, it was fairly quiet. That was fortunate since we are neither young nor wild. We spent about 2 hours walking around and to the pier before stopping for something to drink and to soak up the nice weather.

COVID Testing

We arrived for our tests at the facility and only waited a few minutes before being swabbed. Again, due to the language barrier, we used a translator app to communicate. They said our results would be back within 24 hours via email in both English and Russian.

Privoz Market

After our tests, we had some breakfast and walked to Privoz Market near the train station. The market has everything you would expect, clothing, souvenirs, butchers, bakeries, fish, and all the fruit and veg you could ever ask for. We spent a couple of hours walking around to take in the atmosphere, markets are always full of interesting items and people.

That Ain’t Vinegar

There was an Irish Pub around the corner from the apartment on Derybasivska Street, we decided to go there for some fish and chips. Our order arrived and there was a carafe of vinegar I thought. However, it was vodka to go along with our appetizer. I am glad I didn’t soak my fish and chips in it since it was vodka. Also, it was not top-shelf vodka.  The atmosphere was good, we sat on the patio and enjoyed live music. Oddly, the singer of the band was an American.

COVID Results

We received our results overnight and needed to have a printed copy in case we didn’t have service at the airport the next day. Luckily, we found a couple of print shops nearby and one was able to print them for us for about $1. We had everything we needed for the trip.

Time to Leave

Since our flight was at 9 PM and the check-out time was 11 AM, we needed a place to put our backpacks for the afternoon. I contacted the host and for about $10 we could stay at the apartment until 5 PM. That worked out well and gave us a little time to explore some more areas. The host arrived at 5 PM and refunded our deposit minus the late check-out fee. We ordered an Uber to take us to the airport and we were heading out of Odesa.

Say What?

The Uber arrived at the airport about 40 minutes later and the total charge was $9 including the airport add-on fee (that doubled the cost).  Unfortunately, the check-in gates were not open yet so we had to wait about an hour to check our backpacks. Once we checked in, they said we no longer needed a COVID test to enter Turkey from Ukraine. After we were checked in we proceeded to security/customs.

As we were going through security I heard them say “radiation” when my carry-on went through the scanner. I had forgotten that my carry-on backpack went to Chernobyl with us. It must have still had some radioactive residue from that tour. Luckily, they checked the backpack again and let me continue.

Final Thoughts

Odesa and Ukraine were a pleasant surprise, the people were friendly, the food was excellent, and it was extremely cost-effective. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to visit an old Soviet country. I would do it again and see more of the country than just the three cities we visited.