As an oil and gas industry journalist-editor, I am lucky to be able to spend substantial time and cash on traveling. But very few places I travel to make me feel better than affordable, dynamic and rich-in-memories than Odesa.
By a number of lucky coincidences, several years ago I established a good habit of holding petroleum industry conferences in this legendary Ukrainian port town on the Black Sea coast.
Ever since, I find myself a member of an ever-growing, informal, but stable community of people, who start to feel homesick if they do not return to Odesa in summer – turning it into a much-sought destination for the industry tourism.
Arguably, the ride to Odessa from Kyiv offers the best opportunity to enjoy driving in Ukraine, the country whose highways are notorious for their potholes.
For me, it’s like traveling from medieval-looking rural regions to the fresh winds of the Mediterranean. A mid way pit-stop at the ethnic food joint Batkivska Khata or My Father’s Hut, with its 50 types of varenyky (Ukrainian big sized and unforgivably tasty ravioli) and okroshka soup in a plate made of thick ice, gives you the first flavor-rich injection of Ukrainian summer travel delights.
Opera house in Odesa
Amid endless sunflower fields, you sit in the comfortable, properly air-conditioned hall and attended mainly by friendly students from Kyiv’s Institute of Culture. The place is owned by institute’s director, Mykhailo Poplavsky, the ageing wannabe star.
The spirit of a free port
What people have to understand about Odesa, first and foremost, is that the city and its residents can overtake you with their liberal, untamed spirit.
By the establishment of the Russian Empress Catherine the Great, Odesa had been a free port populated by merchants and handicraft folk, port workers, bankers, foreign sailors and, alas, gangsters.
Cosmopolitan and liberal, Odesa’s spirit translated into some of the best examples of Russian language literature and poetry in the 19th and 20th centuries. In yet another dimension of its sublimation, this liberal atmosphere charged local female folk representatives with electricity powerful enough to kill, but insulated by a very good tradition of humor, shared by the male population, too.
You can dive into the thrilling sea of introductions in many clubs in Arcadia entertainment district. But first, try another very special delight: fish and wine.
Yachting and bychki
Odesa region is famous for quality wines and you can enjoy a glass of a decent locally-made Chardonnay with properly panned bychki(long goby) fish in venues like Dacha, Katran and Columbus. Twelve friends joined me at Columbus debarking from the yacht. They hired it at the Odesa marine port for just Hr 2,800 and enjoyed a few hours of sailing and swimming in the clean Black Sea waters.
Crazy nights
A light supper is essential before stepping on the dancing floor of Ibiza night club, a local dance and flirtation Mecca. The place is as cosmopolitan, light spirited and fun as the Spanish island it borrows its name from. It’s a well known destination for all those willing to smell the aromas of the Odesa night life, with its backstage area going right into the sand of the Black Sea shore. But be alert. A pretty female stranger you meet might turn out to be a professional hooker, or just a gorgeous student enjoying her post-graduate ball follow up in this seriously grown-up place.
Hotels and sprawling aparment complexes sit atop the Arcadia beach shores in Odesa
Dishes and drinks come at a very high pace, as visitors often go back and forth to the dance floor and up the stairs to the bar, and then back to their tables hidden in the white stone grottos. You soon lose count of the number of sparkling wine and Mojito cocktail glasses, and you find yourself relying on very questionable consciousness and honesty of local waiters.
In this carousel of light drinks, promising sexy looks, laughs and dances, dawn arrives unexpectedly. It’s this reality of fading darkness that makes many visitors wake up to the fact that the new day has started, with its conferences, office jobs or resting in a hotel room – if you’re lucky.
There is little doubt that you will remember the Ibiza night for a long enough time.
Sheer delight
For me, the morning after in Odesa is a cup of excellent coffee on Yekaterynenska Street and a trip into the history of much-loved Russian literature. Upon waking up, why not stroll – as I did –along the streets polished by the shoes of Alexandr Pushkin and Lev Tolstoy, Ivan Bunin and Isaac Babel, as well as contemporary genius of Russian humor Mykhailo Zhvanetsky.
I hop into the car and, amazingly enough, after all the exhausting shuffles of an almost sleepless summer night, I feel full of energy. As I try parking by the Opera House, the kid in charge of parking says: “Don’t worry about the fee, I see you enjoy photographing our beautiful theatre!”
What an indulging and unforgettable statement of friendship and self-respect! Thank you, my friend! Thank you Odesa!
Dmytro Mossienko is chief editor of OILMARKET magazine, found at http://www.oilmarket-magazine.com. He can be reached at [email protected].
