travel guides and tourism information  
SUBMIT TRAVEL ARTICLES
 
HOME AUSTRALIA AFRICA ASIA EUROPE NORTH AMERICA SOUTH AMERICA OTHER
 SEARCH: 
Web            
TravelAndTourismInfo (Google Powered)
Search:

Home | Europe Travel | Ukraine


Odessa Ukraine travel

By: Ann - Article Submitted on: 2008-05-10


Odessa is the third largest Ukrainian city after Kiev and Kharkov, a major industrial, cultural, scientific, and resort center in the Northern Black Sea region. Territory 160 square km. Population 1.122.000. Odessa is cosmopolitan city where live people from more than 200 nationalities. Russians, Ukrainians, and Jews predominate in Odessa's cosmopolitan population.

Moderately continental and comparatively dry climate with a short mild winter and long hot summer (more than 290 sunny days in the year) make Odessa the largest resort on the coast of The Black Sea.


Winter is short and mild with an average temperature of around freezing point. Falling snow and temperatures below minus 5 Celsius are rare.Summer is long and hot with an average temperature of 25 Celsius. Temperatures above 35 Celsius are quite often.

A mild climate, plenty of beaches, and the Black Sea attract thousands of tourists to Odessa throughout the year, earning it the title of "Southern Palmira." Odessa is the southern gate of the state and the most important Ukrainian sea port. Odessa is also well-known for its rich history, beautiful buildings, inexhaustible humor.

Sights of Odessa:

1. The Potemkin Steps are a formal entrance into the city from the direction of the sea. Sure, each city has its own place of mostly pronounced originality. For Odessa, no doubt, it will be Potemkin Stairs. The stairs leading from Prymorsky Boulevard down to the sea were constructed from 1837 through 1841 to the design of the architect F. Bofford. This imposing monument numbers 192 stairs arranged in ten flights and flanked by two-meters thick parapets. The difference in width between the highest (13.4 m) and the lowest (21.6 m) flights produces an optical illusion that enhances the grandeur of the structure. Originally, the stairs were faced with grey Trieste sandstone With time, however, the sandstone weathered and was replaced with granite. The famous Potemkin Stairs serve as a symbol of the city. It has recently been complemented with ramp over bridges to extend as far as the Novy Pier, where a modern structure of the new seaport is located on a high platform. Memorial plagues state that it was on precisely this spot that the first Odessa buildings were founded in 1794. Odessa Ukraine apartments

2. Colonnade of the Vorontsov Palace. At the Primorskij Boulevard's west end note the (pre-revolutionary) governor's palace, which incidentally was heavily damaged in 1854 when the British and French bombarded it. Count Vorontsov built a Grecian colonnade which overlooks the harbor and also provides a fine view of the bay.

3. Deribasovskaya Street is named after Don Josef de Ribas. This street is the very heart of Odessa. What lends Deribasovskaya its unique character is magnificent architecture, crowds of people leisurely sitting on terraces of numerous cafes and restaurants, perfect cobblestones, no vehicle traffic and big shady linden trees. This special character has survived even through the Soviet times when conforming Soviet canons was highly recommended. Deribasovskaya leads to the City Gardens with its fountain, old summerhouse and sculpture of lion and lioness. City Gardens were laid out shortly after the foundation of Odessa and were its first park.
The Souvenir Market with a crowd of artists and craftsmen demonstrating their works is situated right here. Prices are really low, and some items are gorgeous. Bargains are common. Don’t miss it if you want to get originally Odessan souvenirs.

4. Beaches of Odessa. Odessa's beach, which actually is made up of several beaches running some 40 km or more, possesses a sea wall and small-scale eating and drinking establishments. During the summer, particularly the Lanzheron, Otrada, Delfin, Luzanovka, Fontan, Arkadia beaches are wall-to-wall people, but solitude seekers can find quiet by walking farther. The cable car ride at the beaches is fun. Besides sunbathing and swimming, you can rent paddle boats or rowboats. Arkadia beach is the largest and most developed. Arkadia and Luzanovka beaches are famous by large quantity of night clubs for any taste and pocket.

5. Odessa Opera and Ballet Theatre. The existence of the theatre in the city of Odessa began from the first days of the city's foundation. The Opera & Ballet Theatre is entitled to be called the elder among a great number of cultural institutions. Odessa strived for the right of building the theatre in 1804, and in 1809 it was already built. On the10th of February 1810 the first perfomance took place - the Russian troupe by Fortunatov staged a one -act opera by Fralih "A New Family" and a vaudeville "A Consolating Widow". But, unfortunately, in 1873 an old building was burnt. And it was burnt completely. The restoration was our of the question. It was a tragedy, which was relented by one circum-stance - nobody suffered from it. It was suggested to draw up a draft of a new city theatre to Vienna archtects F. Felner Y. Helmer. Eleven years have passed since laying of the first brick into the foundation of the new theatre building. And the theatre opening took place on the 1st of October 1887. The building of Odessa Opera and Ballet House was fulfilled in the style of Vienna "baroque",which was the main in the European art from the end of the XVIth up to the middle of the XVIIIth century. Other Odessa Ukraine Theatres

6. Churches and Cathedrals. There were about 70 churches before the revolution in Odessa. History of each church is indissolubly connected with the history of the city. For Soviet period lots of churches were closed, destroyed, reoriented in warehouses and fitness - centers and on many years ago, people in Odessa didn’t even imagined, that pious, orthodox citizens prayed about health for their relatives and about well-being and prosperity of whole city in these city’s buildings. Nowadays many of temples are being reconstructed and opened in Odessa and you might be witness of a revival and an inauguration of these temples.

7. Passage. The Passage was built in the end of the 19. century as a hotel and a shopping center. This combination was at that time quite common in European cities. Both hotel and shopping center still exist today, but both have seen more glorious times in the past.

8. Monument to Pushkin. The Odessa period of Pushkin's art was a frutful one. During 13 months of his staying here (from 03.07.1823 to 01.08.1824) the great poet begun to work under "Tzigans" poem, wrote "The fountain of Bakhchisaray" and two chapters of "Eugene Onegin" novel. The odessits honoured the memory of the talented artist; now one of the main street of the city is named after Alexander Pushkin. The monument to Alexander Pushkin, located just opposite the Municipal Building, was unveiled in 1889. A bronze bust of the great poet was modelled by the sculptor Zh. Polonskaya.
A granite pedestal executed according to the plan drawn up by the architect Kh. Vasilyev, is given the form of a truncated pyramid Kh. Vasilyev, is given the form of a truncated pyramid Kh. Vasilyev, is given the form of a truncated pyramid edges. Water jetting from the fishes' mouths flows down into the shell-shaped bowis of iron placed on the granite stylobate.

Article Source: http://articles.travelandtourisminfo.com

Information is given by Ukrainian National Tour operator:
Ukraine Travel Kiev Odessa Lvov
Odessa Travel Ukraine
Odessa Apartments Ukraine



Additional Articles From - Home | Europe Travel | Ukraine
Sign Up for a free account and publish your own articles.
Submit Articles
Member Login
Top Authors
Submission Guidelines


(FREE RSS FEED )
About Us
Contact Us
Disclaimer,Privacy Policy & TOS

Share this article:

MORE BOOKMARKS ..

Copyright © 2008 Travel And Tourism Info.com
We do not own any responsibility for correctness or authenticity of this information, or any loss or injury resulting from it. We are neither affiliated with the authors of these articles nor responsible for the content. Please see our disclaimer section for complete terms.

Powered by Article Dashboard