Odesa and Bessarabia - a Black Sea resort and the mysterious Akkerman steppe

Odesa is a great place for a long weekend. This Black Sea resort has no shortage of attractions and interesting places to see. You can also stay longer and enjoy the sandy beaches and prices much lower than in Poland. If you decide to venture out of the city, Bessarabia is well worth exploring. It is a region with a fascinating multicultural history, with traces of settlement by many nations, vineyards and the magical Akkerman fortress, the Danube Delta and the heritage of the Old Believers.

A WALK AROUND ODESA

A walk around Odesa is best started at the port. To the left and right of the pier running out to sea you can see harbour cranes and huge cargo ships. Closer to us, small passenger boats are moored (an hour's cruise costs 100 UAH, and 1 PLN is 6.5 UAH). Turning towards the city, you see the Potemkin Stairs. They became famous all over the world thanks to a scene from the 1925 silent film "Battleship Potemkin". Climbing them, you reach the grand city centre. It is worth turning round and looking down at the port area. From this perspective the stairs seem to be the same width all the way, but to deceive our senses in this way, they are actually twice as wide at the bottom. The architect used one more trick: looking from the top, you cannot see the steps (except those nearest to you), only the landings. Looking at the stairs from below, on the other hand, you see only the steps, as if the landings had vanished. Odesa was, and still is, multicultural, so the names of the parks on the slope should come as no surprise: one is the Istanbul Park and the other the Greek Park.

It is worth wandering around Odesa's grand centre. The beautiful Opera House is well displayed. Nearby stands a monument to Empress Catherine, who founded the city by decree (it was to be called Odes, in memory of an ancient settlement, but the empress preferred the feminine form, hence Odesa). In this part of the city many town houses have been carefully renovated. It is worth turning off a little to cross the footbridge over a deep ravine. No one remembers its real name any more, because according to urban legend it became the "Mother-in-Law Bridge". Supposedly an all-powerful communist official ordered it to be built to shorten his way to his "mum-in-law", who treated him to delicious pancakes. Sooner or later you will reach Derybasivska Street. It is a pedestrian promenade with lots of little bars and shops, along with street musicians and magicians. There are also horses and ponies on Derybasivska, as a ride on them is an obligatory treat for the youngest visitors.

At the end of the Derybasivska promenade, several inner courtyards of old town houses form the beautifully decorated "Passage", lit by a glass roof. Its eclectic, lavishly ornamented style is hugely impressive. You will not find stucco work like this anywhere else in Odesa, and it would be hard to find anything similar in the whole of Europe. Although smaller, the "Passage" invites comparison with a similar building in the centre of Milan.

PRYVOZ MARKET IN ODESA

Fish, crabs, prawns, crayfish; live, fresh, frozen and smoked... a trip to Odesa's "Pryvoz" market is definitely worthwhile. The market halls are huge and it is easy to get lost, so it is best to enter from Preobrazhenska Street. In one section, large refrigerated counters hold frozen products, while in another - more interesting - you can buy everything from the fresh catch. A lot goes on in front of the halls too, where market women sell fruit, vegetables and herbs.

The "Otrada" and "Lanzheron" beaches are the closest to the city centre. The beaches in the Arkadia district, by contrast, are all about round-the-clock fun because of the nearby discos and nightclubs. "Otrada" and "Lanzheron" are strips of golden sand bordering a shallow sea. Some parts are public spaces open to everyone, while others have better but paid facilities (for example at "Moon beach": a sunlounger costs 150 UAH, a daybed 400 UAH, and a curtained platform called a bungalow 700 UAH). Along the seafront promenade there are food outlets and fine restaurants, the latter clustered around the "Nemo" hotel. Unlike on Polish beaches, nobody puts up windbreaks here...

The catacombs are one of Odesa's big attractions. When the city was founded, it turned out that the best building materials lay underground: blocks of sandstone were quarried, and a side effect was the tunnels left behind (in other cities, catacombs were usually used for burials). Today the tunnels are thought to total 2,500 km in length. It is worth hearing the intriguing stories about how they were used. Nuclear shelters with cleverly disguised entrances, underground schools for pickpockets, the tragic story of a partisan unit that could be a ready-made script for a thriller, underground galleries of rebel artists and hiding places for kidnapped women. And then there is the urban legend (surprisingly plausible) of a 2.5 kg replica of the "Titanic" made of solid gold, hidden in the underground city. Walking some 25 metres beneath the streets and buildings, you listen to these stories open-mouthed...

The lives of many Poles are intertwined with the history of Odesa, and in many places you will find traces of their work or monuments to them. Polish architects designed more than 150 of the city's buildings, including the famous "Passage" (architect Lew Włodek).  Adam Mickiewicz lived in Odesa for several months and has a monument here. This is where he wrote the "Crimean Sonnets" and the "Odesa Sonnets". There is a bust of the creator of  Esperanto, Ludwik Zamenhof. There is also a little street named after Lech Kaczyński, with a plaque dedicated to him. Count Seweryn Potocki built a palace in the city in 1805 - 1810, which still stands today.

There is one attraction in Odesa you must not miss. It is the cable car, which runs from the city down to the beach. It opened in 1973 and it seems that nobody has particularly upgraded it since. The little cabins - in looks and comfort, imagine 2 metal toilet seats facing each other, wrapped in a sheet of tin - do not slow down at either the top or the bottom station (62 cabins speed along at 1.4 m/s). The lady selling tickets (80 UAH one way) offers safety advice: "one person at the start of the platform, the other at the end, grab the metal with your right hand and step in with your left foot". No hesitation, especially if you are wearing flip-flops. The cabin covers the 425 m route in 5 minutes (a height difference of 36.8 m), gently pushing its way through the treetops as it goes, brushing the branches... The top station of the "kanatna doroha" is not easy to find, as it cannot be seen from the street: go through the "oriental" gate at 17a French Boulevard, then walk past the entrance to the "Grand Otrada" hotel. From there, signs will show you the way.

Odesa With Children

What to do with children in Odesa? The Luna Park is definitely worth a visit. The complex is at the southern end of Shevchenko Park. There are lots of attractions, all in the style of bygone centuries. The Ferris wheel, the largest in Ukraine, catches the eye. The equipment is solid - it was made in Switzerland and opened in 2011.

Just a 10-minute walk towards the sea brings you to the "Nemo" Dolphinarium, where an hour-long show featuring dolphins, seals and a sea lion is held three times a day. The "Nemo" website says that the dolphins are comfortable there, citing the birth of a baby dolphin as proof. The hour-long show costs only 300 UAH, and the basic ticket comes with several paid extras, such as a visit to the oceanarium. You can also pay extra to have your photo taken with the animals. The dolphinarium is part of the "Nemo Resort & Spa" hotel complex right by the beach.

If you would like to read about another Ukrainian city, here is my article about Lviv

Bessarabia

Bessarabia is bounded by the Black Sea, the Danube Delta - a natural border with Romania -  and the land border with Moldova. In 1812 the Russian Empire defeated Ottoman Turkey, and as a result the Muslim population had to sell their property and leave the area within 18 months of the surrender being signed. They left behind vast unsettled lands. Russia immediately began encouraging colonists from all over Europe to settle here. In time, as many as... 130 different ethnic groups were counted. Bulgarians, Germans, Swiss, Christian Turks, Russians, Tatars, Poles and Jews all left their mark on this land. Many of these traces have already faded, but foreign-sounding names remain, along with certain nuances that a trained eye will spot. Farmsteads in Bulgarian villages are usually larger and more solid, while Ukrainian houses are more decorated. Polish settlers, on the other hand, were to be found on the edges of German villages.

Akkerman Fortress

50 km as the crow flies from Odesa stands the mighty "Akkerman" fortress. Today the town is called Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, but it is still the walls of Akkerman that draw visitors like a magnet. Although over its many centuries the fortress was in Polish hands for a relatively short time, it holds a special place in Polish memory. Every Pole is supposed to know by heart passages of "The Akkerman Steppe", written by the national bard Mickiewicz, and earlier - never mind that he is a literary character - a certain Azja Tuhajbejowicz, from Sienkiewicz's novel, tempted Basia Wołodyjowska as he courted her: "I will lay Akkerman at your feet, my lady...". The 2 km of walls are impressive and enclose a large, essentially empty area - the only building is the ruin of an Ottoman minaret. There were once 4 courtyards here. Inside the outer walls, however, there is a second fortress, strictly defensive, which has survived in good condition to this day. You explore the whole area within the walls on your own (80 UAH per ticket). An extra attraction is watching blacksmiths at work in forges styled to look centuries old. There are also a few simple food stalls and an archery range.

The Old Believers And Vylkove

Bessarabia is also home to Old Believers, and to come into contact with their culture you need to go to Vylkove, built on the marshy backwaters of the Danube Delta. The Old Believers refused to accept the reform of the Orthodox Church and sought out remote places to escape tsarist repression. In 1746 they founded Vylkove, at the time a place at the very end of the world. To build their homes, they had to raise the ground level, using mud, clay and earth from around the plots where the houses were to stand. This created a system of canals that served as the means of transport. There were no roads. Today the village - 250 years old - stands on 75 islands, although many of the canals have dried up. When the area was first settled, it lay almost on the seashore (1 km away). Today the marker shows 19 km, because the Danube carries huge amounts of sediment that build up the delta. It is the most religious village in Ukraine - 95% of the people are baptised, and the descendants of the Old Believers make up half the population (they call themselves Lipovans). They are very conservative: mass begins at 6:00, and if even one tourist appears near the church, the doors are closed and the service may even be interrupted. Another of their traits is thrift. The combination of conservatism and thrift sometimes takes on caricatured forms. After the fall of communism, the local Old Believers protested against the removal of... the Lenin statue from the main street, demonstrating their dislike of any change. The authorities of the time agreed to bring back the Leader of the Revolution on condition that the local community covered the cost, which came to 4 kopecks per person. In the end the statue was not returned. Another example is the dismissal of the local priest. His wife's improper behaviour led to his removal from office. Today he is a driver, running a minibus between Vylkove and Odesa (225 km / 4 hours).

Today's residents of the little town are fishermen (650 people), those who serve tourists (300 people) and those who make a living grazing semi-wild cattle on the river islands or cutting wild-growing reeds (300 people). Grapevines are grown on the marshland; nowhere else will you buy a wine with the familiar-sounding (to Polish ears) name "Nowak" (1.5 litres in a plastic bottle costs 80 UAH). Residents have the right to develop land on the islands; interestingly, the only parameter is the width of the section along the water - the length of the plot is not specified, so you take as much as you are able to develop. Although it is often hard to see now under the plastered façades, the buildings were built of reeds on foundations of crushed shells.

The Orthodox believers of Vylkove (Wiłkowo, Vylkovo) show quite a few differences from mainstream Orthodoxy: they cross themselves with two fingers, processions go around the church in the opposite direction, and the church floors are covered with carpets and cushions (the floor is considered "unclean"). In the most traditional homes there are no fridges: food, once prepared, cannot be served a second time.

A CRUISE IN THE DANUBE DELTA

A stay in Vylkove has to include a cruise to the so-called "Kilometre Zero"... It is an unusual attraction, as it is just a small plinth showing the digit "0" and the marking "km", making it clear that kilometres are meant. Nevertheless, taking the whole package into account, it is worth - in fact essential - going for it. The price is not excessive and includes a meal, with "Nowak" wine, of course. If the tour includes only sightseeing in the town and the cruise, you pay 540 UAH per person; if a coach to and from Odesa is added, it is 989 UAH per person.

After seeing Vylkove, we board a boat that sails straight to "0 km". As we pass a large border post with watchtowers, I remind myself that only 10% of the Danube Delta is on the Ukrainian side and the rest is Romanian. The captain knows the way by heart, but to a layman the branches, canals and so-called hirla (Kiliia, Ochakiv, Ankudinovo) all look the same; it would be easy to sail into waters already belonging to the European Union. Soon we are in the very heart of the strictly protected Danube Biosphere Reserve, where we can watch the many "residents" of the natural world. At last the boat moors - the cruise takes 2 hours each way - at a landing by Poludennyi island, where the Danube ends its course, flowing into the Black Sea. And it really does feel like the end of the world: all around are beaches untouched by civilisation, and in the distance you can see wild herons, cormorants and even a few pelicans. Walking towards "0 km", you pass one of the earlier markers (from 1998); yes, it is said to be the only monument in Europe that changes its location every few years, because the Danube is constantly "building" its great delta. A few souvenir photos and we head back. Halfway back, we stop for lunch at "Green Harbour". River fish, potatoes, carrots, onions - a very simple meal tastes superb. Its flavour can be enhanced with "salamur", a salty fish sauce. We wash everything down, alternately, with red "Nowak" wine and "ukha" fish soup. To finish, tea from a samovar...

Bessarabia has the potential to become a supplier of "healthy food". On the one hand there is fertile land, and on the other the culinary heritage of multicultural settlement. Of course, certification and checks by independent organisations such as Slow Food International are needed. Near Prymorske I came across a local "Bulgarian" bryndza cheese dairy. As well as buying goat's cheese (150 UAH/kg), you can stay the night there (600 - 800 UAH per room). Children will love getting close to the house cats and the friendly goats.

Wines And The "Kolonist" Winery

Winemaking traditions have been reviving in Bessarabia for years. 70 km from Odesa is the "Shabo" winery. The history of the place is intriguing. In 1822 a group of settlers from Switzerland travelled more than 2,500 km by horse-drawn wagon to resume wine production in buildings abandoned by the Turks. Their descendants have since left Bessarabia, and the production of wine, brandy and sparkling wines has been taken over by Georgians from Odesa. Although a visit there can easily be combined with seeing the "Akkerman" fortress, I chose a different place - the "Kolonist" winery. It is further away, less crowded and far less commercialised. It is also surrounded by idyllic countryside, and the scale of production is completely different: "Kolonist" produces in a year as much as "Shabo" does in... one day. Production at "Kolonist" began in 2005, and the main investor is a former Ukrainian government minister, a descendant of Bulgarian settlers (hence the name "Kolonist"...). In fact, the story is longer and more interesting: when one of the three institutes in Ukraine devoted to improving food production was being closed, the chief technologist of the institute made efforts - which succeeded - to ensure that her work and recipes were not lost. "Kolonist" was founded on that experience, and the Chief Technologist still works at the winery today... Besides production for the local market, the wines are exported to China, Canada and Europe. The winery won a contract to supply... communion wine to the Catholic Church, and later to the Orthodox Church as well. The guide, who is also one of the winery's technologists, tells fascinating stories about the wines and how they are made.

Why are wild roses planted next to the vines? It is not about decoration at all: in the past, their thorns naturally protected the vines from damage when the horses ploughing the fields had to turn at the ends of the rows. Later - entirely by chance - it was discovered that wild roses react to diseases earlier than vines do, so they became "early warning signals" of potential threats. The 19 people employed in production make wines, sparkling wines, port (which matures in a specially heated glass hall) and balsamic vinegar. A tour of the winery costs 1,000 UAH with a tasting (7 wines) and 650 without.

The tasting features 7 different wines: Chardonnay, Riesling, Merlot, Cabernet, Muscat and the exceptional local "Odesskiy Chorny", a grape variety created in 1948 and grown in Ukraine since 1972. Because of its "vegetable" aroma, with notes of tomato and aubergine, it has been nicknamed "borscht".

Where to stay in Bessarabia? I spent two nights at the "Meliorator" "resort" on the Black Sea, in the village of Prymorske. The intriguing aesthetics of the 1980s and 1990s dominate. It was fully booked, with many guests from Moldova, which has no access to the sea. In the evenings there was peace and quiet, zero alcohol, let alone any drinking parties. A double room with air conditioning costs 700 UAH (yes, that is 100 PLN for 2 people in high season), and breakfast on site is an extra 100 UAH. A wide, sandy, empty beach is 100 m away, beyond a strip of dunes.

Near Odesa you can come across an unusual "road attraction": the road leading from this port city towards Romania runs through Moldovan territory for about 10 km. It essentially has extraterritorial status. When you leave Ukraine, soldiers often record the number of people in the car and the exact time of entry, so that a few minutes later, when you re-enter the country, they can check that the number of passengers matches and that you did not stop along the way, which is strictly forbidden. It is a real treat for connoisseurs of cross-border atmosphere.

There are many reasons to visit Odesa and Bessarabia. The Black Sea resort city tempts with its attractive centre, catacombs and beaches. Bessarabia is not only the Akkerman Steppe made famous by Mickiewicz, with the celebrated fortress in its name, but also the heritage of multicultural settlement, vineyards, the coast and the Danube Delta. If you are interested in Ukraine, I also recommend this article about Lviv