The Pearl of the Black Sea: Odessa, Ukraine
It´s been almost a month since my trip to Odessa (Ukraine) and I´ve finally found a moment to share this travel story. Friends and social media followers, those who´d seen my pictures on Twitter and Instagram, have asked me about the upcoming blog post. And, indeed, I had another trip to Portugal right after Ukraine and two posts about Lisbon were already out long ago, so where was the Odessa Blog Story?!
I could say I was busy, but the truth is I couldn´t find my inspiration. In between all my recent trips and working on a new business project, there were no extra words left to share on my blog. My last two posts were mainly photo-posts.
No doubt, many bloggers face this problem every once in a while – and it´s not only about running out of ideas: you simply don´t want to write anything. It´s been only 6 months since I´ve started blogging, but it feels like I´ve been doing this forever. But “forever” in a good way – like, “how have I lived without a blog and my soulmate-readers?”[lol]
I read my first posts now and can´t believe I was the one who wrote them. It is true that we don´t go through life – we grow through life. Therefore, I feel like since I´ve started writing it all down in a blog, that change goes even faster. No wonder sometimes words don´t come easy. So that´s why I was postponing the Odessa post. When there is something special about any place I visit I love sharing more than pictures – I love sharing stories.
Odessa
Odessa is a Ukrainian city located on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. It is an international port, a famous resort in Eastern Europe, cultural&educational center and, of course, the capital of humor. A lot of humorists famous in the former Soviet countries were born and raised here – Odessa and odessites really know how to make one laugh.
The city was founded back in 1794 by decree of Catherine II of Russia (Catherine the Great). She decided to build a splendid city on the Black Sea to become Russia’s first southern seaport. Therefore, Catherine the Great had appointed Duke Richelieu, a French noble in service of Russian throne, to be the Governor of Odessa. In the eleven years of his administration, Odessa greatly increased in size and importance, eventually becoming the 3rd capital of the Russian Empire, after St. Peterburg and Moscow. As a major international trading center, the city became quite wealthy. Therefore, many magnificent buildings and monuments were built to showcase the city’s cultural significance.
The cultural heritage of Odessa
In Odessa, all these many faces of the city arise from its multicultural roots: even some streets in the city are named after different nationalities. Across centuries Ukrainians, Russians, Jews, Greeks, Turks, Georgians, Bulgarians, Armenians, Germans, Romanians, Azerbaijanis, Koreans and many others have lived on these lands. Therefore, the whole political situation in our world nowadays makes me sad. If so many nationalities can happily live and do business in one place why do our politicians constantly try to divide us on the basis of ethnic or religious backgrounds? I mean I understand why, but I still can´t believe so many people follow them into building walls instead of bridges. Odessa is simply another example of how our ethnical differences could create a unique cultural heritage.
Odessa is a cultural and architectural phenomenon. A lot of buildings here are included in the UNESCO World Heritage list. And when you stroll down the streets of Odessa you understand why…
Indeed, I could dedicate a whole separate post to all these architecture and decorations on the streets of the city – they were all quite impressive.
Pin it:
Join my e-mail list and get exclusive weekly updates and travel tips straight to your inbox.
*Your e-mail address is safe with me and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Comments
Post a Comment