Odesa
Одеса
Train Station in Odesa
February 14, 2004
The train ride to Odesa was the most inefficient experience I've ever had: five
hours by train, but only two by car through and around pot-holed filled streets.
The train station, like most train stations in the old USSR was incredible and as
I looked at it, my eyes were soon distracted to a steeple towering over the roof,
which belonged to an enormous church.
I tried to see the catacombs, but they were closed, so grabbed a Paroshki on the
street for lunch, a large deep fried doughy pocket filled with mashed potatoes and
seasoning and headed across town. The archeology museum is very impressive, containing
a mummy, old Greek statues, grave stones, and carved writings.
The city has great character, cobblestone roads, huge churches, the black sea, the
old buildings/palaces and the museums. It seemed like a mix of the Greek/Mediterranean
influence, Turkey, Ukraine, and the USSR. The classical architecture (baroque especially)
are popular and the statues and art adorning the buildings is truly incredible.
The streets are tree-lined, the city has great character leading up to the pinnacle:
the Potempkin steps.
From here you see the city's other face: the port, the pollution, trains, trucks,
and factories spread a long distance, the water and air is very polluted and straight
in front of you, on the pier at the bottom of the steps is an incredibly tall, brand
new, state of the art building, “Hotel Odessa.” The sign of money and power, the
sign of mafia, whom runs the city and is everywhere.
People have called the city the Wild West for years and now I understand why. The
city was swarmed with mafia, prostitutes, plus the normal crowd in a city such as
couples, businessmen, etc. The next problem goes with the previous problem; poverty
is everywhere and although that’s bad what bothers me is that many of these women
hold children or make their children sit there and beg. I saw one woman yell at
her children as she left, only teaching the next generation to beg and pity themselves;
most of these baggers are Roma (gypsies).
The saddest part of my trip was that I tell myself if you replaced the people it
would be one of the world’s greatest cities, but the people are what makes a city
a city and so it fails, but it's not all bad.
Passenger Port on the Black Sea in Odesa
Train Station in Odesa
Soviet Monument in Odesa