Theme Week Odesa – Odessa Opera and Ballet Theater

26 April 2025 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Opera Houses, Theaters, Libraries Reading Time:  6 minutes

© Alex Levitsky & Dmitry Shamatazhi/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Alex Levitsky & Dmitry Shamatazhi/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Odesa National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre (Ukrainian: Одеський національний академічний театр опери та балету) is the oldest theatre in Odesa, Ukraine. The Theatre and the Potemkin Stairs are the most famous edifices in Odesa.   read more…

Theme Week Odesa – Odesa catacombs

25 April 2025 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Memorial musuem of Partisans Glory © ЛКвасова/cc-by-sa-4.0

Memorial musuem of Partisans Glory © ЛКвасова/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Odesa catacombs are a labyrinth-like network of tunnels (subterranean cavities) located under the city of Odesa and its outskirts in Ukraine, that are mostly (over 90%) the result of stone mining, particularly coquina. The system of Odesa Catacombs consists of a network of basements, bunkers, drainage tunnels and storm drains as well as natural caves.   read more…

Theme Week Odesa – Bristol Hotel

24 April 2025 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Hotels Reading Time:  5 minutes

© Сарапулов/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Сарапулов/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Bristol Hotel is a hotel in Odesa, Ukraine. Built between 1898 and 1899, it is located in the city centre in Italiiska Street, opposite the Odesa Philharmonic Theater. This stylish four-star 19th century hotel belongs to the same company as the nearby four-star Londonskaya Hotel which is roughly half the size.   read more…

Theme Week Odesa – Odesa National Fine Arts Museum

23 April 2025 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Alex Levitsky & Dmitry Shamatazhi/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Alex Levitsky & Dmitry Shamatazhi/cc-by-sa-3.0

Odesa National Fine Arts Museum or Odesa National Art Museum is one of the principal art galleries of the city of Odesa in Ukraine. Founded in 1899, it occupies the Potocki Palace, itself a monument of early 19th century architecture. The museum now houses more than 10 thousand pieces of art, including paintings by some of the best-known Russian and Ukrainian artists of late 19th and early 20th century. It is the only museum in Odesa that has free entrance day every last Sunday of the month.   read more…

Theme Week Odesa – Potemkin Stairs

22 April 2025 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  11 minutes

© Oleksandr Malyon/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Oleksandr Malyon/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Potemkin Stairs, Potemkin Steps, or, officially, Primorsky Stairs are a giant stairway in Odesa, Ukraine. They are considered a formal entrance into the city from the direction of the sea and are the best known symbol of Odesa. The stairs were originally known as the Boulevard steps, the Giant Staircase, or the Richelieu steps. The top step is 12.5 meters (41 feet) wide, and the lowest step is 21.7 meters (70.8 feet) wide. The staircase extends for 142 meters, but it gives the illusion of greater length.   read more…

Theme Week Odesa

21 April 2025 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  9 minutes

The Passage galleries © Alex Levitsky & Dmitry Shamatazhi/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Passage galleries © Alex Levitsky & Dmitry Shamatazhi/cc-by-sa-3.0

Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrative centre of the Odesa Raion and Odesa Oblast, as well as a multiethnic cultural centre. As of January 2021, Odesa’s population was approximately 1,010,537. On 25 January 2023, its historic city centre was declared a World Heritage Site and added to the List of World Heritage in Danger by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in recognition of its multiculturality and 19th-century urban planning. The declaration was made in response to the bombing of Odesa during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has damaged or destroyed buildings across the city.   read more…

The Druzhba

1 November 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Tall ships, Yacht of the Month Reading Time:  4 minutes

Druzhba in Hamburg, Germany, 1989 © Wolfgang Fricke/cc-by-sa-3.0

Druzhba in Hamburg, Germany, 1989 © Wolfgang Fricke/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Druzhba (English: Friendship) is a training ship of the Ukrainian Academy of Navigation. The ship, built in 1987, is one of the modern full-rigged ships in a series of sister ships designed by the Polish sailing ship designer Zygmunt Choreń and was built at the Polish Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk.   read more…

Derzhprom in Kharkiv

30 October 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  4 minutes

© Dmitry Glazunov/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Dmitry Glazunov/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Derzhprom building is an office building located on Freedom Square in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Built in the Constructivist style, it was the first modern skyscraper building in the Soviet Union upon its completion in 1928. Its name is an abbreviation of two words that, taken together, mean State Industry. In English the structure is known as the State Industry Building or the Palace of Industry.   read more…

Chicken Kiev

13 October 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon appétit Reading Time:  6 minutes

© flickr.com - Jason Lam/cc-by-sa-2.0

© flickr.com – Jason Lam/cc-by-sa-2.0

Chicken Kiev, also known as chicken à la Kyiv, is a dish made of chicken fillet pounded and rolled around cold butter, then coated with egg and bread crumbs, and either fried or baked. Since fillets are often referred to as suprêmes in professional cookery, the dish is also called “suprême de volaille à la Kiev”. Stuffed chicken breast is generally known in Russian and Ukrainian cuisines as côtelette de volaille. Though it has disputed origins, the dish is particularly popular in the post-Soviet states, as well as in several other countries of the former Eastern Bloc, and in the English-speaking world.   read more…

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