Guide to Ukraine
Must See Ukraine
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Odesa is a curious mix of enticing seaside holiday retreat and polluted industrial port. A long-time Black Sea shipping centre and southern Ukraine urban giant, the city is famous for its role in the 1905 revolution, when the mutinous battleship Potemkin Tavrichesky supported rebellious workers.
Today it's best known for its excellent collection of museums. It's filled with beautiful low-rise buildings and tree-lined streets, and is home to the elaborate and famous 19th-century Opera & Ballet Theatre, designed by Viennese architects who gave it a Baroque cast with a Renaissance twist.
One of the most interesting of the city's museums is the Archaeology Museum, which contains an excellent collection of artefacts from early Black Sea civilisations, including a tempting display of jewellery and coins. Across the road is the Museum of Maritime History, covering the history of shipbuilding and navigation with lots of models and naval paraphernalia. Nearby is the Literature Museum, where you can steep yourself in the lives of Ukrainian masters like Shevchenko and Franko, and Russian authors such as Chekov, Pushkin, Tolstoy and Gorky. Don't miss one of Odesa's most famous sights - the massive Potemkin Steps, immortalised in the 1925 Eisenstein film Battleship Potemkin.