With only one full day in
Odessa, we needed to make the most of it
and see as much as possible. We joined
the group for the morning city tour, but
after lunch, we did our own thing. Here
is a selection of pictures from the whole
day.
Programme for 12th June
2008
The Potemkin Stairway is the city's
symbol and leads from the harbour to the
Primorski Boulevard, a shady promenade
with many historic landmarks and interesting
monuments. The stairway has 192 steps.
It is 142 metres long and 30 metres high.
The steps are divided by 10 landings and
becomes wider going from top to bottom.
This provides an interesting optical illusion:
when standing at the top of the stairs
only the landings are visible, but conversely,
when standing at the bottom of the stairs,
only the steps are visible.
Odessa
Odessa is one of the Ukraine's largest
cities and the most significant commercial
centre. It was heavily influenced
by French and Italian styles and therefore
resembles a Mediterranean town. The
Greeks settled in this region as early
as 1700 years ago. The Crimean Tartars
settled there in the fourteenth century
and the region was part of the Turkish
Empire from 1526 to 1789. During times
of Russian expansionism, this coastal
region was conquered and integrated
into the Russian Empire. The town
was officially founded in 1794 and
served as a Russian naval base. Today,
Odessa is a city with over a million
inhabitants. It is home to shipyards,
oil refineries, chemical and metal
processing industries as well as being
the Ukrainian naval base and having
a large fishing fleet.
Going down the Potemkin
stairway. Note the optical illusion: only the
landings are visible
We sailed from Odessa at
around 10.00 pm on Thursday evening and headed out across
the Black Sea towards our next port of call, Sevastopol
