Odessa

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We arrived at Odessa Station early in the morning. We headed over to the Left Luggage Office and dropped our bags off there. I can't remember how much it was, but I presume it was pretty inexpensive. We had a couple of hours to kill before our tour started, so most of us headed over to the McDonald's just across the square. We had to navigate through what felt like an underground maze to get there. My tired, hungover brain just couldn't figure it out. I hadn't really slept on the train and had hoped that by drinking alcohol I would pass out, well it only worked for about 30 minutes and I had spent the rest of the train journey awake. Some food, free wifi, washing my face and brushing my teeth did help and it made me feel human again for a while.

Around 9 am, we met back up by the train station to start our Dark Odessa Tour. We met up with our guide and driver and piled into the minibus, which wasn't the most luxurious of vehicles. First, we drove around the streets near the train station and the guide pointed out some places of interest, including a building that had recently had a fire in it. Part of the building was completely in tact, while other parts were only a shell. The guide didn't know what had caused the fire, but I hope everyone made it out safely. After our drive around the city, we headed out towards the port area. We cam to a street that had once been filled with money, prostitutes, drugs, human trafficking etc, but now it was very much abandoned. There were little flashes of grandeur such as beautiful staircases, but the buildings were all decaying and crumbling. There was some great graffiti and street art in this area and I really enjoyed the walk along the street. The weird thing was on the next street over there were some really nice, modern looking buildings. Maybe rejuvenation hadn't made it that far yet, maybe in a few years time this street will look totally different.

We drove along the worst street in Odessa. The street is filled with potholes and our guide talked more about Odessa as we made our way along it. I was fading by this point, so closed my eyes and took a nap. When I woke up we were still on the same street. I had been asleep for quite a while and I think it took us about an hour to reach the end of the street. We'd had to go so slow because of all the potholes. Our next stop was an old meat processing factory. The factory is abandoned but there were a couple of small businesses in the vicinity. The factory looked quite imposing with the large chimneys in front of it. We walked around the yard, which was filled with rubble and there were a few gravestones. Could people really be buried here? The guide told us that there weren't any people buried there and that the grave stones were rejects from one of the small businesses. I felt like this would be a place for junkies to hang out in.

The last stop on the tour was the Memorial to the Heroic Defence of Odessa, which was a park/open air museum with lots of airplanes, a submarine and other military paraphernalia on display. We spent a while walking through the park, taking photos of the different things. It was quite interesting, I only wished it had been a bit warmer. We drove back to the station and as we were dropped off there, our local guide started telling us about fire at the Trade Union House. If I remember correctly, our guide was very pro-Russian and painted them as the helpless victims. Later, one of our other guides told us, he had basically been talking shit and that was not how it went down. I know very little about the clashes that happened in Odessa in 2014 and really need to read up on it more, as well as what is going on in the Crimea. That's more to go on my to read list then.

After the tour we had some free time and since we were hungry some of us headed off to find a restaurant for some lunch. We headed up the main street and came to a nice looking place called City Buffet. We headed in there, grabbed a table and made our way up to the buffet. I ended up getting some salmon and a few different salads. I think I must have made a bad choice as my meal was a lot more expensive than the others, but it was tasty, so I can't complain too much. I also had a couple of cups of tea to warm me up. The food perked me up a bit and afterwards we went for a bit of a walk around the area. We didn't really see too much. We passed some places that we'd seen on the bus tour earlier and some churches. We passed the synagogue and I was surprised to see that there was a security guard outside. It saddened me to think that in this day and age Antisemitism is still a problem. We came across a little park that had a market in it. We took a walk through the market and across to Starobazarnyi Garden Square. In the dead of winter, this place didn't really look its best and the area around it seemed to be a bit rundown, too. It was also freezing. I was well wrapped up, but that didn't stop the biting wind. From there, we headed back to the train station to get our minibus that would take us to Transnistria. We ended up waiting ages as the traffic was bad and it took the driver longer than anticipated to reach us. One of the guides was telling us about how sketchy the station area can be and people in front of the station protect their turf from others as it is a spot used for human trafficking and other illegal activities. Some of us waited in the station to get out of the cold. After a good wait the driver turned up and we crammed into the minibus. I ended up stuck in the back corner and it was rather claustrophobic. I just had to shut my eyes and try to sleep. I have to say I wasn't too impressed with Odessa, partly due to me being tired, hungover, and freezing, and also it just felt rundown and a little hostile. I suppose doing the tour to all the dark/depressive spots in the city didn't help. Also I was talking to one of the guys in the group, who had family from Ukraine, maybe specifically Odessa (I forget), and they'd told him that he was mad to go there in winter. I think I need a return visit in a warmer season to change my mind and maybe I will like the city then.

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