Travel to Odessa - Ukraine - Europe - Culture

Odessa - Culture

Odessa Ukraine is the 5th largest city in Ukraine and the most important city of trade. Odessa is the largest city along the entire Black Sea. Many years ago, Odessa was once the 3rd leading city in old Russia, after Moscow and St. Petersburg. Odessa looks more like a city located on the Mediterranean, having been heavily influenced by French and Italian styles. Odessa has always had a spirit of freedom, probably endowed to her by her location and by her ability to accept many different peoples.

Today Odessa is a city of 1.1 million people. The city's industries include shipbuilding, oil refining, chemicals, metalworking and food processing. Odessa is also the home of a Ukrainian naval base and fishing fleets. Odessa is situated on terraced hills overlooking a small harbour. The weather in Odessa is mild and dry with average temperatures in January of -2 C (29 F), and July of 22 C (73 F). Odessa averages only 35 cm (14 in) of precipitation annually. Odessa has many therapeutic resorts. The primary language spoken in Odessa is Russian. Ukrainian, however, is the official language and many advertisements and signs are written in it. Odessa has two spellings, the Russian Îäåññà (Odessa) and the Ukrainian Îäåñà (Odesa). The city is a diversity of people including Ukrainian, Russian, Moldavian, Greek, Romanian, Bulgarian, Caucasian, Jewish, Turkish, Vietnamese and so forth. Modern Odessa is a city rebuilding her, and her downtown is slowly being revitalized. Odessa is well known as the capital of humour, probably due to the great variety of people and her southern location on the Black Sea. Today, many refer to Odessa as the “Pearl of the Black Sea “,” Odessa Mama and Southern Palmira.

Aerial view of the Odessa Theatre of Opera and Ballet (Odessa Opera House). With this kind of grandeur, it’s obvious why critics rank the Theatre as the 2nd most beautiful opera house in Europe, after the Viennese Opera House.

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