Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Odesa &
Southern Ukraine
POP 4.7 MILLION / AREA 86,300 SQ KM
Why Go?
This region feels New World much more than Europe. The flat steppe between the estuar-
ies of the Dnipro and the Danube was only properly colonised after Russian empress
Catherine the Great wrestled it from the Turks.
It was indeed touted as the Russian California when immigrants from all over Europe
poured in to cultivate virgin lands and build the port of Odesa. Greek, Yiddish, Italian and
German were all spoken here along with Russian and Ukrainian.
Although less multicultural today, Odesa is still permeated with porto franco spirit, dis-
playing Jewish humour and French conviviality, along with crumbling mansion houses,
which line the streets named after settlers' ethnicities.
To the west, colonists' heritage lingers next to the birding paradise of the Danube Delta.
In the east, swathes of virgin steppe are preserved on Dzharylhach island and in Askaniya
Nova Reserve, which an eccentric German aristocrat populated with wildebeest and
zebras.
