Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
If you must travel by taxi,
Servis-Taksi
(
234 5077)
and
IgAl
(
234 8080)
come
recommended by the tourist office.
Rental cars are especially useful for exploring Bessarabia or the Kherson area. Try
Most international car-rental companies are well represented in the airport.
AROUND ODESA
The limestone on which Odesa stands is riddled with some 2000km of tunnels, which
have always played an important part in the city's history. Quarried out for building in
the 19th century, they were first used to hide smuggled goods. During WWII they
sheltered a group of local partisans, who waged a war of attrition against the occupying
Romanians and forced the Nazis to keep greater troop numbers in the area.
Most of the catacomb network lies well outside Odesa's city centre. The only tunnels
that can be visited are in the suburb of Nerubayske, about 15km north of central Odesa.
Here a resident speleologist offers 45-minute
catacomb tours
( 048-725 2874;
9am-4pm Tue-Sun)
that wend through what was the headquarters of Odesa's WWII partis-
an movement. Tours cost 10uah per person (plus a 100uah flat fee for the guide) and are
in Russian, so you may wish to bring a translator along, although you don't necessarily
need one to enjoy the catacombs. Tours exit into the musty Partisan Museum.
Marshrutka
84 to Nerubayske leaves every 10 minutes from Odesa's Privoz bus sta-
tion (2uah, 35 minutes). Ask the driver to let you off at the 'Katakomby' stop, easily
identifiable by the hulking Soviet realist statue depicting five defiant partisans. Tour
agencies in Odesa run tours out here for about 600uah per group, or in summer you can
look for one of the Russian-speaking guides touting tours in front of Odesa's train sta-
tion.
WORTH A TRIP
ONE STEPPE AWAY
Most people race through the immense steppe of Kherson Region on their way
between Odesa and Crimea without ever stopping to marvel at it.
Meanwhile, herds of buffalo, wildebeest and zebras are roaming in the vicinity.
Hey, what zebras? This is not Africa! Well, indeed - but it is the reality inside the
2300- hectare
Askaniya Nova Reserve
(
055 386 1286;
http://ascania-nova.com
;
vul Frunze
8am-5pm 15 Apr to 10 Nov)
- the brainchild of a
13, Askaniya Nova; adult/child 20/10uah;
