Odessa

Odessa is a great, old, charming city, reminiscent of New Orleans in some ways - the distinctive architecture, live music, the general raunchyness. In the downtown area, bars and strip clubs line every street, particularly on and around Deribasovska Street the main pedestrian thoroughfare in the city center - it's a party city. But like New Orleans, it has its own distinctive culture, class and romance. 

By Ukraine standards Odessa is pricey, dinner and drinks at a nice restauraunt can run $80 - $100 or more. It is unquestionably a tourist destination - primarily for Ukranians and Russians, and as a result of the current conflict the city while busy, is far quieter than it would typically be in the summer. Ukranian TV shows an endless stream of images of the fighting taking place in the East. Separatists in camo, smoking buildings with broken windows, bombed out buses. While Odessa is calm, the conflict is an unspoken constant which no doubt dims the party atmosphere.

There are two main areas of interest in Odessa - the city center close to the port, and the beach. The City Center is home to an impressively maintained old Opera House and streets lined by century old buildings in a mix of Classical Art Nouveau, and Renaissance architecture - more than 1,000 of which are monuments and historical buildings. Hostel Opera on Deribasovka Street is a great option, with a perfect location right in the downtown area, with dorm beds for around $15 and several private rooms for $30 per night. A few blocks to the North, past the Opera House and down the Potemkin Stairs to the Sea is the port. Worth a walk around but beware, at the top of the stairs is the main tourist info point in the city and where promoters of the Nature Park on the waterfront wait for tourists with Monkeys and enormous Falcons. They will try to put these animals on you if you don't stop them. ("it's nice monkey!")

Several beaches run along the eastern shore with the Black Sea, most notably Arcadia Beach about 2 kilometers south of the center. The number 5 tram from the city center goes to Arcadia, and almost free at 1.50UAH ($.12) but trams are slow and few and far between. Apparently the number 5 can be busy in the summer and pickpockets are prevalent, but perhaps because of the political climate this was not the case when I was there. 

If you speak enough Russian, Taxis may be a better bet, but if not it is almost impossible to communicate with them as few if any speak anything other than Russian. If you are able to get them to understand where you want to go the price will be high (by Ukraine standards at least), and good luck bargaining with them. Most places in town should be 50 UAH or less but they will ask 100+. 

I didn't bother with taxis other than a last minute round trip to the train station when in a surprise the day before I planned to leave, I learned that the only Odessa to Lviv train which had tickets available in the next week was the one leaving that night (rather than the following night when I intended to leave) - so I quickly recalibrated, paid a taxi 150 UAH round trip to my hostel (I didn't bother trying to bargain), and arrived back at the train station in under an hour, boarding with 15 minutes to spare.