Black Sea Odessa Hostel

The boat ride merits little mention. Some sunbathing on the top deck as the wind blew harder and harder from the north, through the widening mouth of the Bosporus, until we had to abandon all notion of staying out, and went inside to watch a movie. The meals came frequently, always cold, but tasty, and filling, and the company was probably the most friendly on the boat, a pair of Moldovans, and a Turkish man.
The boat itself was huge, 8 floors, two exterior decks, two discoteques, a resta...

The first thing that greeted us as we entered the Ukraine, Odessa, was a giant muscular baby smiling down on us with an evil grin. In the distance, we could see the Ptempkin steps leading up towards impressive buildings and wide boulevards. We decided to go in search of the train station, and since we saw some tracks, we decided it could not be far from there. But looking around, we could not decide which direction to follow the tracks in, and walked up the stairs instead. All 500000000 of th...

When I was eighteen and turned a corner in the Vietnamese town of Hoi An's market to find a whole row of stalls selling sandals, I thought I had found one of the best shopping places in the world. Today, I had a similar feeling on exploring Odessa's market with stall after stall selling boots. Forget Minsk's mall, these boots were affordable, ranging from $20-$30 in all the styles you could imagine. Of course, the market also sold other wares: clothes, hardware, produce, cleaners, toiletries,...

It's my third day here in Ukraine now, but things really haven't been going like I planned. I've been so busy trying to arrange tickets, visas and the like that I haven't been able to actually enjoy where I am much. Yesterday morning was entirely wasted trying to print out forms, fill them in and then get them scanned and sent to the travel agent in Belarus. It wouldn't have been such a problem had the staff at the hostel not been so distracted with other responsibilities to help me scan them...

We came to Odessa by train from Moscow on 31 Dec 2007 to celebrate a new year, but was very-very cold. We stayed at a "Zirka" hotel, which is very cheap and mostly occupied by local *****s who wait in the lobby for their prey or being taken here by the young ukrainian males. Although, every room comes with a tv set and a toilet/shower. It was extremely cold in the rooms and we had to change the room three times before we could get a decent temperature. I found all the hostel around Ukraine us...