The Odesa File
Otrada Beach, Odesa
Odesa, the third most populous city in Ukraine, sits on the Black Sea, close to the Moldovan border. I spent less than 24 hours there in September 2018, but I still managed to find time to stand-up paddle on the Black Sea, have drinks with two stalkers and get locked inside a hotel.
I arrived on the morning train from Tiraspol and, being short of time, I headed straight to my hotel, followed by a short walk to Otrada Beach.
Conditions were pleasant, but there was some wind. I set off heading south and into the wind for a few kilometres before turning back. I met these two kayakers on the water, both local men who were intrigued by my quest to SUP the World and wanted to know which countries I had been to so far.
I found the water temperature to be very pleasant but, nevertheless, I didn’t want to fall in due to the numerous jellyfish drifting just below the surface.
Jelly fish in the Black Sea
After padding on the Black Sea I ventured out into the city for an early dinner. As is often the case, I was plagued with indecision!
‘Ah, that Chinese restaurant looks tempting’
‘Or maybe an Italian? How about Thai?’
My sole essential requirement was that the restaurant had a menu in English. I don’t speak Ukrainian or Russian (the two main languages spoken in Odesa) and my Google Translate would be unhelpful without my having any understanding of the Cyrillic Alphabet.
I walked on, resolving to find a Ukrainian restaurant. Then I changed my mind and walked back to the Chinese, peering through the window at an empty room. I walked on again, further into the city centre, when I stumbled upon the famous unicorn statue, and then a local restaurant.
Delighted to have found an outside table and relieved to be able to banish the indecision and procrastination, I ordered a meal of chicken and potatoes. When the potatoes, in breadcrumbs arrived I politely waited for a few minutes for the chicken before it became apparent that I was only to receive the potatoes. Not until I had eaten the potatoes did the chicken arrive. It seems I had ordered two separate courses. Or perhaps that’s how they do things in Odesa?
After I had eaten, I was approached by a man who was dining at the next table. He said:
‘I know you.’
I was sure he was wrong but he told me he had seen me at breakfast in the Hotel Chisinau a couple of days earlier and had also seen me at Tiraspol Railway Station that very morning. He and his partner were making precisely the same journey as me.
They were so pleased to see me that they treated me to a vodka shot. I reciprocated. As they did. Then me again. You get the picture. I was on my way to a sore head the following day.
More than a million people live in Odesa and there must be hundreds of restaurants in the city. What were the probabilities that I would find myself at the next table to my fellow travellers from Moldova and Transnistria?
Returning to the Black Sea Hotel, I booked a taxi for 03.30 the following morning. I had an 05.00 flight to Athens via Sofia.
Feeling rather groggy after the vodka shots, I dragged myself out of bed and down to the lobby of the hotel when disaster struck! The doors to the hotel were locked, and there was no one at reception. I ran around in a panic. There were no other exits. No one to ask. Maybe there is a fire escape. I walked behind the reception desk and found the night porter asleep on a couch in a small room. I woke him with an apology and begged to be let out. He unlocked the door for me, and there was my taxi ready and waiting. It was a quick journey to the airport at that time of day, and I was soon on my way to Greece via Bulgaria.
