One of the fun evenings spent with our friends was at Arcadia Beach. The famous Arcadia is the most popular resort district of Odessa, with a beach and park of the same name. Situated about a 15 minute drive from Odessa city center, Arcadia offers relaxing beaches, fine dining, entertainment and more.
While walking to the Langerone beach through the Shevchenko park during the day, we thought that it would be nice to visit the park at night. The park is pretty during the day, but it is beautiful at night.
T.G.Shevchenko central culture and recreation park was originally called Alexander’s park in honor of emperor Alexander II. Famous writers such as Zhukovskiy, Gogol, Ostrovskiy, Dostoyevskiy, Chekhov, Akhmatova strolled around this park in their day.
The park is not far from the city center and it is adjacent to the Odessa Port Terminal. It is a good place to relax, to take a nice walk, or to watch the ships crossing the Black Sea at the Port Terminal. Here is the park entrance at night.
It was nice to visit Odessa again after many years. Dave and I had a great time strolling through Odessa with friends. Odessa is one of the few regions in Ukraine that are inseparable from the Black Sea. We could feel the comfort and warmth of narrow streets, and marvel at the architectural creations of the old masters. Today Odessa is one of the most important economic centers of Ukraine, the third largest city after Kiev and Kharkov with a population of over 1 million people.
Each city has its own architectural treasure or quarter that has become its symbol. Odessa is proud to have several such symbols. The Potemkin Steps and the Monument to Duke de Richelieu are among them.
The Potemkin Steps descend from the Duke monument down to the Marine Passenger Terminal (Morskoy Voksal) and they are the front entrance to Odessa, Ukraine. The legendary 192 steps were a gift from Earl Vorontsov to his wife Elizaveta. They got their contemporary name after the success of the Soviet movie Battleship Potemkin.
