Odessa & Yalta

September 24, 2008
We docked in Odessa, Ukraine today, and while I was initially led to believe that I would not be allowed off the ship without a seaman’s book (an official document that looks like a jumbo-sized passport; it allows seafarers entry to certain countries, namely Russia and Brazil), but as it turned out, a United States Passport was sufficient and I stepped off the ship and walked around for about an hour and a half.

I debarked with zero expectations or plans and ended up following the general direction of the ships’ guests that were getting off and found myself at the bottom of a gigantic flight of stairs that led to the city. I later found out it was about 200 steps in total, but it was still fun to climb them. Vendors, who sold a wide variety of goods, occupied the sides of the steps towards the bottom. They were selling everything from USSR war medals and stamps to postcards and the traditional Russian fur hats you see on occasion in the USA. I ended up buying a postcard for a friend from one, and then paid another lady a dollar to hold her pet owl (though I had to ask her what it was since it looked like it was missing its entire face) while she took my picture. And yes, I am that easily amused.

When I got to the top of the stairs, I decided I would make the most out of my time in Odessa by walking around the city, and it seemed like that was what most of the cruise’s guests were doing as well, as were some of the crewmembers I ran into during my shore leave. As one guest I had previously met on board reminded me, it has been less than 20 years since the dissolving of the Soviet Union, so the city is still very much in a rebuilding/reconstructive process. An entire street was being redone (and from the looks of things, so was the plumbing under the street), but the buildings were still beautiful. I found my way to a small park that had a couple statues and also a fountain, took some pictures, and relaxed before turning back toward the ship. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much else to do there besides walk around then turn back.

The parking situation in Odessa is like nothing I have ever seen. On some streets, there are designated spaces; however, many people turn the sidewalk into their own personal parking space and pull right up onto the curb (pictures will follow eventually...) and it seems like the police there could not care less. I can only imagine what New York City would be like with this relaxed parking regulation.

Tomorrow we will be in Yalta (also in the Ukraine), and I was lucky enough to get myself on a tour as an escort. This basically means I just keep an eye on the tour guests and make sure everything is okay and in turn, I get to go for free. I’ll be doing this again this voyage in Athens and hopefully in Messina, Sicily as well. The tour tomorrow will take me to the Livadia Palace, where Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill held the Yalta Conference in 1945, and I will actually get to see the hall. There are other stops on the tour, but this one was easily the greatest draw for me. By the end of the voyage, I will hopefully have gotten the chance to explore five wonderful ports (Istanbul, Odessa, Yalta, Athens, and Messina). As a pianist working for Carnival, in total, I visited eleven ports (New York, San Juan, St. Thomas, Tortola, Dominica, Barbados, Aruba, New Orleans, Montego Bay, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel). Needless to say, I am excited with this itinerary.

September 25, 2008
Yalta, Ukraine
The whole concept of having good days every day is something new to me. I spent the better part of the morning and early afternoon on a tour of Yalta’s main attractions. After a whole mess including a delay in being cleared by Ukrainian immigration and then an additional delay in boarding a tender, I finally made it ashore with the tour group I was escorting about ninety minutes behind schedule. We immediately boarded the buses and made our way to the Livadia Palace, which was the summer home of the last Russian Tsar. As I said in my last posting, it was also where Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin held the Yalta Conference of 1945. I got to see all the rooms where they met, and even the tables they sat at. We then proceeded to a refreshment stop where we had an amazing view of the Black Sea, and additionally we were able to see the Swallow’s Nest, a castle built by a German Baron for his lover on the edge of a cliff above the water. It looked like the Magic Kingdom was sitting at the edge of the world.

Unfortunately this attraction is only accessible by boat unless you make a reservation at its on-site expensive Italian restaurant (which my tour group obviously didn’t do).
Before heading back to the port, my tour group stopped briefly at the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, a beautiful Orthodox church and we had a chance to sneak inside for a minute. It was more interesting on the outside in my opinion, but it was a welcomed stop en route back to the ship.

I found my way to the local McDonalds and ordered a McChicken sandwich before returning to the ship and alas, here I am. Yet again, it is still yet to hit me that I am in the Ukraine today. As I boarded the tender to be transported from shore back to the ship, I looked up at the mountains that cover the Yalta terrain and the cloud ceiling was low enough that it covered most of the mountain peaks. I did not take a photograph, but this beautiful sight will be a lasting memory of my time spent in The Ukraine yesterday and today.