donderdag 10 december 2009

I <3 Odessa

Gently snowflakes are falling down on Odessa's boulevards. When I walked out of the train this morning I already felt the incredible atmosphere this city has, however, I did not know how amazingly beautiful Odessa is. The streets, with enormous maple trees on each side, beautiful colorful houses, romantic balconies, make you fall in love instantly. Imagine butterflies in your stomach, a constant smile, and overly excited with every new treasure you find: that is how I feel about Odessa, and I only have been here for a couple of hours so far.
The best way to describe the town is by comparing it to Tbilisi and Batumi: it has the laid-back atmosphere of a seashore town like Batumi, and the architecture of Tbilisi. However, the city plan is incredible simple: you can not get lost. Normally, I am not so font of straight streets and square block city planning, but in this case, the houses are not so tall, and have a lot of decorations and colors, which instantly takes away the abstract 'well-thought-of-straight-roads'. The trees give the town an extra touch, and especially because they must be extremely old, since they are literally enormous.
Another great aspect of Odessa are its sweet little cafes, innovative bars an (I presume) nightclubs, though the latter I haven;t had the pleasure of enjoying yet.
I must admit, I do not think I will like it so much in high season, since I am a person who doesn't like masses of people and overly touristic places (which Odessa is in summer, as I have heard), however, it does not take away the beauty and the atmosphere outside the season. I already decided: I am going to do this more often, just go to Odessa. I will take the saturdaynight train after my saturday class, walk around all sunday, and go back sunday night arriving monday morning in time for my russian course again. Really, this town boosts me with positive energy.

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