Being in Chisinau (Moldova) and not taking a moment to visit Odesa, that it's so close, felt like missing something. Yes, there's a war going on, or even better, an invasion, but the desire to visit was bigger than concerns.
In the current state, Ukrainian cities are obviously reachable only by land, and from Chisinau it's very easy. There are buses every 30 minutes, or, like I did, you can jump on of the many BlaBlaCar(s) going there. I decided to opt for a car ride because, not knowing what I should have expected, I had ton of questions for my driver. That's where I met Giku.
«I'm from Moldova, my wife is from Odesa. We firstly met because we're both vegetarian, and you know, meeting someone who shares same values as you, creates naturally an easier connection.»
We quickly stop at a service station, he recommends me to try Placinta, a typical rustic pastry filled with cheese, meat or cabbage and cooked in pan or oven. Since I am vegetarian as well, he suggests the one with cabbage or cheese. Despite not being hungry, I took both of them and they were absolutely delicious, with a taste similar to Bosnian sirnica/burek. Afterall, we're in the balkans.
«In Chisinau my wife and I make organic peanut butters. It's not going that well, but the product is good. She's in Odesa for a few weeks to solve personal bureaucracy things, I miss her and I'm spending there a longer weekend.»
Crossing the border
Approaching the border with Ukraine I had a bit of fear that they would reject me, but after all, why should they? A tourist visiting a country and contributing to the economy should be encouraged, but pushed away. Little I didn't know, however, is the very long queue at the border checks.
«It was like this even before the war. Can't wait for Moldova and Ukraine to join the EU, so there will be no more border controls.»
Ukrainian officers come to our car, get our passports and, after about 1:30h, we're finally in.
«Usually at the borders they search for drugs, here they're interested in drones and bullets.»
Building in Odesa. For safety reasons, no photos can be taken at the border and military checkpoints.
Building in Odesa. For safety reasons, no photos can be taken at the border and military checkpoints.
Emotions are flooding in me, all very different but with the same strength. Firstly, I'm anxious. Not a negative anxiety, but just the fear of not knowing what's next. I'm excited, of course. That bit of adrenaline will stay with me for half an hour. I'm curious. Curious to see how life works there, how people react to raid alarms, how shelters are made, how a raid siren sounds like. The curiosity was the main driver that led me here.
In our home countries, we hear and read news about the war, and my dear friend Sveta, who's Ukrainian, always tells me about this, but I don't know what emotions you feel when you hear it. This mix of anxiety, excitement and curiosity makes me look up in the sky to scan for drones every two seconds. As said, I don't really know what to expect.
«Odesa is pretty safe. There are few raid alarms during the day or night, but nothing to worry about. You should also go to the beach, the water is wonderful and the government cleaned a lot of beaches from land mines. They're safe to go, we're going for sure.»
In rapid succession, the very things I didn't expect appear before my eyes: a military checkpoint, pick-ups with a machine gun in the back, lot of billboards sponsoring the war with pictures of soldiers and different messages I'm unable to understand.
«The billboards say that you should join the army, you will get glory and money.»
"З Днем Збройних Сил України!" (Happy Day of the Armed Forces of Ukraine!) and "Слава Україні! Героям Слава!" (Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the Heroes!)
"Захищаємо Україну разом!" (Defending Ukraine Together!)
"З Днем Збройних Сил України!" (Happy Day of the Armed Forces of Ukraine!) and "Слава Україні! Героям Слава!" (Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the Heroes!)
"Захищаємо Україну разом!" (Defending Ukraine Together!)
Giku finally drops me at my hotel (chosen because has a shelter and power supply generators), but not before gifting me one of his organic peanut butter.
«See? It's only 5 ingredients». Thank you Giku, I hope one day you will expand your business even outside Moldova to ship everywhere in Europe.
The peanut butter made by Giku and his wife
The peanut butter made by Giku and his wife
Must have before going
List of Apps and Telegram channels to be safe and updated on what's going on.
1. "Misto" app, available for several city in Ukraine, where along with other features it has mapped all the nearby shelters.
2. "Повітряна тривога" app (Air Alarm). Choose your Oblast (region) and you will receive notifications a raid is announced. Trust me, you will hear them (or hopefully you won't), since they're managed as "system critical notifications", so they skip the silence mode and everything.
3. "Думская. Одесса. Война в Украине" Telegram channel (Dumskaya. Odesa. War in Ukraine). They send regular and detailed updates during alerts, like what's coming (drones, rockets), from where, how many and when they destroy them. In Odesa, they always come from the Black Sea.
4. "ТРИВОГА ОДЕСА" Telegram channel (Odesa alarm). Similar to the other, more generic notifications.
5. Optional, a friend like Sveta who will pay for a e-candle of a Ukrainian church to pray for your safety.
Shelters map in the Misto app
Useful Telegram groups
Shelters map in the Misto app
Useful Telegram groups
The two other Telegram channels in the screenshot are to receive notification on alerts and a find the closest shelter, but with the Misto and Air Alarm apps they're not needed.
Inside the country
With the few Ukrainian sentences I've learned I check in to the hotel and the staff show me where the shelter (укриття, "ukryttya") is located. The curiosity to visit it immediately was spiking, but I knew I would have been there later for its real scope, so I just postponed the visit.
Quick stop in the room and I'm out to visit the city, with a camera on the backpack strap, another one in my pocket, ready to capture everything and hunting for souvenirs. Unfortunately I could not find the toilet paper with Putin face on it nor the "Putin khuylo" beer (Google it).
Memorial tributes to fallen Ukrainian at the Catherine II monument in Odesa
Memorial tributes to fallen Ukrainian at the Catherine II monument in Odesa
What shocks me a bit is to see how the both faces of the country, the normal life and the war, now coexist like nothing happened and how people don't even notice anymore to this dualism.
Ukrainian flags are everywhere, at every corner, outside every shop. Painted, flying with the wind, or on the street. Usually I dislike this kind of nationalism, but here, feeling also the strength of the community, it creates in me a feeling of safety and belonging, despite not being Ukrainian, maybe also 'cause of my friendship with Sveta. She told me that it's illegal, now, to speak Russian and play Russian music in public shops and activities, and you can feel this hate against Russia everywhere you go.
Wall of wartime protest art and posters in central Odesa
Wall of wartime protest art and posters in central Odesa
Before going to dinner I stop by a small street (Karantynnyi descent), fascinated by the pubs and beautiful, stylish people drinking outside, that reminded me of some specific areas of Milan and Rome as well. Here is where I meet Ksiusha and Katryna, two young girls who luckily for me speak a good english. My plan to go to the beach is postponed to tomorrow for a good reason (sociality), and after few hours that flew without noticing, it's time to look for a restaurant with vegetarian options in the nearby.
Found it: True restaurant. No, it's not an adv, I just don't want to gatekeep. Here I'm welcomed by a very kind waitress that understands my needs and accommodate my vegetarian preference for the must-go dish, the borsch, a beetroot soup. I'm sorry fellow Ukrainians, I know it's outrageous to alter the original recipe, but hopefully you will forgive me.
First sip and wow, that's incredible, especially when you get a piece of potato, is heaven. They always bring it with smetana, the typical sour cream, that adds that kick to the dish. Another thing I didn't expect at all about Ukraine is how digital it is: from the Misto app, to the fact that almost every restaurant allows you to order and pay with the QRCode present in every table. I wanted to leave a tip bigger than the total (it just was ~2.30€), but I could not through the QRCode, so I go paying with card in person. They reject my desire to tip them, and when I get the receipt I find out that the extra bread I asked was free. Quick chat again with the waitress who tells me that she has to run to catch a train to Kyiv and I'm going back to hotel.
And then, it happened
It's almost 9pm, I'm in the patio of the hotel. First raid alarm. I don't panic, again, I was on the phone with my friend, but I just don't know what will happen. What shocks me is that I'm the only one going to the shelter, while locals are uncorking bottles to celebrate something and laughing with the siren in the background.
«Don't be an idiot, go to the shelter.» is what my friend tells me, so I follow her directions, and it's finally time to see how a ukryttya is made. I pictured it in my mind like a 80s war movie shelter, dark, humid, with grey cement walls; turns out it's, actually, a regular meeting room at the basement level. I'm a bit disappointed, even more when I find out that I'm the only there.
When I was at the border with Moldova I've read a message from the government saying to not ignore the alerts of the following 48 hours 'cause there was a risk that Russia might use again the Oreshnik, so I'm a bit worried about that. Instead, there are just a few drones coming from the sea, but the alarms fortunately go off after less than 30 minutes, after which I decide that it's time to go to sleep.
11:30pm, another alert. Walking again to the shelter, 30 minutes later, back in the room. 2am, I hear my phone vibrate, I wake up. Another alert, again shelter, again 30 minutes, again bed.
Day 2
With about 4 hours of sleep, I wake up at 7am to have a rich breakfast and, most importantly, to assist to the minute of silence that happens at 9am, when everybody stops, even in the middle of street, to pay respects for the fallen. Well, it should have been happened, but it didn't, so again I'm a bit disappointed (I later found out that in Kyiv it still happens, so it really depends on the city).
"No more alerts last night" is what I think, before realising that I misconfigured the Alert app and I completely slept over one alarm.
Public transport still going during the minute of silence
Public transport still going during the minute of silence
After other souvenirs and a sandwich, another alarm starts. It's my first alarm completely outside on the streets and far away from the shelter of my hotel. People, as yesterday, are just ignoring it and they keep going with their lives, so I decide to do the same. Walking with the siren makes me remind of something Giku told me, that it's particularly true now:
«When there's a raid incoming or ongoing, the GPS stops working». Probably the army needs all the bandwidth and satellites, if that's how GPS works.
Pedestrian gallery with shops in city centre
Pedestrian gallery with shops in city centre
A stop at the Potëmkin Stairs (or, better, the Primorsky Stairs in Ukrainian), in front of the Odesa port is a must for everyone visiting the city. What I was not expecting was to see the hotel at the port completely destroyed by the bombs, before the 2024.
Close detail of the Hotel Odessa, now destroyed
Close detail of the Hotel Odessa, now destroyed
I go visiting Taras Shevchenko park, very close to the street of yesterday (I was headed here, indeed). Lovely park, the main street is surrounded by pictures and flowers for the fallen. The goal is to lately visit the beach, but again, another alarm. I'm looking for the closest shelter this time, the parking lot of the stadium, because we're close to the sea and there are 15 drones coming from there. For once I feel relieved seeing that I'm not the only one there, there are actually lot of people, maybe the notification actually scared them? Not really, apparently a game was about to start in the stadium, and they're here just to go in. At least this shelter has a nice view on the pitch. Despite being really, really curious to go to the beach to see if I can catch any soldier shooting to drones, I decide that today is not the right day to follow this idea, so I just go back in town as soon as the alert is over.
"ВОНИ ЗАГИНУЛИ ЗА УКРАЇНУ, АЛЕЯ ГЕРОЇВ, ОДЕСА, ВІЧНА СЛАВА ГЕРОЯМ" (They died for Ukraine, Alley of Heroes, Odesa, Eternal glory to the Heroes!)
Pitch view from the parking lot shelter
"ВОНИ ЗАГИНУЛИ ЗА УКРАЇНУ, АЛЕЯ ГЕРОЇВ, ОДЕСА, ВІЧНА СЛАВА ГЕРОЯМ" (They died for Ukraine, Alley of Heroes, Odesa, Eternal glory to the Heroes!)
Pitch view from the parking lot shelter
Time for clothes shopping (I bought a t-shirt of Taras Shevchenko, same name of the park, who is the most important philosopher and founder of the Ukrainian language) and my friend decides that for dinner, along with varenyky z makom (dumplings filled poppy seeds), I MUST try uzvar, a cold drink realised with smoked and dried pears, apples, raisins and plums. Trust me, you will never taste something like that, it's so strange, it was like drinking a smoked bufala mozzarella (weird comparison, but I'm Italian after all), and I can't decide if I like it or not while I still go on drinking it.
A night walk in the cute streets, squares and parks of the city (that makes me fall in love even more with it) is the perfect ending of this little trip in Ukraine, but not before other raid alarms, and not a short one: from 11:30pm to 2am, while I try to sleep in the shelter. Surprisingly, someone was there as well with me, while I'm wondering how would be to be at the beach with the soldiers. Quick answer: not possible, you would need a Press Pass and there's also a curfew from midnight to 5am.
Going back to Chisinau
Last night has been exactly like the night before: 4h slept. With a grand total of 8h of resting, it's time to go to the bus station by calling a Bolt to get dropped quickly there (very cheap). On the contrary of the balkans countries visited in the previous weeks, here there's no "access tax" to enter, so I quickly find my bus with the hope to rest a bit.
About 2:30-ish hours of drive and we encounter again the military checkpoint, where we get stopped this time and only me and another guy have to show our passports to the army. Nothing complex, just quick check before hitting the road again.
If you plan to move with buses from/to Chisinau-Odesa, I highly suggest you to use BlaBlaCar again, or if you encounter issues like I did to book buses in there, the Busbud app (I've used this for the return trip).
If you're around, spending few days in Odesa is something you can't miss.
