Mr. Traveller

This year, the city of Odessa was visited by numerous tourists - all summer on the streets was constantly heard a foreign language, and Ukrainian churches of the city (UGCC and UOC-KP) have been flooded by the parishioners from the western Ukraine. Odessa Hotels also had plenty of customers. And the problem is that many of them are now being repaired, so the demand began to outstrip proposition, and just because of private landlords that rent apartments by the month and day, Odessa didn't faced a loss of interest due to the lack of accommodation. Local businesses operating in retail, this year got a good profit which, of course, virtually no impact on the city budget because of a) hiding from taxes and b) a cover for the single tax for physical persons (FOS). Mayor Edward Hurwitz began to repair facades of old buildings en masse. On the one hand, it is a work a couple of hundred people, on the other hand, this will improve the tourist interest in Odessa in the next couple of...

Until recently, historians and public opinion have widely believed that the Zaporozhye Cossacks were rather of dissolute life, caring little about God and moral values. This view was based on the concept of a religious person, which must conform to the ideal life of a monk, not missing a single church service and observing all the fasts. This also contributed to the playful image of the Zaporozhye Cossacks in the folk songs who can not distinguish between "the priest and the goat". Recently published researches on Zaporizhzhya Cossacks by D. Yavornytsky, M. Grushevskiy, N. Kostomarov, A. Apanovich and others have refuted this claim, making it possible to conclude that Ukrainian ancestors were deeply religious people that followed the Christian Orthodox faith. Cossacks come out in defense of their faith, and consequently - the nation, resisted the Polish gentry-expansion, as well as the Catholic Church. Living under constant military action, the Cossacks did not spare the l...

Sometimes people travel to get new impressions, to change the picture of boring everydayness, to improve health, to fill the picture album at least. Sometimes even just to kill time. But my idea is quite a bit different, I like to travel because of meeting new people. I prefer to meet a good conversationist, good like-minded fellow rather than just see the sights. And there is no such suitable cause for getting acquainted with somebody as to meet him during a celebration, at a holiday. So, this Christmas at the beginning of the year we decided to celebrate in Lviv.

I have a friend who is fond of Odessa girls and women. It doesn't concerns anything sexual, but he is a kind of aesthete. He is used to walk down the Odessa streets and makes pictures of beautiful handsome girls and women. This is one of his pictures. According to his opinion, this girl looks like Sophia Loren . I'm not the arguer.

Most of my foreign friends have been facing some special problems during visiting Ukraine or dooing business here. Most of the former USSR countries - Ukraine, Russia, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and other have similar problems, which should be known for a foreign visitor. It may concern hotel booking, travelling all around the country, communication with locals, appartment rental, dating and so on. So, I'll try to collect here, in the Blog, some special features that can make troubles for the foreign visitirs or even to be a real danger. By the way, I'm open for specific questions if somebody already got them.