As I stepped onto the platform at just before 9am, this was the sight I met.
We walked out the front of the station, and this is what it looks like. A lovely building, very classical design (I know nothing about building styles, by the way).
Turn to the right, and there are a ton of taxis waiting to take you anywhere. That won't be necessary: the train station in Odessa is pretty close to town, so we can walk it.
We went to McDonald's, right next to the station (mainly for coffee, I think I'd already eaten a sandwich on the train). This is the station again, from further away.
Heading towards our hotel, I could see that trams were a common form of transport here.
There were lots of buildings to look at on the way...
...including a lovely church...
...and even a fast-food place called Mister Sandwich (in Kyiv there is a chain called Mister Snack, so maybe this is similar).
We went to the market before our hotel. The big red letters mean "furniture" and the little kiosk says "fresh bread".
Privoz Market is rather large, and includes many things, including this.
These crappy-looking buildings, however...
...are on the other side of the road.
The meat market is a bit smelly.
The archway says "Fruit Passage". The market used to be divided up thus. Things have changed a bit, though.
Everything's a bit mixed now.
My camera doesn't really have flash, so these pics will have to do.
My girlfriend was having a look at the shoes.
And I had a look at the buildings around the market.
No idea what's up with this thing.
In case you needed telling, this sign says "Privoz Market".
Enough of the market: let's go for a walk.
This monument is to Chernobyl.
There's a park with this statue of Ataman Antin Holovaty. I would've got a better shot up close but, as you can see, he was having problems with kids at the time.
Ivan Franko. Quite a famous man, I think.
This isn't a statue, though.
It's been a while since the trip, and I can't remember what this is, or why I thought it worth taking a picture. I think you'll see a few of those.
So we checked into our (tiny!) hotel and made our way towards town.
It was an ensuite room, but the shower, sink and toilet practically overlapped, it was so small.
And naturally the bed took up almost the entire room. Still, it was pretty cheap, and not too far from town.
Anyway, enough about our hotel, let's go into the centre of Odessa.
The centre has a few strange monuments, and lots of people. I think the ones in centre frame are American.
This chair is based around a book. I don't know the book.
Not sure about this guy (apologies for the focus).
I think this was outside a place connected with movies.
We went to a fantastic steak restaurant on Odessa's main street, and the toilets were pretty weird.
This is the floor.
Back on the street.
This tree looks weird.
One of the big attractions in Odessa is the opera theatre.
It's quite nice in the sunshine.
The whole area's quite nice, really.
There's a fountain next to the theatre.
Everybody likes it. You can see someone posing on the left.I've decided to split this Odessa update into three parts. Next time I'll show you the second part of our Saturday in Odessa, and the final part will clear up the Sunday.