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The most famous attraction in this Ukrainian city is associated with a historic massacre from the failed Revolution of 1905, yet it was not the site of the actual event. Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein used the 192 stairs that rise from the sea to the city as the setting for the massacre as dramatized in his 1925 silent masterpiece “Battleship Potemkin.” Most locals still know the landmark as the “Potemkin Steps.”

Founded as a Russian naval base in 1794, Odessa transformed into a vibrant cosmopolitan haven in the following century. Alexander Pushkin was exiled to the area in the 1820s, and there is a monument to the Russian poet in Odessa now. Impressive sights in the city include the five-domed Uspensky Cathedral and the Odessa Opera House, which was designed in an Italian baroque style and boasts a lavish interior; Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and Rachmaninoff all conducted some of their compositions here, and today you can still see the resident ballet and opera companies perform.

Language: Ukranian     Currency: Hryvnia (UAH)