Odessa – is a marvelous city, filled with history and a sense of mystery. You’ll need a lot of time to discover its beauty and charm and see all places of interest in Odessa. But if you have just few hours or maybe few days you can choose some tour-roots that you like best.
And these are the tours proposed by JCC “Migdal”:
• Odessa highlights. The tour begins by visiting the lovely Fine Arts Museum (former palace of Count Pototsky) to wonder at centuries of Ukrainian and Russian paintings. The sightseeing of the wonderful city includes sightseeing Center of Odessa, Deribasovskaya str, Potemkin square, architectural sights and many other. You get a chance to make a glimpse on our Sea Pearl.
• Jewish Odessa. When Odessa was founded it became the first city of the Russian Empire, where Jews were allowed to settle. By the time of the WW II Odessa Jewish community became the third largest in the world, after New York and Warsaw, having reached almost 47% of the city population. It is hard to overestimate the contribution of Odessa Jews to the world Jewish history. Walking through the streets of any Israeli city you will find that many of them are named after famous Zionists, Jewish writers, historians or political activists, who come from Odessa. "Jewish Odessa" tour will introduce you the Jewish community of Odessa before the Revolution of 1917, during the WW II, the life of Jews during the Soviet Union period and the Jewish life in Odessa today.
• Odessa catacombs. The excursion begins with a brief drive through the city and will take you past small Ukrainian villages, farms, beautiful orchards and vineyards. Admire the changing view or take photographs of the countryside.
Soon you will reach the village of Nerubayskoye, originally being a Cossacks' military settlement in the south of the country at the end of the 18th century. Your guides will then escort you on a fascinating underground walk of approximately 500 yards. During your walk, you will stop at the command post of the members of the resistance of Word War II. The recreation of the Resistance Headquarters will be visited in the local museum when you leave the catacombs. You'll then return to the city.
• Palaces of Odessa. During the excursion you will have the chance to wonder the Palaces of Tolstoy, Pototsky and Gagarin. During the excursion through the Tolstoy’s palace, where one of the most famous family of Odessa history used to live, you will visit the main White hall where the Tolstoys organized concerts with participation of well-known violinists, pianists, singers; see the most interesting exhibit – legendary grand piano of Franz List who had concerts in Odessa and left his grand piano in our city; hear the stories about the family members and their contribution on evolution of Odessa. In the house of the family Pototskiy today is located the Odessa Art Museum with a rich collection of painting ranging from medieval works to contemporary Odessa masters. The Gagarin’s house is also now is the state property and nowadays houses the Odessa State Literature Museum.
• Old Odessa yards. Walking tour around old Odessa yards in the central part of the city during which you will absorb original atmosphere of the city.
Programming, design and maintenance by Jewish Student Club of
Migdal
International Center of Jewish Community Programs
the International Center of Jewish Community Programs
«Migdal»
,
Odessa.
Kira Verkhovskaya , the President of the JCC «Migdal» center.