Odessa - City of Women

“The sky is a different color here, or is it?” I asked, looking down from the twilight sky to find my companions preoccupied with a scene of a different sort. Transfixed they were on the sight of several dozen quite attractive young women who had seemingly sprung from nowhere and were strolling about in small groups, not a man to be seen in the vicinity. “Yes, things certainly seem different here…” chimed in my travel companions.

As we walked off towards the darkening beach we approached a shapely young woman with flowing blonde hair and well dressed. As we neared she turned to face us as if expecting us. Struck by her beauty we stopped in our tracks. “Do we know you?” I asked. She smiled and shook her head slowly, locking our gaze with indigo eyes that reflected the stars and planets above. “Niet” she said,”but we’ve all been waiting for you”. My two comrades and I grinned at each other as if we had just stepped into a night scene from Through the Looking Glass. Such was out introduction to Odessa.

Different is a vast understatement when describing this enigmatic seaside resort and party central for a knowing group of hedonistic pleasure seekers from around the globe. The 4th largest city in Ukraine, Odessa is a deep, mysterious, self-indulgent berg of just over 1 million inhabitants where one will find virtually every mix of human animal. Uncannily, most of these creatures inhabit a particularly enigmatic female population, sweetly mesmerizing every man’s mind with whom they come into contact.

Indeed, Odessa’s name is said to have been selected by Catherine the Great as a feminine alternative for this city of women among a nation of warring men. Originally a Greek colony circa 500BC, this dark pearl of the Black Sea was alternately occupied by Tatars, Turks and Russians. Odessa is home to an extremely diverse population of Ukrainians, Russians, Jews, Poles, Romanians, Greeks, Bulgarians, Albanians, Armenians, Italians, Frenchmen and Germans. Through the centuries Odessa has been a refuge and playground for Europe’s and Russia’s wealthy, their artists, writers and intelligencia. A major reason is that Odessa’s women are a wonder to the eyes and a feast for the senses.

Odessa is blessed with numerous historical features…the Potemkin Steps, a world class University and Opera House, and appropriately enough, a renowned astrological observatory. However, many will agree that beautiful, striking women have always been one of the city’s foremost features. Certainly, on this writers first visit, upon first stepping from his rented apartment in the middle of a work day (in a quiet residential district no less), he was stopped in his tracks not only by the amazing beauty of each woman he saw but at the sheer numbers and dominant ratio of women to men.

Literally needing to regain his composure and come to terms with this phenomenon of nature, yours truly lost all track of the business at hand and wondered if some unknown prankster had gathered every gorgeous woman within a hundred mile radius and had sent them strutting in his proximity with the notion of disorienting his thoughts and making his mind spin uncontrollably.

During Soviet times the Odessa Film Studios produced a number of outstanding movies which have since become classics. It follows that Hollywood has folded this furtive city into the plots of numerous films of intrigue and espionage including several of the James Bond 007 franchise as well as the last installment of Jason Stratham’s Transporter series. Their subplots invariably include encounters with Odessa’s natural resource of gorgeous and
exotic females.

Romantic and unexpected beauty can be found in every corner of the city. Uncommonly beautiful, the facial structure, eye color and lean figures of so very many of the city’s women are remarkable. They are truly physically and intellectually beautiful specimens. In addition to their superlative physical attributes, what attracts Western men to women from Russia and CIS countries is their more traditional femininity which has to an extent become lost art in America.

Dark, romantic, unlit streets with a diverse blend of Mediterranean, French, Italian and Russian architecture combine to give this at first mystifying town a dark, dreamy edge. The fact that the many women, with their fierce and beautiful appearance are so sweet and giving serves only to further bewitch some from the West. Legend has this warm water port likely heated from the passion created by the scores of hot women that inhabit the city.

Women of Odessa inherit northern European intelligence and Mediterranean passion ingrained into their nature. Like their Russian counterparts, most Ukrainian women are well-educated with plenty of street smarts. To compound this, as many believe that children of mixed blood are the most beautiful, the ethnic mixture in this crossroads town contributes a truly multinational beauty to its women. In Odessa’s streets, in the caf?’s and on the beaches one can encounter numerous types of amazing women, from spectacular Nordic blondes to smoldering Gypsy splendor.

Here, most women and girls have an excellent sense of fashion, and use it to their full advantage. The norm is to see women dressed to impress in the latest summer or winter finery to catch a man’s eye.

Odessa sits at the crossroads of major international trade routes between Europe and Asia. From Central and Northern Europe to the Near East, Odessa directs traffic for global transport corridor # 9 which connects Western Europe, Scandinavia, Russia & CIS with Greece, Turkey and the Middle East. One will find names and physical features of women here bearing strong resemblance to the national identities of these many nations. Flashing northern Russian blondes, swarthy smoking brunettes from the Middle East and Eastern CIS, and the rarest of all beauties, fiery red haired radiance with bloodlines extending from Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. They’re all here waiting in a city that never sleeps and can’t seem to get enough of the world at large. Coming to Odessa you can always be sure to encounter romance for your every taste.