A series of tunnels dug under the city - the mines from which the stones for the city's construction were taken. The city is riddled with catacombs - normally the haunt of junkies and down and outs - but outside the city the catacombs operate as a museum.

These tunnels were used by partisans as a base to launch raids against the German and Romanian occupiers. The tunnels are dark and dank and still contain the personal belongings and equipment of the partisans who lived, fought and died there.

The walls are carved with graffiti that is either political or personal (and sentimental) and overall a visit is both a moving as well as interesting experience. It is only possible with a guided tour as the tunnels are confusing and it is easy to get lost.

Above ground is a rather down at heel museum with a few rusty weapons and some interesting, but faded, photographs. Sadly both the tour guide and museum captions are Russian language only.

The only way to get there is by an excursion bus from Odessa city centre. The buses leave at about 1000hrs from outside Odessa Railway Station - little old ladies in the square outside the station sell tickets and can be quite helpful (though generally they only speak Russian). The journey to the catacombs by minibus (included in the ticket price) takes about 40 minutes and the tour itself is about an hour.

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A wonderful restaurant in the grounds of a Santorium along Fransuski Boulevard (take the number 5 tram towards Arcadia). An old summer residence of the rich and powerful that was incorporated into one of the many Soviet-era sanitoria in the city. Now it is renovated and operates as one of the best restaurants in Odessa.

The style is Csarist-era country house and the food is upmarket, fine dining versions of Russian/Ukrainian favourites such as borsch, pelmeni and shashlik. A perfect place to have a long summer lunch in the garden with friends - and don't forget their wonderful home made lemonade.

Francuski Boulevard, Odessa, Ukraine. Take the number 5 tram towards Arcadia and get off the tram near the 'Vash Sad' garden centre.

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This is the original immigrant quarter of Odessa (in past days mainly people from Moldova aka Bessarabia). Issac Babel set many of his famous stories here. It's about a 20 minute walk from downtown.

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The story of the Potemkin steps is told in Eisenstein’s famous 1925 film, Battleship Potemkin. The film depicts the 1905 revolution when the sailors of the battleship mutinied and sailed into Odessa to join a worker’s strike. The leader of the mutiny had been killed and his body was laid at the foot of the steps. As crowds gathered to pay their respects, tsarist troops rushed down and opened fire, killing some 2,000 people.

This sequence in the film is famous for its innovative editing technique and has ensured that the steps are Odessa’s main historic attraction. The view of the port from the top makes it worth climbing all 192 of them.

The steps climb from the seaport area to Primorsky at the top

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