Odessa Jewish Heritage Tour

We have just returned from a three day visit to Odessa. We arranged our tours with Olga at Odessa Walks by e mail. She was very accommodating taking into account my husband's difficulties in walking. She is a wealth of information, very personable and a pleasure to spend the time with. At her suggestion, we took the Odessa historical walking tour first to get a general background of the city and then the two Jewish tours. We were also very interested in seeing the residences of the Jewish writers and intellectuals as well and she also arranged that tour for us. We feel that we toured the city with a friend and recommend her highly. Excellent.

I spent three days with Olga, the first on a general city tour with a group I'd been touring with, the second and third were just booked by me --Jewish heritage tour. It's usually done in one day, but Olga agreed to split it up over two days, because of my health issues. My grandparents and extended family came from Odessa to the U.S. in the early 1900s. Olga made the world they'd lived in come alive. Her knowledge and passion was infectious, and I felt the unique spirit of the city: exciting, playful, and vibrant. She's great company and a wonderful story teller. My experience with her was unforgettable.

If you're going to do any tours of the city, definitely skip the ubiquitous driving tours and stick with Odessa Walks. Do as many of their tours as possible. My friend and I first did the "Odessa Through the Centuries" walking tour in a small group of five with Alexandra, who was just lovely and gave a thorough rundown of both the actual history as well as the anecdotes and myths of Odessa, in which she was fluent (as well as at least 3 languages, which is helpful for multilingual groups). Also, her beer recommendation was excellent! We then did the ~5 hour Jewish History walking tour privately with Olga, who is also a goddess and champion of a tour guide. My friend only speaks Russian, so Olga gave over the tour in both languages and knew everything about everything. I also requested the addition of Moldavanka and kingpin Misha Yaponchik's house to the tour, which she duly showed us. The tours are specially tailored, and whatever interests you, trust me, Olga has forgotten more about it than you'll ever know. Even if you're not Jewish, like my friend, the history of the Jews in Odessa is fascinating, and if you're there in the summer, you'll barely notice the heat and distance once she gets started. Had we had more time, we'd definitely have done all the other tours on offer. If you're in Odessa and are even mildly interested in the city and its history, definitely ensure you do at least one of these.