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Time Zone: GMT + 2 (GMT + 3 from last Sunday in March to Saturday before last Sunday in October).

Currency: Hryvnya (UAH) = 100 kopiyok.

Language: Ukrainian.

Sightseeing: Odessa is the site of the famous 192 steps of the Potemkin stairway from Sergei Eisenstein’s film Battleship Potemkin. The Black Sea city is also a centre of renewal of Jewish culture, with a community of 45,000. There is a vast Opera House – one of the world’s largest – whose ceiling is decorated with scenes from Shakespeare’s plays. Also worth visiting is the Statue of the Duke of Richelieu, the Vorontsov Palace on the waterfront and the Archaeological Museum with exhibits from the Black Sea area and Egypt.

Shopping: Artwork is the best buy. Top-quality paintings, ceramics and jewellery may be purchased quite cheaply at galleries or direct from artists on the street.

Eating Out: Borshch (beetroot soup), varenniki (dough containing cheese, meat or fruit) and holubtsi (cabbage rolls). Ukrainian wines are excellent, especially dessert wines such as Krasny Kamen (‘Red Stone’). For those who prefer dry wine, Abrau and Miskhako are excellent brands of cabernet. Also outstanding are Artyomov champagne (bottled in eastern Ukraine) and fortified wines from Massandra, particularly one named ‘Black Doctor’.