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Hello friends! I am in the Atlantic and can go to any special port I like. The choice is easy – Odessa, Ukraine, in the Black Sea.

First you pass Gibraltar, the southern-most point of Europe, and go along the coast of Africa. Turning starboard, passing Sicily and Tunisia, you set course towards Crete, where we go into the Aegean Sea. It was among the Aegean islands where shipping started a long time ago, so it was my dream ever since boyhood to go through the Dardanelles into the Marmara Sea. You then reach the megacity of Istanbul on the Bosporus, with Europe on the port side and Asia starboard. You enter into the Black Sea and continue, at a slow pleasant speed to remember it all. Odessa is straight ahead and we have arrived. What sea voyage can be better?

In the 15th century the Tatars took over a Greek settlement called Odessos, from which Odessa takes its name. After a period of Lithuanian-Polish control, the region came under Ottoman rule from 1529, until 1792 when Russia took over. Odessa eventually became the second largest port in the Russian Empire.

Today Odessa is a multicultural and multilingual community, and the largest port in Ukraine. The ice-free port has well-equipped docks and ship repair yards, the base of a large shipping fleet, a large passenger port, and oil and gas storage facilities.

Odessa is a beautiful city. In the upper parts you can look down on the great port. Theatres, museums, and an opera serve a population of about 1 million. It's a city I love to come to. I celebrated my 55th birthday in Odessa and have a diploma to remember it. A part of Europe, but close to Russia and Asia, Odessa is very special