Arcadia Beach

Soft salty waves of water come rolling along the sea from miles away, slowly building from tiny trickles into ribbons of ocean that run longer than the coastline that they eventually crash upon. You lose yourself in the endless sun, limitless horizon, and humble sand that lets you bury your feet beneath its hot surface. The children giggle and play, your spouse removes that old tired face and your love affair is young and fresh again, just the way it was meant to be. Arcadia beach is Odessa, Ukraine's most famous beach. The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement, was founded by Hacı I Giray, the Khan of Crimea, in 1240. After a period of Lithuanian control, it passed into the domain of the Ottoman Sultan in 1529 and remained in Ottoman hands until the Ottoman Empire's defeat in the Russo-Turkish War of 1792. The city of Odessa was founded by a decree of the Empress Catherine the Great in 1794. From 1819 to 1858 Odessa was a free port. During the Soviet period it was the most important port of trade in the Soviet Union and a Soviet naval base. On 1 January 2000 the Quarantine Pier of Odessa trade sea port was declared a free port and free economic zone for a term of 25 years. Its historical architecture has a style more Mediterranean than Russian, having been heavily influenced by French and Italian styles. Some buildings are built in a mixture of different styles, including Art Nouveau, Renaissance and Classicist.