Izmail Ukraine
Ukraine
Frequently Asked Questions
At the town quay on the Chilia branch of the Danube, in the far southwest of the country. This quay has received Danube river traffic for generations, alongside the grain cranes of the commercial port.
Cruise service on the Ukrainian lower Danube depends on circumstances and continues to change. Check itinerary status with your travel adviser when booking. This guide describes the town's heritage, which does not change.
Yes. The centre is organized around Suvorov Avenue, a long tree-lined artery, and the fortress park-museum is walkable from the quay. The town can be seen in a few hours and does not pretend otherwise.
Fragments of earthen ramparts and a defensive ditch that reaches eleven metres deep in places. A memorial park-museum has occupied the site since 1991. It takes some imagination: beneath the tall grass, the undulations of the ground still trace the line of the bastions.
On 22 December 1790, General Suvorov's troops stormed an Ottoman fortress considered impregnable, a major episode of the Russo-Turkish War of 1787-1792. That date is the source of the town's fame.
The only building of the Turkish enclosure to survive. This domed mosque now houses a diorama of the 1790 assault: a large panoramic canvas, models and period weapons in a single cool room. The visit is short but explains everything you will see afterwards in town.
The fortress park-museum and the little mosque, then Suvorov Avenue up to the Intercession Cathedral with its neoclassical colonnade, plus a detour through the market. The pace is that of a provincial town, unhurried.
A bowl of delta fish soup or a sheep's cheese bought at a stall tells you more about Bessarabia than any lecture. The markets overflow with tomatoes, cheeses and river fish, reflecting a region where Ukrainians, Bulgarians, Moldovans and Lipovans have long lived side by side.
The Ukrainian hryvnia. Ukrainian and Russian are spoken, alongside Bulgarian, Moldovan and Lipovan communities. Bring cash: foreign cards are not accepted everywhere in the provinces.
Yes, downstream: the Izmail Islands regional landscape park protects sandbars, willow stands and bird colonies — herons, cormorants and, in the warm season, pelicans. Even from the ship's deck, the low banks, small boats and stretched nets are worth staying outside for.
