The World Famous Stairway to the Sea

I imagine most every jogger in Philadelphia has raced up the Rocky stairs at least once. For the people of Odessa, the Rocky-equivalent is the Potemkin Stairs. And for those of you counting at home, there are just 72 Rocky steps to Potemkin's 192.

No wonder Ivan Drago was so tough in "Rocky IV."

The Potemkin Stairs were first made famous in the 1925 silent film "The Battleship Potemkin," a ship known for its revolutionary crew uprising in 1905, and from which the steps get their common name. Their history dates back many decades earlier, though, to 1841 when the four-year project to build the stairs was completed.

In terms of function, the stairs were needed to connect the city center to the harbor, but what makes them unique is their design. Starting at the bottom step, the staircase's width actually gets shorter the further up you climb, going from 71-feet wide to 41 feet at the top step. It's an optical illusion to give the impression of greater distance. That's not the only optical illusion, however. The stairs were also designed so that a person looking down only sees the 10 landings and no steps (as in photo to the left), while a person looking up only sees the steps.

The stairs themselves are actually a sight to behold -- they're apparently ranked sixth on the Top 10 list of Europe's most beautiful stairways -- but they also offer gorgeous views of Odessa's famous harbor. And if nothing else, you can make like Mr. Balboa and give those stairs a run.

Images by Taivo55 and Dezidor courtesy of Wikipedia.