CATmosphere
Odesa
CATmosphere is a cat cafe on Soborna Square in the historic centre of Odesa, set up by animal welfare volunteers as a social project. Its cats were evacuated from frontline towns in eastern Ukraine, including Druzhkivka in Donetsk Oblast, and all are sterilised and vaccinated before joining the cafe, where they live while waiting for adoptive families. Adopters fill in a questionnaire and are screened by the volunteers. Guests sit in three small rooms with about ten tables, walls painted by Odesa artists and climbing furniture for the cats, which also have a private room of their own. There is no kitchen; the cat-themed menu covers coffee, matcha, tea, milkshakes, ice cream, sandwiches and Odesa-style cakes, and board games are available. Shoe covers are required, cats must not be picked up or fed, flash photography is not allowed, and children are admitted from age 10 with an adult.