Shivchei HaRan, An Account of His Pilgrimage to the Holy Land 8

וּבְחַ"י אִיָּר נָסַע מִבֵּיתוֹ מִקְּהִלַּת־קֹדֶשׁ מֶדְוֶדִיוְקָא לָעִיר נִיקוֹלַיֶיב. וְשָׁם הָיָה סְפִינָה עֲבוּר חִטִּים וְנָסַע עִם אוֹתָהּ הַסְּפִינָה דֶּרֶךְ אָדֶס. On Lag BaOmer, the Rebbe left his home in Medvedevka, heading toward Nikolayev.¹⁰That year Lag BaOmer fell on a Friday. Rebbe Nachman spent the next day, Shabbat, in Sokila, where he saw Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk in a vision (see Tzaddik #156). Rabbi Menachem Mendel had settled in Israel in 1777 and passed away in 1788, eleven years later. There he found a ship transporting grain and took it as far as Odessa.¹¹The Rebbe spent the festival of Shavuot in Kherson, where he heard the thunder of Mount Sinai (Tzaddik #29).

כִּי מִקֹּדֶם הָיוּ הַמְשֻׁלָּחִים וּשְׁאָר אֲנָשִׁים, יְרֵאִים לִנְסֹעַ דֶּרֶךְ אָדֶס, כִּי אָמְרוּ שֶׁהַיָּם מְסֻכָּן דֶּרֶךְ שָׁם. וְהוּא בְּחָכְמָתוֹ הַגְּדוֹלָה הֵבִין תֵּכֶף שֶׁטּוֹב יוֹתֵר מִכַּמָּה טְעָמִים לִנְסֹעַ עַל הַסְּפִינָה מֵאָדֶס. כִּי מְקַצְּרִים אֶת הַדֶּרֶךְ הָרַבָּה שֶׁיֵּשׁ מִמְּדִינָתֵנוּ לְגַלָּץ גַּם יוֹצְאִים מִן הַסַּכָּנָה שֶׁיֵּשׁ כְּשֶׁנּוֹסְעִים מִגַּלָּץ, שֶׁיֵּשׁ סַכָּנָה גְּדוֹלָה כְּשֶׁיּוֹרְדִים מֵהַנָּהָר טוּנָא עַל הַיָּם כַּמְפֻרְסָם. עַל־כֵּן לֹא הִשְׁגִּיחַ כְּלָל עַל דִּבְרֵי הָעוֹלָם וְנָסַע מִנִּיקוֹלַיֶיב דֶּרֶךְ אָדֶס, לִסְטַנְבּוּל. At that time, emissaries and other Jews traveling to the Holy Land were afraid to go by way of Odessa, as the route was rumored to be dangerous. But the Rebbe realized immediately that it was better to take a ship from Odessa for many reasons. First of all, the way from his home was much shorter than by the alternative route through Galatz.¹²Galati, now in Romania. Also, this route avoided a more serious peril, for the route through Galatz involved great danger in sailing from the Danube River¹³In Hebrew, Tuna, corresponding to its Germanic name, Dunav. into the Black Sea. Therefore, the Rebbe ignored the rumors and departed from Nikolayev, taking the route through Odessa to Istanbul.