Russian Holiday...
We arrived in the late morning to one of the three contenders for the winter Olympic games of 2014. Sochi, Russia. The other two contenders are cities in Austria and Korea. 
I went on a passenger tour today to get deep into the biosphere of the Caucasus Mountains and get away from the ever-growing bustling resort area. Sochi is what the locals refer to as the Russian Riviera. It's a popular destination for northerners to escape the long winters. Most of the beaches in the area of Sochi are pebble beaches and not the kind I would personally like to sprawl out on, but the weather here was definitely surprisingly warm especially after visiting places on the same latitude in the Ukraine, Romania, and Bulgaria. Sochi is on the same latitude line as Toronto, but our guide informed us that the Black Sea is the warmest sea in this part of the world. I guess with the warming current of the sea and the shelter from the winds of the north by the mountains, the temps can get pretty warm here. We were told you could go swimming by the beach, take a helicopter to the mountains, and then go skiing. 
We were also told it's pretty pricey on the lifts to do skiing since you pay per trip, but I was also informed that the heliskiing for the adventurous is half the price for any place you could find in Europe. We started out on the coast in the main city where it is currently being built up. Communism ended here in 1973, so the city is still in the stages of rebirth. The city itself is only 170 years old and was named after a tribe that used to inhabit the city before its exploration. It used to be a swampland in Russia and an escape for Estonians, Greeks, Turks, and other nationalities. They figured no one would find them in baron swamplands. In fact I learned that the Greeks that have settled here and are still predominant in certain areas speak such an old form of Greek, they can hardly understand the New Greek from their own country. Estonians fled here from the Soviet Union and other nationalities from so many countries have made Sochi their home that our guide noted its just one big melting pot of people. Sochi is one of the longest cities in the world stretching great distances along the Black Sea. The main port town has many resort hospitals they call Sanitariums. Here there are beautiful gardens and rooms where you can come and relax while getting medical treatment as well. Many leaders of the world are noted for coming here to relieve illnesses. The grounds of these places are immaculate. There are just beautiful gardens spreading out over large stretches of land and all have a pretty decent view of the Black Sea. Our guide said most people who live here are very conscious of their health in part because of these Sanitariums. These places though are not for illnesses that have progressed severely, but for illnesses that are in the beginning stages and can be treated with such a positive atmosphere. We drove for quite a while along the coast as our guide spewed off history and information about the city. One of her concerns was for their candidacy of the winter Olympic games. The people here are naturalists and so much that if a tree is cut down for any reason; two must be planted in its place. The whole area is lush with greenery. The bid looks quite positive for the games since the sanitariums and hotel accommodations make it possible to host. However, the roads are still the same roads from 1950 and the automobile population has risen since from a mere 400 to 400,000. Also they don't have the facilities to hold ice-skating, hockey, or speed skating or even some of the ski slope events. 
They will need to be created and this will cause some loss of the lush greenery in the area. The people are still behind the games though at 80% because of the money that will be brought into this former Communist city for its growth. Right now they are the largest producer of tea for all of Russia and they are the vacation hot spot for the northern Russians. Tourism is becoming very popular and they now play host to the Russian film festival. She did say though that the stars are mostly localized and that the Tom Cruises and Scarlet Johannsens haven't made too many appearances yet. We made our first stop at a local restaurant that had a theme around bears. I can't quite remember the name since I'm so exhausted from taking in all the lush scenery and the unexpected warmth of the area. It was definitely a little tourist stop complete with a hotel. There were lots of woodcarvings of bears and other animals and there was a log cabin theme about it that gave it quite the Alaskan feel. Right beside it was a rushing rapid river and with the snow capped mountains in the background along with the sights of the place; I could swear I was in Skagway again. This doesn't surprise me though since Alaska was once owned by Russia. We had what I thought our tour guide said was a Beline here, which is a Russian pancake. Really it was a crepe or crêpe like. I was once told my family may have come from Russia on my mom's side and I can see why in some of the family recipes that were passed on to me. The Russian pancake is the exact recipe my grandmas used to make their big flat pancake we used to have once in a while. We'd do the same thing too by having it with jams, jellies, or butter. She also said another treat here is the dumpling and something which sounded like Pirogue, which is my favorite thing to eat with sour cream. Especially the potato and cheese filled ones.
It's described as a Russian pie or dumpling filled with potato or meat, much like what I grew up with. We used to fry ours in the pan with onions. Yum! We left this area and headed into the biosphere area called Krasnaya Polyana or "pretty forest." We were about 5,000 feet above sea level and the scenes were amazing. Snow-capped mountains and yet it was still warm. So warm I was sweating. Whew! The forests were so thick as we drove up to the resort area. Our guide was also telling us that since the influx of tourists and other buyers property values in this area went up from $1,000 per square acre to $100,000 per square acre. Whoa! She says that the locals don't even make that much in their lifetime. We stopped for a while at this ski resort high in the mountains. I climbed up a ways to get some fresh air and some more heights. It was just stunning the views I got from here. We headed back to the ship from here driving through the main metropolitan area and seeing the entire development happening. This place will definitely have a new face if they win that bid come July 1. Now we're off to Yalta in the Ukraine where I hope to take on a countryside and wine tasting tour. Woo hoo!
I went on a passenger tour today to get deep into the biosphere of the Caucasus Mountains and get away from the ever-growing bustling resort area. Sochi is what the locals refer to as the Russian Riviera. It's a popular destination for northerners to escape the long winters. Most of the beaches in the area of Sochi are pebble beaches and not the kind I would personally like to sprawl out on, but the weather here was definitely surprisingly warm especially after visiting places on the same latitude in the Ukraine, Romania, and Bulgaria. Sochi is on the same latitude line as Toronto, but our guide informed us that the Black Sea is the warmest sea in this part of the world. I guess with the warming current of the sea and the shelter from the winds of the north by the mountains, the temps can get pretty warm here. We were told you could go swimming by the beach, take a helicopter to the mountains, and then go skiing. 
We were also told it's pretty pricey on the lifts to do skiing since you pay per trip, but I was also informed that the heliskiing for the adventurous is half the price for any place you could find in Europe. We started out on the coast in the main city where it is currently being built up. Communism ended here in 1973, so the city is still in the stages of rebirth. The city itself is only 170 years old and was named after a tribe that used to inhabit the city before its exploration. It used to be a swampland in Russia and an escape for Estonians, Greeks, Turks, and other nationalities. They figured no one would find them in baron swamplands. In fact I learned that the Greeks that have settled here and are still predominant in certain areas speak such an old form of Greek, they can hardly understand the New Greek from their own country. Estonians fled here from the Soviet Union and other nationalities from so many countries have made Sochi their home that our guide noted its just one big melting pot of people. Sochi is one of the longest cities in the world stretching great distances along the Black Sea. The main port town has many resort hospitals they call Sanitariums. Here there are beautiful gardens and rooms where you can come and relax while getting medical treatment as well. Many leaders of the world are noted for coming here to relieve illnesses. The grounds of these places are immaculate. There are just beautiful gardens spreading out over large stretches of land and all have a pretty decent view of the Black Sea. Our guide said most people who live here are very conscious of their health in part because of these Sanitariums. These places though are not for illnesses that have progressed severely, but for illnesses that are in the beginning stages and can be treated with such a positive atmosphere. We drove for quite a while along the coast as our guide spewed off history and information about the city. One of her concerns was for their candidacy of the winter Olympic games. The people here are naturalists and so much that if a tree is cut down for any reason; two must be planted in its place. The whole area is lush with greenery. The bid looks quite positive for the games since the sanitariums and hotel accommodations make it possible to host. However, the roads are still the same roads from 1950 and the automobile population has risen since from a mere 400 to 400,000. Also they don't have the facilities to hold ice-skating, hockey, or speed skating or even some of the ski slope events. 
They will need to be created and this will cause some loss of the lush greenery in the area. The people are still behind the games though at 80% because of the money that will be brought into this former Communist city for its growth. Right now they are the largest producer of tea for all of Russia and they are the vacation hot spot for the northern Russians. Tourism is becoming very popular and they now play host to the Russian film festival. She did say though that the stars are mostly localized and that the Tom Cruises and Scarlet Johannsens haven't made too many appearances yet. We made our first stop at a local restaurant that had a theme around bears. I can't quite remember the name since I'm so exhausted from taking in all the lush scenery and the unexpected warmth of the area. It was definitely a little tourist stop complete with a hotel. There were lots of woodcarvings of bears and other animals and there was a log cabin theme about it that gave it quite the Alaskan feel. Right beside it was a rushing rapid river and with the snow capped mountains in the background along with the sights of the place; I could swear I was in Skagway again. This doesn't surprise me though since Alaska was once owned by Russia. We had what I thought our tour guide said was a Beline here, which is a Russian pancake. Really it was a crepe or crêpe like. I was once told my family may have come from Russia on my mom's side and I can see why in some of the family recipes that were passed on to me. The Russian pancake is the exact recipe my grandmas used to make their big flat pancake we used to have once in a while. We'd do the same thing too by having it with jams, jellies, or butter. She also said another treat here is the dumpling and something which sounded like Pirogue, which is my favorite thing to eat with sour cream. Especially the potato and cheese filled ones.
It's described as a Russian pie or dumpling filled with potato or meat, much like what I grew up with. We used to fry ours in the pan with onions. Yum! We left this area and headed into the biosphere area called Krasnaya Polyana or "pretty forest." We were about 5,000 feet above sea level and the scenes were amazing. Snow-capped mountains and yet it was still warm. So warm I was sweating. Whew! The forests were so thick as we drove up to the resort area. Our guide was also telling us that since the influx of tourists and other buyers property values in this area went up from $1,000 per square acre to $100,000 per square acre. Whoa! She says that the locals don't even make that much in their lifetime. We stopped for a while at this ski resort high in the mountains. I climbed up a ways to get some fresh air and some more heights. It was just stunning the views I got from here. We headed back to the ship from here driving through the main metropolitan area and seeing the entire development happening. This place will definitely have a new face if they win that bid come July 1. Now we're off to Yalta in the Ukraine where I hope to take on a countryside and wine tasting tour. Woo hoo!
posted by Chris | 12:15 PM
1 Comments:
just leave you a grade of excellences on the videos. Guess all your talent and smartness was not taught via thru me, but again congrats. Shame you can't store all your videos out here so they never get destroyed at least the ones you want to save, but knowing how the future is coming they will cost everyone to view. If at all possible I tried to email those videos to myself and failed again so do ya think when you get state sided you can ship them.
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