Radisson Sas Lazurnaya Peak

An American in Sochi

by swinny

Sochi is where the Russians go for vacation. We decided to spend 4 days on the Black Sea at the end of our whirlwind Russia trip. Sochi is okay, the beaches are nice, but I wouldn't go back unless I stayed in a nicer hotel. First off, if you don't speak at least a little Russian, don't go to Sochi. This was a real eye opener for us. No one speaks English and you won't find any menus in English. We were hungry most of the time. People seemed shocked to see Americans there and even a Russian woman we met on a different trip expressed dismay that we would visit Sochi and said we should have been given medals for even trying it. There's a Hilton or a Raddison right in the middle of town we should have stayed at, it looked nice. The Dagomys, where we stayed, uh, just don't stay there. Perhaps the most troubling thing about getting to Sochi is taking a Russian domestic flight. Frightening. They had to get a mechanic with a hammer to beat on the cabin door frame just so the door would latch shut. You think my seatbelt was on a little tight for that flight? Laying on the fine pebble beach of the Black Sea is pretty cool.

Monuments from the past

by Pavlik_NL

Sochi, like many other towns in Russia, still have some Sowyet (communistic) monuments. Most of them are in regard to the leaders that have not fallen in disgrace (like Stalin) and from heroic acts of kosmonauts, specialist (in any field) or military people. Across the street at the entrance of Park Riviera, a quite original monument for Lenin is worth your attention. This nice mozaik colours the street.

Traditional Russian Banya (sauna) in the wild

by Pavlik_NL

Russian Banya is the local variant of the traditional Sauna. However, Russian have the tendensy to overdo everything, so the heat is turned up to about 95 degrees Celsius and afterwards (or in between) one cools of in a 8 degrees Celsius mountain river. Most remarkable difference however is the "beating eachother up" custom within the Banya. With either oak branches or birch-tree branches one makes a bouquet and dips it in a bucket of hot water that stands on top of the Banya's stove. Then the other is smacked hard and swiftly with these branches on the back, the legs, the feet, the arms, the belly etc. Russians keep on shouting how healthy this treatment is, but ... my questions stays why it didn;t penetrate other sauna-cultures then? In the Netherlands, a country without it's own traditional sauna culture, all lucrative healthy items of Turkish, Finish etc. sauna is brought into many many sauna clubs, but this ... it stays in my opinion something masochistic (-:

Sochi

by osilchenko

"General info"

Sochi is the largest resort city in Russia. The population is around 300.000 people. The climate is subtropical, average temperature in winter +10, in summer +30. The city has nice architecture, it's very green. It's nice to be there in all seasons.
If you are going there for a visit 3-4 days will be enough. If the weather is good it's worth to visit Krasnaya Polyana ski resort. In summer you can go there to enjoy mountains view. The buses and minibuses (marshrootka) leave every 30 minutes from the railway station.

A beach resort

by MJL

"Sochi"

Sochi was and maybe will be again a popular destination for Finnish holiday travellers before a break down of Soviet union. It was very inexpensive and it was quite easy to get a visa during the so called Cold War.

This was a last part of a journey to four different regions (Baku, Yeravan, Tbilisi and Sochi).