Sochi

Sochi lies in the very South-West of Russia, close to the Georgian border and directly on the black sea.

We went there by train from Krasnodar, which takes around 6h. Well, 6h in a Russian train. You enter the train and and get a first impression of the Russian train culture. After around 1h sitting in such a train, you have a slight feeling already that you want to get out. The seats are not the most comfortable ones and also the rest inside the train is an adventure that talks for itself. As we got out in Sochi, I was surprised. The train station was very pompous and rather reminded me of a kind of palace or church.

First, we decided to go to a zoo, but funnily enough, somehow went wrong and got to a really nice hill, which was actually a memorial site of World War II.

Though Sochi lies close to the sea, it is surrounded by mountains and the city itself located on little hills. In winter, it is known for a skiing resort, and in summer, you go swimming in the sea or just walk along one of the roads with palm trees all around you.

As we managed to get to the zoo, we discovered there is also a botanic garden in it. Kind of a combination.

Water rats

Having kind of finished the cultural part, from our point of view, we headed on to the beach. A beach in Russia. Palms in Russia. 35°C. Yeah, right.

Here in Sochi, it was a stone beach. Yet, nevertheless, it was a beach. From time to time, someone passes by with cooked maize (corn), drinks or special Russian sweets.

Close to the beach, we found this picture/sculpture of Mr. Lenin. Who that is? Check out the internet…there is a lot to tell about him! 😉

The night we spent there…guess, where we slept.

On a beach.

Interesting. It gets pretty cold during the night because of the water (eventhough there are more than 30°C during the day).

Of course, some yachts in the harbor. From my point of view, if you have money in Russia, you show it. The way you dress, the way you drive, the way you live.

We went to a theme park, and found the interesting designed toilets above. I had to take a picture. I’ve seen them that way for the first time. Pretty nice idea, actually.

By the way, did you know,  that Russia has every climate zone except the tropical one? In some regions, the temperature can vary up to 80°C throughout the year.