October 14 - Thursday - Sochi, Russia

We docked at about 7:30 this morning, and that's about the time we went for breakfast. Our touring groups were meeting in the auditorium about 8:00, so we needed to be ready quickly today.

Sochi will host the 2014 Olympics, so this little city which has had only moderate attention in the past, except by certain Russian dignitaries, such as Stalin, will be the center of the world's attention before long. As we toured, we could see evidence of beginning preparations - new roads and high-rise freeways (there are no high-rise freeways now), new hotels under construction and others to be renovated, and an excitement from our guides.

Lauren and I took separate tours today. I learned from my guide that there had been only something like 8 cruise ships in port this year. The port is fairly small (and the Prisendam is a small ship), and that may account for the small number.

Lauren's tour was more ambitious than mine - its icon shows three persons walking as opposed to two, as mine did. The number of persons in the little icon beside the tour description gives you an idea of what kind of physical shape you should be in to take the tour.

Lauren's tour was called the Ancient Caucasian Trees and involved walking a path to a viewing platform 400 feet above the sea. It meant a lot of stairs and steep climbs. One of the pictures he brought back confirmed the wisdom of my decision not to take that tour.

I think they're struggling up these steps



Wet, leafy ... iffy for me

The scenery, though, was a reward for everyone's efforts. Some of these plants and ancient boxwood and yew trees are believed to be 2000 years old, or more. The area must be a naturalists' dream. On both of our tours, we could see that the growth of green things can overtake the area in a hurry.



This house will soon be swallowed up with vines



Slick rock-steps to climb

 My tour was the Sochi, Seaside, and Spa tour, which took us to one of the more deluxe spas in Sochi (there are many) ...



Spa waters near the natural springs

where we received a lecture by one of the spa doctors, interpreted by our tour guide ...

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The spa doctor (an MD) in the white coat, our tour guide is the blond on the left

We then went to the Bolshoi Akhun Mountain area where some of us, me included, climbed a stone tower - somewhere between 150 and 200 steps ...


The tower ...

and took in the magnificant view ...



The view

 The Olympics will take place about two hours north of Sochi, in the mountains, in a village of about 4000 people. Sochi itself doesn't receive much snow, if any, in the winter.

Sochi has a year-round population of about 400,000. In the summer, that number may triple, quadruple, or grow even greater.

After Istanbul, it was a low-key day, but a wonderful one. These short stops give you just a taste of a place. You get very little local flavor. We could see, though, that Sochi is a beautiful city, located on the north end of the Black Sea, blessed with an almost Mediterranean climate, and loved by the many who can afford to escape bitter winters to soak up sunshine.

Tomorrow is Batumi, Georgia.

Our flickr pictures of Sochi: Sochi