Sochi, Russia

Today was a unique cultural experience. We dropped anchor at the expected time, but all the tours ran late. Many of the tours were not able to offer all that we expected to see because of the shortage of time. The Russian officials came on board and changed much of what they had said earlier. Everyone had to have their passport stamped and hand in a photo copy of the passport. We were also issued a landing card to carry with us which no one looked at. The officials didn’t want us walking down the stairs so we had to take the elevator, their computer broke down, then they wanted snacks before they got started. There were 1200 of us disembarking on tours because we were not allowed to get off the boat without a visa unless we were on a tour. It was a cold rainy day and the tours were not as exciting as we have had previously. This was the coldest day, 51 degrees, that we have had yet. Needless to say it was a unique cultural experience.

Sochi is the Russian Republic’s largest resort area. The shore stretches nearly 100 miles along the Black Sea. Even though it shares latitude with Toronto, the warming current and the sheltering mountains maintain a beach like climate, except for today. The city attracts millions of vacation goers for the health benefits of the sulphur springs and the annual film festival. The air quality is among the best in the world.

We were off to a great start when we took our motor coach to a huge spa where tourists come for all kinds of healing. The building was closed much to the surprise of the tour director, but we were able to walk around and see the springs. The next stop was at the Riviera Park where most of the attractions were closed, it seems we were ahead of the tourist season. By this time, most of us wanted to find a bathroom. The first place we were lead to was closed. We then had a long walk to some that were open. They wanted 10 rubles to use the “trenches” and some people didn’t have any rubles. The 10 rubles bought a strip of toilet paper. We skipped the last part of the tour which was supposed to be a walk along the beach. A unique cultural experience.