Location: Krasnodar Krai Map
Sochi is one of the southernmost places in Russia, the second
largest city in the Krasnodar Territory and the most famous seaside
resort in Russia, as well as almost the only city in Russia with a
subtropical climate. There is a lot of officialdom and pathos in
Sochi - government residences, departmental sanatoriums, an elite
ski resort. In addition, it was here that they decided to hold the
2014 Winter Olympics, which provided the city with new
infrastructure, but hardly added charm to it. On the other hand,
Sochi is the place where hundreds of thousands of Russians still go
to relax by the sea, so the light, relaxed and somewhat unbridled
atmosphere of a summer resort is preserved here. Travelers
indifferent to resorts will not be disappointed either: Sochi has
many architectural sights, wonderful parks and beautiful mountains.
The only public road to Abkhazia runs through Sochi today.
Going to Sochi, it is important to understand that this city is one
in two faces. The name Sochi can mean both the Central District (a
kind of “old city”) and a huge agglomeration (Greater Sochi),
stretching along the coast for more than a hundred kilometers - from
Tuapse to the Abkhazian border. Vacationers may be interested in
almost any part of the coast, but travelers should pay special
attention to the center of Sochi, Krasnaya Polyana and separate,
mostly scattered sights in other areas. Finally, those wishing to
look at the venues of the 2014 Winter Olympics can visit the Adler
District, where all sporting events took place.
Sochi is
often called the unofficial "summer capital" of Russia or the "Pearl
of the Black Sea". It is Russia's largest and busiest resort,
attracting over 4 million visitors annually with its stunning
mountainous coastline, endless pebbly beaches, warm sunny days and
vibrant nightlife. From May to September, Sochi's population at
least doubles with tourists, including celebrities and the country's
political elite.
Surprisingly, only 3% of all city guests are
foreigners, and the border location of Sochi does not at all
contribute to the influx of foreign tourists: neighboring Abkhazia
has its own Black Sea coast, and for everyone else, flying to Sochi
is no easier than to Turkey or Greece. Perhaps the most famous
foreign visitor, who is not a politician, but, of course, connected
with politics, was the rock musician Bono, the leader of the U2
group, who was invited in 2010 to stay at the residence of then
President Dmitry Medvedev. If we discard this funny and, in general,
a single fact, Sochi remains a purely domestic tourist destination,
which has its advantages and disadvantages.
Another paradox
of Sochi is the choice of this warm and southern Russian city,
invariably associated in the national consciousness with the south,
palm trees and a hot climate, as the capital of the 2014 Winter
Olympics. This phenomenon will probably never be fully understood
and will be reduced to the eternal formulation “Russia cannot be
understood with the mind”, although in addition to the banal
politics in choosing Sochi for winter competitions there is also a
share of pragmatism: the climate of the coastal and mountainous
parts of the city is so different that when The mountains are
covered with a multi-meter layer of snow; the coast is still warm
and comfortable. Finally, Sochi was just lucky, and the well-known
proverb “if I knew the buyback, I would live in Sochi” just connects
the city and its inhabitants with luck or, moreover, with sudden,
unpredictable happiness and wealth.
Perhaps the Olympic
success will help the city to go beyond the national resort and
become truly international. Sochi has something to offer lovers of
nature, sports, history and beach holidays. This pearl of the Black
Sea is still waiting to be discovered.
The city is an urban agglomeration (Greater Sochi) and consists of
many villages located on the seashore. The settlements are "strung" on
the railway and the highway running along the coast.
Greater
Sochi stretches for 148 km along the Black Sea coast from the northwest
to the southeast, from the village of Magri to the very Russian border
with Abkhazia along the Psou River. Its total area is 3,500 square
kilometers (3 times the size of Moscow). However, the majority of the
population is distributed along a narrow coastal strip, while the
mountainous part (1900 sq. km.) For the most part belongs to the Sochi
National Park and partly to the Caucasian State Natural Biosphere
Reserve.
Sochi is a large resort city on the shores of the Black Sea in the Krasnodar Krai in the South East Russia. Krasnaya Polyana ski resort near Sochi was also a site of 2014 Winter Olympics and Paralympics Games.
Sochi belongs to that small part of Russia, which is lucky to be in
the subtropics. Unlike the Mediterranean climate, Sochi (like Abkhazia)
has high levels of humidity in winter and summer. Sochi can have up to
300 sunny days a year, which is simply unrealistic for central European
Russia. Paradoxically, at the same time, Sochi is one of the rainiest
cities in Russia; in terms of precipitation, it leaves cities such as
St. Petersburg and Murmansk far behind and outdoes even Yuzhno-Kurilsk
(whoever was will understand).
Most of the precipitation falls in
the winter as rain, partly as snow, but usually there is no snow cover
in the coastal part of the city. Stormy weather often sets in, so Sochi
residents do not use umbrellas, or buy several pieces per season to
replace broken ones.
Sochi residents rarely use winter tires, so
every serious snowfall affects the operation of transport.
The
climate of the mountainous part of Greater Sochi is much colder and
makes a full skiing season possible in winter (from mid-December to
mid-April). As a result, Krasnaya Polyana is rapidly developing as a
winter resort and hosted open field competitions during the 2014 Olympic
Games.
Spring is quite short and is characterized by flowering
gardens (usually starts in March, even if the temperatures are lower
than in February). This is a pleasant season with less rain but still
cold seas. The coldest sea in January-February is about 8 degrees.
Sochi summer is associated with vacationers with the swimming
season, which usually lasts from mid-May to mid-October. The real high
season with the tourist peak falls on July-August. In contrast to the
dry summers of the steppe Kuban, in the Sochi region in the summer there
are regular short-term heavy rains of high intensity.
In
September and October, the city attracts fewer visitors, partly due to
the start of the school year. These two months, known as the "velvet
season", when the Black Sea is still warm, the air is not very hot, and
the streets are not crowded with tourists, are the most enjoyable time
to visit Sochi.
The off-season autumn, which comes to Sochi at
the end of October, is warm, but with more cloudy and rainy days. By the
end of November, the average daily temperature falls below 10°C.
The center of Sochi is the heart of the city and its most developed
and populated part. Most of the city's attractions, hotels and shopping
centers are located here. During the summer season, central Sochi is
usually crowded with tourists and cars.
The Lazarevsky district
is the largest and longest (65 km along the coast) among the districts
of Sochi, it is less urbanized than other districts of Greater Sochi. In
reality, it includes many different settlements, often poorly connected
to each other and with a lack of basic infrastructure.
Dagomys is a
large resort village, next to which you can find the former holiday
village of Uch-Dere, where several pre-revolutionary buildings have been
preserved. And 9 km up the gorge there is a cascade of waterfalls known
as the Dagomys troughs. Another twenty kilometers further into the
mountains is Solokh-aul - the birthplace of Krasnodar tea with a
museum-estate of the breeder Judas Koshman who created this tea.
Lazarevskoye is the administrative center of the district with extensive
infrastructure for beach holidays and more; fragments of the old fort, a
monument to Odoevsky who died here, an Orthodox church from the
beginning of the 20th century. There are many other villages along the
coast in the vicinity of Lazarevsky: Volkonka - the ruins of a medieval
fortress, as well as Volkonsky dolmen: one of the largest and perhaps
the most famous dolmen in Sochi, Mamedov Shchel is a small village near
which Mamedovo Gorge is located, famous for its beautiful valley with
waterfalls, dolmens and menhirs. Ashe - two beautiful waterfalls up the
gorge. Golubaya Dacha is the pre-revolutionary dacha of Golubev, from
which the modern name came. Sovetkvadzhe - two well-preserved
pre-revolutionary dachas.
Loo is the best-preserved ruins of a
medieval temple and the largest water park in Sochi. To the north-west
of it is another village - Golovinka, notable for its tulip tree and the
valley of 33 waterfalls located higher along the gorge.
Khostinsky district is located southeast of Central Sochi.
Matsesta,
in which there are hydrogen sulfide sources, is the place where they
initially began to go for treatment, that is, Sochi owes its resort
reputation to it. There are almost no pre-revolutionary monuments left
in Matsesta, and the most interesting thing here is the early Soviet
architecture, examples of which include Stalin's dacha and several
sanatoriums. In Matsesta, which is located in the valley of the river of
the same name, routes to the mountains also begin, including the road to
Mount Akhun.
Khosta is a village at the mouth of the river of the
same name. It is interesting for the pre-revolutionary church and, most
importantly, for its natural attractions - especially this object is
included in the UNESCO World Heritage List with a yew-boxwood grove.
This object is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, a piece of
ancient forest, in which the ruins of an old fortress are located. On
the border with Adler, Kudepsta is located, which is interesting, in
fact, for one attraction: a megalithic cult stone.
The Adler
district is an important transport hub of the city, including the Sochi
International Airport, the Adler railway station (the final stop for
most trains going to Greater Sochi) and the only open checkpoint on the
border with Abkhazia. After the Olympic Games in 2014, the appearance of
the Imeretinskaya Lowland and Krasnaya Polyana changed beyond
recognition, as did the local transport infrastructure, and in 2020, the
first federal territory in Russia, the village of Sirius, was formed
near the border.
Adler is a conglomeration of coastal villages,
including Sochi Airport, as well as the Imereti Lowland, where the
coastal cluster of the 2014 Winter Olympics (now part of Sirius) is
located.
Krasnaya Polyana is a group of villages in the Mzymta
valley (Krasnaya Polyana itself, Esto-Sadok, Rosa Khutor and Gazprom
resorts), turned into a major ski resort and mountain cluster of the
Winter Olympic Games
Also, a significant part of the region
belongs to the Caucasian Biosphere Reserve.
By plane
Sochi Airport ranks eighth in Russia in terms of
passenger traffic, serving not only vacationers, but also all residents
of Abkhazia who do not have their own airport. Mostly domestic flights:
15-20 times a day to Moscow, 3 times a day to St. Petersburg. In summer,
direct flights appear to almost all major regional centers, but the rest
of the time you will have to fly with a transfer. Of the international
destinations, Yerevan and Istanbul are the most active. It is curious
that there is also local aviation in Sochi: lovers of short flights will
be able to go by plane to Krasnodar.
Sochi Airport (IATA:AER).
Geographically located in Adler, because only there the mountains move
away from the sea a little, and there is a sufficient area for the
runway. The airport consists of a single terminal built for the 2014
Olympics. The inside is very nice, spacious and modern. Catering
establishments are concentrated in the departure hall before special
control: Burger King, Shokoladnitsa, Kroshka Potato (prices are above
average for Sochi), Akhun restaurant offering Sochi cuisine (khachapuri
- 400 rubles) and home-cooked cafe Babooshka, offering pastries. The
most interesting thing here is the exhibition and sale of paintings by
Sochi artists. The clean area is no smaller than the departure hall:
among the countless fashion stores you will find an expensive coffee
shop and a number of expensive cafe-bars, there is no cheap food after
special control. Luggage storage: 500 rubles/day. Wi-Fi is fast and free
(registration required).
Due to its mountainous location, Sochi
Airport is more than usual affected by the weather. Nevertheless, if you
have already decided to travel by plane, then you will have to fly
either here or to Krasnodar, from where it takes 5-6 hours by train.
There are other airports on the Black Sea coast - Anapa, Gelendzhik -
but a trip from there to Sochi is unlikely to give you pleasure.
How to get there: from the terminal about 4 km to the center of Adler.
You can walk if you wish. Buses/minibuses run to Sochi (105), the center
of Adler (135, 173) and Krasnaya Polyana (105, 135). The electric trains
launched for the Olympics have been greatly reduced: there are two
flights a day to Lazarevskaya and two more to Tuapse.
Taxi
services are not organized. At the airport, taxi drivers will pester you
all in a row, and they will call prices inadequately high. Better book a
taxi in advance. The size of Sochi is huge, the cost of a taxi depends
on the distance: to Adler from 300 rubles, to Sochi from 800 rubles, to
Krasnaya Polyana from 1200 rubles (2013).
By train
In terms of
the number of long-distance trains, Sochi can easily compete with large
regional centers. The route network still reminds us that Sochi was once
the main resort of the USSR: there is a direct railway connection with
Minsk, Kiev, Kaliningrad, the cities of the Urals, Siberia and the
Arctic. At least 10 long-distance trains come to Sochi every day, in
summer their number doubles. Basically, these are trains from the
European part of Russia, following through Rostov-on-Don (8-10 hours),
Krasnodar (5-6 hours) and Tuapse (2 hours). There is also a daily night
train in the direction of the Caucasus - through Armavir to Mineralnye
Vody (10 hours), Kislovodsk and even Vladikavkaz. The journey from
Moscow takes 24-30 hours. Plans to launch high-speed trains for the
Olympics, reaching Sochi in 15 hours, have successfully failed and, most
likely, will never be realized. However, on the occasion of the 2014
Olympics, new trains were launched from Moscow to Sochi with
double-decker cars and poor internet.
Suburban communication
connects Sochi with Tuapse, where slow electric trains (3-3.5 hours) and
express trains (2 hours) go. Some of them are connected to electric
trains further north: in this way you can get, for example, to Krasnodar
or Maykop (5.5 hours), although there are enough long-distance trains to
Krasnodar. Three electric trains go to Abkhazia a day, in the morning,
afternoon and evening, the travel time to Gagra is a little less than
two hours. You can also use the Moscow-Sukhumi PDS, which here is also a
suburban one, but it runs at not the most convenient time.
The
railway runs along the coast of the Black Sea. On the territory of the
Sochi agglomeration there are a dozen stations and an uncountable number
of stopping points. The terminus for all trains (with the exception of
the Moscow-Sukhumi train) is Adler. The Abkhaz border is located south
of Adler, and all domestic Russian trains go north, passing the entire
vast territory of Greater Sochi in 2 hours. Main stations:
Station Adler. A new railway station built for the Olympics in the
center of Adler. Free Wi-Fi provided.
Sochi station. Station in the
central area of Sochi. Free Wi-Fi provided.
Loo station. In the
village of Loo.
Station Lazarevskaya. In the village of Lazarevskoe.
For detailed descriptions of the stations, see the articles about
the respective areas.
All trains, without exception, stop at the
Sochi station. They also make a stop either in Lazarevskoye or in Loo,
and sometimes both there and there. Express trains on Tuapse also stop
at some other stations - for example, Dagomys, but slow trains stop
everywhere.
By car
From Tuapse along the coast through the
whole of Sochi to the Abkhazian border runs the highway M27 / A147. For
the road to Tuapse and the northwestern cities of the coast, see the
Black Sea coast of the Krasnodar Territory. In different sections the
road is very uneven: somewhere a narrow serpentine through the
mountains, and somewhere a normal highway.
The administrative
border of Sochi passes in the area of the village of Magri, but from
there to the center of Sochi - more than 100 km along a winding
serpentine. The most dangerous section of the road is from Tuapse to
Dagomys, it is recommended to pass it during the day and in good
weather. The locals tend to drive along the serpentine like a highway:
keep a safe speed and let the riders pass - stopping pockets are
regularly installed on the two-lane serpentine. If you are not an ace of
mountain roads, then it is better to leave the car in Tuapse and
transfer to the train.
Distances from some cities to Sochi:
Moscow - 1660 km, Voronezh - 1150 km, Rostov-on-Don - 570 km, Krasnodar
- 300 km, Novorossiysk - 280 km. Usually, the road to Moscow takes 2
days, and to Krasnodar - 5-9 hours, depending on the traffic situation.
By bus
Sochi bus station is located next to the railway station
in the very center of Sochi. The second most important bus station is
located in Adler.
International bus routes:
Chisinau, Moldova
(30 hours, daily, except Friday and Sunday)
Odessa, Ukraine (27
hours, weekly on Sundays)
Sukhum, Abkhazia (4.5 hours, 3 times a day)
Main intercity flights:
Anapa (10 hours, daily, 400 rubles)
Astrakhan (26.5 hours, daily, 1300 rubles)
Krasnodar (8 hours, 2
times a day, 350 rubles)
Maykop (8 hours, 2 times a day, 420 rubles)
Makhachkala (27 hours, daily)
Nalchik (17.5 hours, daily)
Novorossiysk (8.5 hours, daily, 320 rubles)
Rostov-on-Don (12.5
hours, on odd days, 650 rubles)
Stavropol (14 hours, 2 times a day,
750 rubles)
On the ship
With some skill in Sochi, you can sail
from other Black Sea ports:
Trabzon (Turkey) - hydrofoils (4.5 hours)
and cargo-passenger ferries (12 hours), tel. +7 (8622) 60-98-65, +7
(9882) 33-38-10.
Batumi (Georgia) - hydrofoils (4.5 hours). Perhaps
there are also ferries. For reasons that are not entirely clear, only
citizens of Russia, Georgia and the CIS countries are transported from
Sochi to Batumi.
Tickets are sold at the box office at the sea
station. You can and should book by phone. The schedule is
unpredictable; depends on the season, weather and other factors. Vessels
do not run every day, but in principle you can sail away - even in
winter. The price of tickets is high, comparable to the plane. In the
summer there are flights to the Abkhazian Gagra (1.5 hours) and to
Novorossiysk (3.5 hours) - also hydrofoils, but of some other company.
Sochi is also visited by large ships cruising the Black Sea.
Including Russian liners on their way to Crimea, with prices from 25,300
rubles / person for 7 days (2018). The main port is Marine Station 6 in
the center of Sochi.
Buses
There are no trolleybuses or trams in Sochi, and even the
Olympics did not become an occasion for the development of these types
of transport. Buses and minibuses have the same numbers and traffic
patterns. Two-digit numbers denote city buses inside Sochi (Central
District and its immediate environs) or, more rarely, inside Adler.
Fare: 22 rubles (2018). Routes with three-digit numbers are suburban,
the fare depends on the distance: for example, from Sochi to Adler about
80 rubles (2018).
The main transport hub is located in the center
of Sochi: these are railway and bus stations, less often a sea station.
From here there is transport in all directions. In the direction of
Adler, the main routes are 105C (reaches the Adler railway station, then
turns to the airport), 105 (the same goes further to Krasnaya Polyana)
and 125P to the Psou post, the border with Abkhazia. In the direction of
Lazarevsky bus 155.
By train
The length of Greater Sochi at
105 kilometers makes rail transport unconditionally the best means of
transportation. The railway was single-track for a long time, went from
Tuapse to Abkhazia and consisted of 5 stations and 28 platforms within
the city. In preparation for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russian
Railways added two lines, from Adler to the airport and from the
Imeretinskaya lowland to Krasnaya Polyana, with a total length of 28
kilometers with 5 new stations and platforms.
On the Tuapse-Adler
section, the number of electric trains increases in summer, and on the
branch to Krasnaya Polyana - in winter. In the low season, you can count
on two or three trains a day to the mountains and 4-6 along the coast.
In addition to intra-Sochi electric trains, there are Lastochki to
Krasnodar and Maikop, which also make stops at large stations in Greater
Sochi. Trains run all along the coast to Adler, stopping at Lazarevsky,
Loo, Sochi and Khost, but ticket prices start at 500 rubles, regardless
of distance.
There is no light metro, the mention of which the
Internet was filled with, in Sochi.
Story
Medieval fortresses and temples: all medieval buildings on the
territory of Sochi are poorly preserved. If you are interested in the
ruins, you can see the Byzantine temple in Loo, as well as several ruins
of fortresses - Gadlik in the village. Volkonka, Khostinskaya in the
yew-boxwood grove in Khosta and Achipsinskaya near Krasnaya Polyana.
Fragments of walls and towers have been preserved, but information about
these objects remains extremely scarce: it is not clear who built them,
when and why.
Dolmens, that is, burial and religious buildings of
the Bronze Age, have been preserved in Sochi in large numbers. You can
find them in the most unexpected places, up to the courtyard in a
private house. The most interesting of them is the monolithic Volkonsky
dolmen in the Lazarevsky area. The dolmen archaeological culture also
includes a huge cult stone in the Kudepsta area, and in general, most of
the dolmens in the vicinity of Lazarevsky.
Architecture
At
first glance, going to Sochi for the sake of architecture is a strange
undertaking, but a closer look reveals a lot of interesting things here.
In the middle of the 19th century, the first settlers had no time for
architecture, but as soon as wealthy vacationers buy land in Sochi,
interesting and even original projects appear. Many pre-revolutionary
buildings in Sochi are built of gray stone, evoking associations with
the Transcaucasus. For a resort area, such a dark color and rough
material are unusual, although the forms of buildings are always quite
light and original. Such, for example, are the library. Pushkin or
Zinovieva's dacha in the center of Sochi. It is hardly possible to talk
about the established Sochi style, but the local buildings are unlike
either the urban architecture of the early 20th century, or the
dacha-resort development somewhere in the north near St. Petersburg.
A new stage of construction began in 1926 after Stalin had his first
rest in Sochi. The best architects began to work in the city - Shchusev,
Merzhanov, Zholtovsky - creating buildings of the capital level here.
Sanatorium them. Voroshilov (Khostinsky district) and the Institute of
Balneology (Matsesta) are among the best and most elegant monuments of
constructivism. Since the early 1930s, it has been replaced by the
Stalinist style, in which Sochi is already acting as a flagship:
artistic techniques were practiced here, then replicated throughout the
Soviet Union: the antique portico of the Sochi Winter Theater (center)
turned into colonnades on the facades of hundreds of theaters and
palaces culture, and the classical sculptures of the sanatorium.
Ordzhonikidze (Khostinsky district) became a characteristic element of
the Stalinist Empire style. There are in Sochi both reference examples
of the Stalinist style (railway and sea stations in the Central
District), and bizarre deviations from the usual architecture of that
time - an observation tower stylized as the Middle Ages on Mount Akhun
(Khostinsky district), Nikolai Ostrovsky's house (center) in the style
of art deco or dacha of Stalin (Matsesta), which is generally out of
time and style.
Another construction boom began in Sochi in the
mid-2000s after the decision was made to host the 2014 Winter Olympics
in the city. Although it is still difficult to judge the artistic merit
of the new buildings, the Olympic Park in Adler, the development of
Krasnaya Polyana and the remodeling in the center of Sochi are a
cross-section of modern Russian architecture. It's interesting to look
at them.
Monuments: Among the traditional set of monuments of the
Soviet period, Sochi has several original monuments worth seeing. Among
them are an anchor and a cannon in honor of the victory in the
Russian-Turkish war, monuments of the Second World War - Churchill,
Roosevelt and Stalin, "Feat for the sake of life" - a monument to the
medical staff of Sochi - and a singing fountain on Kurortny Prospekt,
one of the first color and musical fountains in the USSR (all in the
central region).
Nature
Most of the territory of Sochi is
occupied not by urban development, but by mountains. The Sochi natural
zone is very unusual. Although there are mountains, the sea and
subtropics in several places on the Black Sea coast (Crimea, Abkhazia,
Batumi), only Sochi and partly in Abkhazia have preserved massifs of the
Colchis forest - ancient thickets of oaks, boxwoods and yews, under
which ferns grow. The most important natural object is the protected
yew-boxwood grove (Khosta), part of the Caucasian Biosphere Reserve and
a UNESCO monument. It is a must to get there.
Many natural sights
of Sochi are cultivated and belong to the Sochi National Park. You can
walk along the paths and follow the signs, but you will have to pay for
the entrance.
Mountains - the most popular and convenient peak
for conquering is Mount Akhun (663 m above sea level, Khostinsky
district), where you can go by transport, or you can climb on foot. Any
peaks in the vicinity of Sochi are suitable for climbing, although you
won’t see anything from most of them: everything is overgrown with
forest. Look for good viewpoints in Krasnaya Polyana, where it is easy
to climb above 1500-1700 m on the lift - alpine meadows and dizzying
panoramas begin there. Fans of mountain tourism should immediately go to
the Caucasian Biosphere Reserve: all more or less serious peaks belong
to it.
There are waterfalls and rocky mountain gorges all over
Sochi. Especially popular are the so-called 33 waterfalls in the
vicinity of Loo, but in general you will always find some beautiful
waterfall within a radius of 5-10 km from any coastal village. The road
to Krasnaya Polyana passes through the gorge of the Mzymta River: this
in itself is a very beautiful place, where there are also waterfalls.
Caves: most of the caves in Sochi are located in the vicinity of
Vorontsovka in the Khostinsky district. Akhshtyrskaya cave is located
not far from Adler, on the road to Krasnaya Polyana.
Parks: There
are two large and interesting botanical gardens in Sochi - the Sochi
Arboretum (Khostinsky District) and the Southern Cultures Park in Adler.
Mineral springs: the history of Sochi as a resort began not from the
sea and not from the mountains, but from the hydrogen sulfide springs of
Matsesta. In the village of Chvizhepse between Adler and Krasnaya
Polyana there is a source of narzan "Bear's Corner", the water from
which is supplied to the coastal sanatorium and sold in bottles. In the
upper reaches of the Mzymta, in the vicinity of Krasnaya Polyana, there
is the Pslukhsky spring and a whole valley of Narzans - the Engelmanov
Polyana.
Sochi Discovery World Aquarium
Recreation on the water
Beaches: due to the proximity to the
mountains, the beaches in Sochi are rocky, consisting of pebbles of
different sizes. You will have to enter the sea on large slippery
stones, and a small wave can overturn you on these stones - for this
reason, the sandy beaches of Anapa and its environs are better
suited for families with children. Nevertheless, the advantages of
pebble beaches are that you can do without a sunbed and, after
swimming in the sea, dry off and sunbathe right on the pebbles, and
after that you don’t have to look for a shower to wash off the sand.
On the sanatorium Sochi beaches, a descent into the water is
equipped and sandy strips are filled.
In Sochi, there are
official and wild beaches: the official ones have basic
infrastructure - changing cabins, toilets, lifeguards are often on
duty and there is a fresh shower; all this is compensated by
overcrowding and the cries of peddlers. On wild beaches there is
neither infrastructure nor traders, and there are noticeably fewer
vacationers. Please note that during the season, the central beaches
- paid and free, even inconvenient and without basic infrastructure
- are always crowded, and in order to get to the water, you will
have to step over the bodies. Look for options away from the center
of the village and large resorts. However, by 2017 there were
practically no wild beaches left.
According to reviews, the
best beaches are located in the village. Golovinka of the Lazarevsky
district (one of the few natural sandy beaches), in the Mamaika
microdistrict of the central district (the paid beach of the
Oktyabrsky sanatorium is especially recommended) and the Dolphin
beach in Loo.
Water parks: there are small water parks in the
central area and in Khost; in Adler the complex is larger, and in
Lazarevsky there are two water parks. The largest water park in
Sochi, which also operates year-round, is Aqua-Loo in Loo.
Holidays in the mountains
Thanks to the 2014 Olympics, Sochi
(more precisely, the settlement of Esto-Sadok) has become the
largest ski resort in Russia. There are three separate ski resorts
in Esto-Sadok: Gazprom, Gornaya Karusel and Rosa Khutor: in total,
this is more than 100 km of ski slopes and several dozen lifts. It
cannot be said that the complexes are very close, but they are
within walking distance from each other. It makes sense not to buy a
ski pass at once for the entire stay: try to ride on all three
complexes and choose the one where there are fewer people and better
slopes. Judging by the reviews, by Russian standards, the quality of
the tracks is not bad (much better than in the resorts of the North
Caucasus), but does not reach the level of Georgia and Bukovel. As
with any resort, accommodation near the ski lifts is very expensive.
The alternatives are to live in Krasnaya Polyana and find transport
to the ski lifts, or live in Adler (it is quite inexpensive in
winter) and take the train to Rosa Khutor.
The Sochi
Mountains are not only ski slopes in winter, but also mountain
tourism routes in summer. The popular route from Adygea through
Fisht to the Black Sea ends in the Lazarevsky district. Fisht itself
is located within the administrative boundaries of Sochi - the
highest peak of the Western Caucasus, which requires certain
training and equipment to climb. If heavy backpacks and spending the
night in a tent are not for you, pay attention to the Aibga and
Achishkho mountains surrounding Krasnaya Polyana: it will take half
a day to visit them. However, many of these routes may be closed
even in summer, so check availability in advance. Do not forget that
most of the mountains are located on the territory of the Caucasus
Reserve, and a pass is required to visit them.
Museums,
exhibitions, festivals
Oceanariums: There are small aquariums in
the city center and in Matsesta, clearly inferior to the Sochi
Discovery World Aquarium in Adler and the Tropical Amazon in
Lazarevsky, both of which claim to be the largest in Russia. In
Adler, you can go through an acrylic tunnel through an aquarium, and
in Lazarevskaya, you can look at penguins.
Museums: There are
no national museums in Sochi. If you are tired of a beach holiday,
you can visit Stalin's dacha in Khost, the house-museum of Nikolai
Ostrovsky in the central region, or the ethnographic museum "Adyge
Shapsug Manor" in the vicinity of Lazarevsky.
Kinotavr is an
open Russian film festival that has been held since 1990. The
largest festival with the stars of Russian cinema.
The range of local products is not much different from other cities
in the Krasnodar Territory: you can buy Krasnodar tea, Russian and
Abkhaz wines, Temryuk brandy. It is better to buy alcohol in chain
supermarkets.
Main supermarket chains:
"Magnet" - a
federal network of grocery stores of the lowest price range;
"Kairos" - a local chain of stores in Sochi, operating around the
clock;
Perekrestok is a federal network of larger and slightly
more expensive supermarkets;
Pyaterochka is a federal chain of
grocery stores familiar to all Russians;
"OK" is a chain of high
quality supermarkets.
Shopping as such is concentrated in
Central Sochi and Adler; in other villages there are much fewer
shops. There are many ATMs in Sochi, especially in Central Sochi and
Adler.
Sochi catering is quite diverse, but still focused on the resort
public. Interesting restaurants, original cafes and cozy coffee
houses can be found only in the center of Sochi. Nice places can
also be found in Lazarevsky, Adler and Krasnaya Polyana, although
the latter is unlikely to please you with low prices. Throughout the
rest of the territory, count on canteens and cafes without frills -
from beach eateries with an indispensable barbecue to establishments
that claim their own style, but most often do not have it.
Canteens are usually cheap and offer a standard Russian set
(borscht, hodgepodge, meatballs, zrazy, pork chops and the list goes
on), lunch will cost 100-150 rubles (2014). If you want something
special, eat souvlaki - this is a Greek dish (a tribute to the
Greeks who lived in Adler), consisting of pieces of meat fried over
a fire, laid in a flat cake along with salad, sauce and french fries
(find three differences from shawarma - it tastes like it).
Souvlachnye are found everywhere in Sochi and are popular with local
residents. Usually these are simple but clean cafes that also offer
shawarma and pizza. More expensive than in the dining room, but
colorful.
It is worth paying attention to fish dishes: trout
in Sochi is local, from its own trout farm (see Adler), Black Sea
fish (scad, flounder, red mullet) are nearby, and mussels are always
at hand. In terms of meat dishes, Caucasian dishes are very common,
that is, shish kebab is offered everywhere, and many cafes and even
canteens have a good selection of Georgian cuisine. Remember that in
the most popular places, especially in summer on the embankments,
cases of light fraud are common, when the price for main dishes is
imperceptibly indicated per 100 grams, and not per dish - in
reality, you will have to pay 3-4 times more. Most often this
happens with barbecue.
There are a lot of fruits in Sochi all
year round. You need to buy them at the market, where you will also
find colorful and tasty sweets like churchkhela (nuts in thickened
grape juice).
Sochi and the Black Sea coast in general are an
expanse for lovers of cheap low-quality alcoholic beverages. Wines
of Kuban stores are found everywhere and offer local wine both in
bottles and on tap, and you can skip a glass right in the store.
Although you will not find any bouquet of aromas or exquisite taste
in Krasnodar wine, you can taste endlessly: there are a lot of
varieties, and the effect of sweet wine is strong. You will also
meet local cognac (“Temryuksky”, produced in Taman) and Abkhazian
wine, which, however, is now common in other regions of Russia.
If wine is made in other parts of the Krasnodar Territory, then
tea is a local Sochi product: it does not grow anywhere else in
Russia, although it is sold everywhere. However, opinions about the
quality of Krasnodar tea vary.
During the holiday season, there is no shortage of nightlife -
however, its quality varies greatly. The level of pathos and prices
rises as you get closer to the city center. The most common form of
evening entertainment are discos and bars. In the center of Sochi
and in Adler there are nightclubs where rock concerts are often held
- if you believe the reviews, they are not bad.
Most cafes
and restaurants - even at below average prices - consider it their
duty to provide live music in the evenings. At the same time, in
cheaper establishments, the performance will be exceptionally
mediocre.
Recently (2016) a casino was officially opened in
Krasnaya Polyana.
Sochi has an extremely high (that is, from the point of view of the
client unfavorable) price / quality ratio in many areas of service.
On the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus, since Soviet times, they
believe that you will not get away from them anywhere and will pay
as much as they say for services whose quality is lower than you
would like. Get ready for it.
As a rule, the cheapest
accommodation is in the Lazarevsky district, and in the center of
Sochi the most expensive. However, do not be too lazy to carefully
study the market. Prices are very dependent on the season: the “low
season” usually starts on October 1 and ends on May 1, May and June
are the time of increased prices, and from July to September prices
increase 1.5-2 times compared to winter ones. The exception is
Krasnaya Polyana, where everything is the opposite: cheap in summer
(April-October), expensive in winter, and the peak of prices comes
on New Year's holidays. This guide usually contains winter (for
Krasnaya Polyana, respectively, summer) prices, which are easier to
compare with each other, since the rest of the time the cost is
determined not so much by the level of comfort as by the greed and
impudence of a particular hotel.
On the coast, if you wish,
you can find a room for two for 1000-1500 rubles even in summer
(2014). Krasnaya Polyana is more expensive; summer prices start at
1500 rubles, but in winter you can hardly settle for less than
2000-2500 rubles.
One of the main forms of residence is
renting housing in the private sector. All coastal villages are full
of advertisements for renting apartments and rooms, right at the
station you will be met by crowds of agents and barkers. Somewhere
far from the sea, prices can be quite low, and the level of comfort
is quite acceptable. However, remember that infrastructure and
communications have never been Sochi's strong point, so there are
problems with hot water in private homes: ask and check. It is hot
in Sochi in summer, so if air conditioning is important to you, also
take an interest in this issue in advance.
The hotel services
market is also very wide, but somewhat unusual for Russia. Hostels
exist in sufficient numbers. More common are private mini-hotels,
which are similar to hostels, but do not contain multi-bed rooms and
rather offer ordinary double rooms with a minimum of amenities. Such
hotels will be the best options for inexpensive accommodation. Large
official hotels are much more expensive and not always better: of
course, in a four-star hotel you can count on a good breakfast, air
conditioning in the room, and even a swimming pool in the courtyard,
but it will also cost like a hotel in Moscow. But in the price range
of 1500-2500 rubles (in winter) you can get into something
unattractive, frankly losing to private hotels.
Boarding
houses and sanatoriums are a separate side of the Sochi market. Both
those and others offer vouchers with accommodation, three meals a
day and treatment, but in boarding houses only accommodation is
paid, which reduces the price by half, the rest is at the request of
the client. Many sanatoriums have been renovated and look very
modern, meals are organized on a buffet basis. However, there are
also vestiges of the Soviet era. For active and independent
travelers, sanatoriums are also of interest, since for a basic price
(accommodation only) you can get access to a good beach, as well as
a swimming pool and a gym.
Among all the cities of the Russian province, Sochi has the largest
number of mobile operators: MTS, Beeline, MegaFon, Tele 2,
Rostelecom (works only in the 3G / UMTS standard), Skylink (works in
the CDMA450 standard). In addition, two operators - Yota and MegaFon
- offer 4G (LTE) communications.
Finding Wi-Fi in Sochi is
also not difficult: in addition to restaurants and shopping malls,
the city has a network of Beeline Wifi hot spots.
The Krasnodar Territory is the safest region in the North Caucasus.
The level of crime in Sochi does not particularly stand out, but, as
they say, there are dark nights in the city of Sochi. In crowded
places and on the beach, keep an eye on your belongings.
In
the summer, it is recommended to use sunscreen.
In no case do
not swallow sea water, it may contain rotavirus and other intestinal
infections. In case of symptoms (vomiting, fever, diarrhea), consult
a doctor.
Abkhazia
During the USSR, Abkhazia was part of the South, after
the collapse of the USSR, a civil war with Georgia took place here,
as a result of which Abkhazia declared its independence. This was
supported by Russia, but most countries did not recognize
independence from Tbilisi.
Abkhazia is relatively small in
size, and you can easily drive all over it in a weekend, but it's
worth staying longer in Abkhazia. The monastery and cave in New
Athos, as well as Lake Ritsa on the Black Sea coast, are worth
spending more time on them alone.
From the Russian side, you
can only go to Sochi. The transition is located in the village of
Vesele - this is the southern part of Adler. The border can be
crossed on foot or by car or bus. From Abkhazia, minibuses to
Sukhumi and other cities will be waiting - a cheap option to
discover Abkhazia. You can also take a ride from Sochi by train, and
by ferry.
Citizens of the Russian Federation do not need a
foreign passport to cross. For children, a birth certificate and the
presence of one of the two parents when crossing the border are
required. Keep in mind that if foreigners are traveling with you,
then a visa to Russia must necessarily provide for multiple entries.
Adygea
The region, surrounded on all sides by the Krasnodar
Territory, is a national republic, for some reason underestimated by
the attention of tourists. There you can look at the waterfalls, go
rafting, skiing in Lagonaki. It should also be emphasized that,
after the Krasnodar Territory, Adygea is the second safest region in
the Caucasus regions.
Maykop, the capital of Adygea, can be
reached by train (every day, travel time - 6 hours), or by bus (1-2
every day, 8 hours), by car you can drive through Tuapse.
Caucasian Biosphere Reserve
Nature reserve, the second largest in
Europe, and the largest in the Caucasus. Passes along the border of
the Krasnodar Territory, Adygea and Karachay-Cherkessia, including
part of Greater Sochi (Khosta and Krasnaya Polyana), borders on the
Sochi National Park.
The Caucasian Biosphere Reserve is rich
in biodiversity, has no analogues in value in Russia and in the
world, for which it was included in the UNESCO heritage list. More
details can be found on the reserve's website.
There are two
independent zones of the reserve: the yew-boxwood grove in Khosta
and the wild animal center in Krasnaya Polyana. To visit the rest of
the territory, you need to obtain permission by submitting a list of
visitors, passport details and copies of passports and indicating
the days of visit, etc. Admission is 150 rubles for adults and 50
rubles for children.
In Sochi, permission can be obtained at
the reserve's office at the address: Adler, st. Karl Marx, 8, office
10.
Gelendzhik
Another resort city, which is located
northwest of Sochi, is one of the popular summer vacation spots for
Russians. In Gelendzhik, you can relax and discover wildlife. The
Gelendzhik water park is the largest in the country, and there are
very beautiful views nearby. The International Naval Aviation
Conference is also held every two years.
Gelendzhik is a
transit point for some buses from Sochi (4-5 daily). The duration of
the trip is approximately 5 and a half hours. The Sea Flight ferry
from Sochi to Novorossiysk also stops in Gelendzhik.
Novorossiysk
The third largest city in the Krasnodar Territory,
the largest Russian port on the Black Sea and the center of the
cement industry in the South of Russia. Most of the sights date back
to World War II, when Novorossiysk was the center of one of the key
battles. The most famous monuments are Malaya Zemlya, the Defense
Line and Death Valley.
The environs of Novorossiysk provide
beautiful nature of the canopy of the Caucasus. Among the natural
wonders is Lake Abrau, the largest in the North Caucasus. Nearby is
the Abrau-Dyurso winery, the center of Russian winemaking -
sparkling wines are made there. There are tours to the factory with
tasting of different wines. There are many different beaches nearby.
There are many ways to get from Sochi to Novorossiysk. Buses run
every day and take 8.5 hours. The high-speed ferry "Sea Flight"
operates from May to October and spends 5 hours on the way. It costs
from 1800 to 2700 rubles. The train will have to get through
Krasnodar, long and expensive.
Tuapse
Another important
Russian port on the Black Sea and the closest neighbor of Greater
Sochi. An industrial center and a major transport hub, so tourists
are not very common there. But, in any case, Tuapse is worth a day
trip. After a short walk in the center, you should pay attention to
the surrounding sights. There are several beautiful mountains,
waterfalls and preserved dolmens.
You can get to Tuapse by
any train or train from Sochi towards Tuapse. There are also
frequent bus routes, the travel time is 2.5 hours.
The settlement formed in 1869 already had the name Sochi.
The
name Sochi refers to the city and the river flowing into the Black
Sea in the Central District of the city of Sochi.
There is a
wide range of variations of the toponym (and, accordingly, the
hydronym) Sochi in various sources: Sochi, Socha and Suchali; Sasha,
Sadsha and Zutsha at Belle's; Sochi or Sasha; Sochi, Sasha and
Sochips; Sfeshi (river) and Sshashe (village) (Shapsug variant);
Shasha; Sahi, Suchal and Sasha, in other sources - Shashe, Sshatche,
Sochipse. According to Bgazhba Kh.S., in the Ubykh language the name
of the river Sochi sounded like Sshacha, and in Abkhazian - Shacha.
But for the first time, local names (ethnonyms) are mentioned by
Evliya Celebi, a Turkish traveler, who in 1641 describes the Sadshe
tribe (Turk. Sadşe), next to it mentions the Suça tribe.
Valuysky V. M. identifies the names Sadsha and Sudzha and writes
that the Sudzha tract unites: Shlabistaga - on the right bank of the
river. Sochi, slightly above the mouth (apparently, the lower part
of the valley of the Khludovsky stream, the right tributary of the
Sochi River); R. Hokocha (stream Vereshchaginka); R. Sochepa or
Sochapa (Rotten); auls of Arlan - in the upper reaches of the
Sochapa and Bzugu rivers. Flavius Arrian in 137 on the site of the
modern river. Sochi calls the river Masaitika, and Pseudo-Arrian in
the 5th century. writes about the Masetika River, in these most
ancient names of the modern river known to us. Sochi, we apparently
have a two-part stem "ma" and "saiti-seti"), and the second root is
very consonant with the toponym "Sochi". This similarity will be
even more complete if we take into account that in the Latin
alphabet there is no letter for the sound “ch” and it could be
denoted through a more deaf “T” (cf. the back sound “tch” is
characteristic of the Ubykh language). The first part of this name
"ma" is close to the Adyghe and Ubykh mia (mea) - "apple tree".
The ethnonyms Sochi and Sadsha are used as synonyms in many
historical sources. Their decoding can be carried out on the basis
of the vocabulary of the Ubykh language. The ethnonym Sochi has no
translation, but its synonym “sadsha” is very close to the Ubykh
“sshdshe” in the meaning of “sea” and “by the sea”. There is reason
to believe that this term served in the distant past as the basis
for the name and self-name of the tribe "sadsha" "seaside (living by
the sea) tribe." The ethnonym "sadsha", changing over the centuries,
by the middle of the 19th century. entrenched; somewhat transformed,
behind the Abaza tribe of sadzes (jigets), who until the end of the
Caucasian War (1864) occupied the coast between Khosta and Gagra,
and the Ubykh-Abaza tribe of sache, who lived in the coastal strip
of the interfluve of Sochi-Khosta (see in Ubykh "sshe" - abbreviated
form of "descended" - "sea"). Probably, the subsequent names of
Socha and Sochi are the Abaza version of the Ubykh "sachet" in the
same meaning "living by the sea." The ethnonym Sasha - Socha - Sochi
gave the name to the river and the settlement at its mouth.
Sh. D. Inal-Ipa notes that Sochi-Socha in Abkhazian sounds like
Shvacha, and suggests that this is a lost personal or family name.
However, the Abkhazians called the Abaza ashvua and ashvy, that is,
in the Abkhazian name of the Sochi-Shvacha river, we see the basis
of the shvy-shvua in the meaning of "Abaza". According to the Sochi
local historian V. M. Valuysky, the syllable "cha" is characteristic
of the end of the Abkhaz and Abaza geographical names of mountains,
rivers, villages. Apparently, the syllable "cha" acquired the
meaning of the suffix of belonging (place). So, in the Adyghe
language the word chape is translated directly as "place". In this
case, the Abkhazian Shvacha literally translates as "the place of
the Abaza", and for the river - "the river (valley) of the Abaza".
K. A. Gordon recalls the Abazinsky Boulevard in Sochi at the
beginning of the 20th century. On the plan of Sochi, attached to the
guide of G. G. Moskvich (1912), on the site of the modern street.
Kubanskaya street is shown. Abaza, if we take into account that the
ethnonym Abaza-Abaza comes from the Ubykh bzi, that is, “living near
the water” (by the sea), then we come to the same conclusion as when
deciphering the toponym Sochi based on the Ubykh language. Such
convergence of translations in two different, but related languages
of the peoples who lived in the neighborhood for a long time cannot
be accidental and indicates the correct application of the methods
of historical ethnography and comparative linguistics in identifying
the etymology of toponyms on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus.
Khan Giray, listing the Circassian tribal and clan names, mentions
the family of free farmers Sashekkor, who lived south of Ordan. The
well-known Kabardian ethnographer and historian of the middle of the
last century, Sh. B. Nogmov, based on legends, wrote about the
ancestor of the Kabardian princes, Inal, that he arrived in Kabarda
from the Black Sea coast, where the Abaza Ashe and Shashe enjoyed
special patronage. L. I. Lavrov connects these names with the
Abkhazian princely surnames Achba and Chachba. Comparing the remarks
of Sh. D. Inal-Ip about the possibility of preserving the generic
name in the name of Sochi, Lavrov cites the testimony of the
bzhedukh Lakshoko Alkhas that the bzhedukhs remember dividing them
into two sub-tribes: Khamyshevtsy (khamysh) and Chercheneevtsy
(Chechenay) and that that both, according to legend, used to live in
the vicinity of present-day Sochi. About the Khamysh society, on the
site of the modern. Khosta, in 1835 F.F. Thornau wrote. Mount Akhun
on the map of Dorovatovsky (1911) was called Khamysh-Okhun. Let us
also pay attention to the similarity of the ethnonym Chechenai and
the Abkhaz-Abaza variants of the name of Sochi: Shacha (Shvacha) and
Sshache. The above parallels once again confirm the probability of
the ethnonymic basis of the toponym Sochi.
An interesting
etymology is offered by M. K. Teshev. Sochi in Khakuchi is called
Shache, in Shapsug - Shashe. At the same time, Teshev considers the
Khakuchi version borrowed from Ubykh and translates it on the basis
of the Ubykh language: she “head”, che “sell”, that is, “sell the
head” or “the place where the head (of people) is sold”, while che
and hakuchinski means "sell". The Shapsug version of the toponym -
Shashe has the same translation: from the Ubykh. she "head" and
shaps. she "sell"; that is, "a place where the head (of people) is
sold." The conditions for the emergence of such a name do not
contradict known historical facts - the slave trade on the Black Sea
coast existed until the beginning of the 19th century.
Valuysky cites information from an article by Sh. Chukho in the
Sochi newspaper Krasnoe Znamya dated March 27, 1960, that one of the
forms of the name of the river. Sochi - Sshyche (unknown in
historical sources). According to Sh. Chukho, in the Old Shapsug
dialect, sshi means "brother", and whose - "without", that is, "a
river without a tributary". However, such a translation belongs to
the model of "folk etymologies". If we translate from the Shapsug
dialect, then we must proceed from the Shapsug variants of the name:
Ssha-she, Shashe, Sfeshi. In addition, the Sochi River already at
the mouth has a right tributary with a wide valley, the Khludovsky
(Shlabistaga) stream, not to mention others (Ats, Agva, Ushkha,
Azhek, etc.). M. V. Valuysky also reports that the Black Sea
Shapsugs had a misconception (based on the similarity of sound) that
the name of Sochi is associated with the Adyghe name of horse
racing, the so-called Sh'ache , which were previously carried out on
the vast plain of the left estuary of the Sochi River. I. A.
Javakhishvili in 1939 translated the name of Sochi on the basis of
the Georgian language as “fir”. In 1956, Anchabadze and Bgazhba,
although they repeated that the name Socha in the form Socha really
means “fir” in Georgian, they suggested that it was rather derived
from the Abkhaz-Ubykh form Sheacha, which is the ethnic name of one
of the subdivisions of the Ubykh tribe. Valuysky in 1966, following
Anchabadze and Kh. independent grammatical structure), known by many
authors as Sasha, Sasha, Shasha, Sshacha, Sadsha, Sheacha.
Some people derive the etymology of the word "Sochi" from the Adyghe
Sette, which means - I give, I give. In the Adyghe language, the
word Shache has been preserved without phonetic changes. Shapsugs
and today the city of Sochi is called Shaache.
The city is located at about 43 degrees north latitude, that is,
approximately at the geographical latitude of Nice, Alma-Ata,
Toronto and Vladivostok. The coordinates of the city of Sochi (Main
Post Office) - 43 ° 35′07 ″ s. sh., 39°43′13″ E e. The natural
boundaries of the city (fixed by the Decree of the Presidium of the
Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR of February 11, 1961):
from the
southwest - the Black Sea;
from the east - the Psou River and the
upper reaches of the Mzymta River;
from the north - the Main and
Dividing Ranges of the Western Caucasus;
from the west - the
interfluve of the Magri and Shepsi rivers (behind it - the territory
of the Tuapse district and the city of Tuapse itself).
The most
important factors that attract tourists to Sochi are: warm
subtropical climate; sea, mineral springs, proximity to mountains,
developed tourist and recreational infrastructure. The virgin
Colchis forests of the Western Caucasus on the territory of the city
(Caucasian State Biosphere Reserve) are included in the UNESCO World
Heritage List.
The length of the city of Sochi along the
Black Sea coast (from northwest to southeast) is about 99 km, the
total length of the Sochi urban district, including all 4 districts
and the part of the Black Sea water area assigned to the district,
is 140 km. In terms of its territory, the resort city of Sochi
surpasses 28 states, including, for example, such a country as
Luxembourg.
The area of settlements (in all districts of the
city) of Sochi is 176.77 km², the total area (within the urban
district of the resort city of Sochi) is 3506 km².
Of the
total area of the resort city of 3502 km², 81% falls on specially
protected territories and objects (Caucasian Natural Biosphere
Reserve, Sochi Republican State Nature Reserve, Sochi National
Park). More than 80% of the city's territory is occupied by
vegetation, which is represented in a wide range of altitudinal
zoning: from subtropical forests to glacial highlands. Settlements
located on the territory of the resort city account for 8.1% of the
city's land fund. Lands of the forest fund occupy 6.2%, agricultural
land - 4.2%, industry, energy, transport, communications - 0.3% and
land of the water fund - 0.03% of the land fund. Sochi is located in
the MSK time zone (Moscow time). The offset of the applicable time
from UTC is +3:00.
The Sochi region and the Black Sea coast adjacent to it have an
ancient history, as evidenced by archaeological finds in the region.
Pre-antique times, antiquity, the early and late Middle Ages, the
Soviet and post-Soviet periods left their traces here.
The
first Russian settlement on the territory of Sochi was formed in
1838. On April 13 (April 25) of the same year, the Russian squadron
landed troops near the mouth of the Sochi River, which founded Fort
Alexandria, named after Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. Later, the
fort began to be called Navaginsky - in honor of the unsuccessful
landing of the Navaginsky regiment, which landed first, in the
amount of 300 people. The first landing was lost due to the
impossibility of re-landing (bad weather conditions). Only on the
second attempt did they manage to capture the bridgehead. And now
one of the central streets of Sochi is called Navaginskaya. Part of
the wall of Fort Navaginsky has been preserved. It is located on
Hellinsky Spusk, in the courtyard of the building of the former
Politidi house, which housed a clinic in Soviet times.
Early
history
Based on the similarity of the oldest known flint tools
in the Caucasian Black Sea region, it is assumed that the first
people penetrated the vicinity of Sochi through Colchis from Asia
Minor 400-350 thousand years ago, that is, in the early Acheulean
era. The oldest traces of human habitation were found in the
vicinity of Khosta, the left-bank and right-bank parts of the lower
reaches of the Mzymta and on the right bank of the Psou. The most
famous site of the Stone Age is the Akhshtyrskaya cave, inhabited
250 thousand years ago. In the third millennium BC, the tribes of
the Maikop culture lived here, which was replaced by the dolmen
culture, which existed here for more than a thousand years.
Hence, according to the Assyrian sources of the VIII-VII centuries.
BC, the Cimmerians came to the countries of the Near East and Asia
Minor. The earliest state formation on the territory of Gagra was
Colchis (XII century BC). Ancient Colchis was located along the
eastern coast of the Black Sea (the Black Sea coast of the
Caucasus), occupying the Colchis lowland and adjacent areas.
Colchians were the main population of the state and the historical
region. In 335 BC. Pseudo-Skilak, one of the oldest ancient
geographers, names the tribes of the Achaeans and Geniokhs living on
the coast from modern Gelendzhik to Great Dioscuria.
Greek
colonization of the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus began around the
6th-5th centuries. BC e. with the advent of city-states that
actively traded with the geniokhs. Around 85 B.C. the tribes of the
Heniochs and Colchis fall under the dependence of the Pontic
kingdom. In 74 BC. geniokhs act as allies of the king of the Pontic
kingdom Mithridates VI Eupator in the war with Rome. In 66 BC.
having spent the winter in Dioscuriades, Mithridates VI Eupator
passed through the land of the Heniochs, who friendly accepted him,
but put the Achaeans to flight and pursued.
In the 1st-5th
centuries A.D. Roman colonization of the Black Sea coast of the
Caucasus takes place. In the 1st century A.D. e. the geographer of
antiquity Strabo, in describing the shores of the Black Sea,
mentions the Achaeans, Zikhs and Geniokhs living on the coast from
modern Gelendzhik-Tuapse to modern Adler-Pitsunda. According to
Strabo, the Geniochs were known to the ancient world as pirates.
Aristotle argued that geniokhs were cannibals.
Early Middle
Ages
After a series of wars between Byzantium and Persia, which
were generally unsuccessful for Byzantium, Emperor Justinian managed
to sign an agreement in 562, according to which the Western Caucasus
fell under the influence of the Byzantine state. The military and
cultural influence of Byzantium on the Black Sea coast of the
Caucasus began.
It is Justinian who is credited by popular
tradition with Christianization, although in reality this happened a
little earlier. Thus, the name of Bishop Damian of the Zichs is
among the signatures of the Council of Constantinople in 526. At the
beginning of the 9th century, Egrisi-Lazika, together with the
intensified Abazgia, formed the Abkhazian kingdom. According to the
Georgian chronicles, King Leon II divided his kingdom into eight
principalities: Abkhazia proper, Tskhumi, Bedia, Guria, Racha and
Lechkhumi, Svanetia, Argveti and Kutaisi, Sochi was within the
eristaviate of Abkhazia. The period of the strongest direct
Byzantine influence on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus lasted
from the 6th to the beginning of the 8th century. In the second half
of the 8th century, while retaining its political influence,
Byzantium was forced to recognize the Abkhazian kingdom. In 844,
Byzantium, trying to regain dominance over the Abkhazian kingdom,
sent numerous troops by sea. But the Byzantine fleet was battered by
a storm even before the landing, and the troops that reached the
coast were defeated, losing a total of up to 40 thousand people.
After that, Byzantium abandoned its attempts to enslave the
Abkhazian kingdom.
By the middle of the X century. The
Abkhazian kingdom reaches the greatest expansion of its borders: it
covers the entire Western and a significant part of Eastern Georgia,
and in the north it extends along the Black Sea coast up to the
region of modern Anapa. In Lower Kartli, it reached the city of
Samshvilde, and also conquered the southern part of Tao-Klarjeti,
since 1008 the Abkhazian kingdom has been transformed into the
United Georgian Kingdom.
In the XI-XIII centuries. there is a
cultural upsurge in Georgia. This is the time of David the Builder
(1089-1125), the time of further active construction of temples both
in Georgia and in the Black Sea region. Georgian queen Tamara
(1184-1212), Rusudan (1212-1227) tried to strengthen their influence
among the Adygs by spreading Christianity. The name of Queen Tamara
was extremely popular among all the highlanders of the Caucasus.
Part of the Circassians were religiously subordinate to the Georgian
Church.
The earliest church on the territory of Sochi was a
basilica (a rectangular building elongated from west to east) on the
territory of the Southern Cultures state farm in Adler, which was
destroyed in 1954 during the construction of a water supply system.
Supposedly built in the 6th century. The monument was examined at
different times by the candidates of historical sciences L. N.
Solovyov and N. V. Anfimov. The earliest items that make it possible
to date the monument are pre-altar plates with carvings on both
sides. On one side of the slab, crosses with almost equal ends are
carved, similar in shape to those found in the excavations of the
Pitsunda temple. Based on this similarity, L.N. Solovyov dated the
construction of the monument to the 6th century. This definition is
confirmed by him also by the fact that the crosses are taken in a
rhombic frame and by the fact that the marble slabs are made of
Constantinopolitan marble. The most active construction of temples
unfolded in the X-XII centuries. It coincided with the peak of the
development of the Byzantine Empire and with the formation of a
centralized state in Georgia. The same period saw the flourishing of
caravan trade in the Caucasus. Quite often, researchers of the
history of Christianity in the Caucasus point to the proximity of
temples and monasteries to important trade routes and pass paths.
Temples in Khost, Lesnoy, Kashtany, Loo, on Mount Akhun, under
Mount Ephraim and others are attributed to the XI-XII centuries in
Sochi. The most remote from the coast temple in Deep Yar was
surrounded by a powerful fortress wall, which probably indicates
that deeper into the mountains, Christians were not treated very
kindly. Shortly after the division of the churches, Catholic
missionaries appeared in the Caucasus. To replace the Byzantines in
the XIII and XIV centuries. come the Genoese, who owned a number of
trading posts on the Black Sea coast. Kafa in the Crimea becomes the
center of their activity. The prefect of Kafa D'Ascoli sent the
missionary D. de Lucca to the Circassians. The Genoese colonization
also had some influence on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus. In
general, the medieval history of Sochi has been studied extremely
poorly and insufficiently.
transitional period
Until the
second half of the 19th century, on the territory of Greater Sochi -
from Vardane to the Kudepsta River - lived a warlike Caucasian
people - the Ubykhs. Their number, according to various estimates,
was 50-150 thousand people. Their main occupation was cattle
breeding, agriculture, gardening, slave trade, piracy. As a result
of the Russian-Turkish war of 1828-1829, according to the Adrianople
peace treaty, the entire eastern coast of the Black Sea from the
Kuban River to the St. Nicholas Pier, including the area of modern
Sochi, departs to the Russian Empire. In order to suppress the sale
of weapons to the highlanders and stop the slave trade within the
borders of the Russian Empire established by the Adrianople Peace
Treaty, fortifications of the Black Sea coastline were installed on
the coast. After the successful measures taken by Prince Baryatinsky
to pacify the mountaineers of the Western Caucasus, a movement of
"Muhajirs" unfolded throughout the region. Agitators from among the
fanatical Islamic clergy urged the highlanders to move to the
"fellow faith" Ottoman Empire. The result of this was the
depopulation of the entire Western Caucasus, the population of the
central and eastern Caucasus and Crimea was significantly reduced.
Whole villages left for Turkey. The resettlement was spontaneous. A
significant number of settlers died during it. At present, according
to rough estimates, there are up to 500 thousand descendants of the
Caucasian "Muhajirs" in Turkey, and the same number are scattered
throughout the countries of the Middle East and the Maghreb.
On June 24 (July 6), 1861, Alexander II issued a rescript addressed
to the chief ataman of the Kuban Cossack army, Adjutant General
Evdokimov, in which he very clearly outlined the course for the
complete expulsion of non-peaceful Circassians and the annexation of
their country. In the rescript, Alexander wrote:
“Now, with God's
help, the cause of the complete conquest of the Caucasus is close to
completion. There remain several years of persistent efforts to
completely oust the hostile highlanders from the fertile countries
they occupy and permanently establish a Russian Christian population
in these latter.
New time
The city of Sochi was founded on
April 21 (May 3), 1838 as Fort Alexandria. During the Caucasian War,
the fortification of the Holy Spirit was also founded on the
territory of present-day Sochi (in 1837, which laid the foundation
for the future Adler), forts Lazarevsky and Golovinsky (1839), which
later became the villages of Lazarevskoye and Golovinka. The purpose
of the fortifications is to suppress the slave trade and the
smuggling of weapons to the highlanders. In 1839, Fort Alexandria
was renamed Navaginskoye fortification. During the Crimean War, the
garrisons on the coast were taken to Novorossiysk, as the
Anglo-French squadron under the command of Admiral Edmund Lyons
entered the Black Sea. In 1864 the fortification was rebuilt as Post
Dakhovsky. From 1874 - Dakhovsky Posad, from 1896 - Sochi (after the
name of the Sochi River, on the banks of which the settlement
stood).
On September 15 (28), 1902, the first bathroom
building on Matsesta was opened. From December 28, 1905 (January 10,
1906) to January 5 (18), 1906, the Sochi Republic existed. On June
14 (27), 1909, the first resort, the Caucasian Riviera, was opened,
which is considered the beginning of Sochi as a resort. On April 23
(May 6), 1913, on the initiative of the Russian writer P. A.
Rossiev, the 75th anniversary was marked for the first time on the
day of the founding of Sochi. On this memorable date, at the expense
of Colonel L.F. Dolinsky, a monument was erected near the library
named after A.S. Pushkin. The following periodicals were published
in the suburb of Sochi: until 1917, Sochi Courier, Black Sea
Territory, Sochi Sheet, the Orthodox magazine Izvestia of the Sochi
St. Nicholas Brotherhood, after the February Revolution and during
the Civil War: Soldier and Worker "," Bulletin of the Kuban regional
government. In 1917 Sochi was given the status of a city. During the
Civil War, the city alternately came under the rule of the
Bolsheviks, Denikinists, the Georgian-Menshevik government, the
Committee for the Liberation of the Black Sea Governorate. The
preservation of the city of Sochi as part of Russia is de facto the
result of the military operations of the units of the Volunteer Army
of General A.I. Denikin in the fall of 1918 - in the winter of 1919,
who recaptured the city of Sochi, Adler, Gagra, and the entire
coastal territory captured in the spring of 1918 during the Sochi
conflict Georgia.
In April 1920, Soviet power was
established. After the Civil War, considerable attention is paid to
the development of the resort business in Sochi. On June 20, 1934,
the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee
decided:
2. Include mountains in the city limits. Sochi suburban
settlements: Areda, Nizhnyaya Razdolnaya, Novye Sochi and Sobolevka
with the surrounding lands of collective farms: named after
Budyonny, Krasny Semenovod and Nizhne-Razdolny; agricultural farm of
the OGPU, a rest house of the OGPU, a land plot of the Lenin
Agricultural Plant and the Sochi Fruit Experimental Station of
Subtropical Crops.
3. As an exception to the current legislation,
highlight the mountains. Sochi into an independent administrative
and economic unit with the subordination of the Sochi City Council
directly to the Azov-Chernomorsky Regional Executive Committee.
4. In connection with the allocation of mountains. Sochi in an
independent administrative and economic unit, the center of the
Sochi region to move to the village of Adler with the preservation
of the former name of the region.
In the 1930s, a new stage
in the history of the city began. In 1933, the government approved
the first Master Plan for the reconstruction of the Sochi-Matsesta
resort area. In 1934, the general reconstruction of the
Sochi-Matsesta resort began under the leadership of Alexander
Denisovich Metelev. The axis of the project was the Riviera-Matsesta
highway (later Stalinsky Prospekt, now Kurortny Prospekt). New
sanatoriums, an institute of balneology, theaters, and other
infrastructure are being created. Dachas are being built for state
leaders. In 1934, on the initiative of People's Commissar K. E.
Voroshilov, construction began on the project of M. I. Merzhanov,
personal architect of I. V. Stalin, the Bocharov Ruchey dacha, now
the official residence of the President of Russia. Four dachas were
built for I.V. Stalin, of which he most often visited Novaya
Matsesta (also built according to the project of Merzhanov; now
there is a museum in its former cinema hall). Since 1937 Sochi has
been part of the Krasnodar Territory.
On the eve of the Great
Patriotic War, 61 health resorts functioned in Sochi, and 51
hospitals were opened on their basis in December 1941. In total, 111
hospitals operated on the territory of Sochi during the Great
Patriotic War.
On August 27, 1948, Sochi becomes a city of
republican subordination, and on June 3, 1958, it returns to the
category of cities of regional subordination. At the same time,
Sochi retained its geographical telephone code, separate from the
rest of the Krasnodar Territory.
By decree of the Presidium
of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR in 1961, the territory of the
city of Sochi was significantly expanded by including the Adler and
Lazarevsky districts in the resort city. The resort stretched along
the coast from the village of Magri on the border with the Tuapse
region to the Psou River, along which at that time the border with
the Georgian SSR passed. 4 administrative districts of the city of
Sochi were created - Central, Khostinsky, Adlersky and Lazarevsky.
April 19, 1993 According to the Decree of the Council of Ministers
of the Russian Federation, the resort city of Sochi acquires the
status of a resort of federal significance.
In the 2010s,
Sochi acquires the functions of a "second capital" due to the
frequent visits of the President of Russia to the city and the many
ongoing international meetings and sports competitions.
On
February 1, 2020, the urban-type settlement of Sirius was allocated
from the territories subordinate to the Adlersky district of Sochi
in the Imeretinskaya lowland, which is planned to be separated from
Sochi and allocated to the new municipality of Sirius with the
status of an urban district.