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As a nice change of pace, the southern city of Sochi, with it's long, languid sandy beaches set on the black sea and its famous film and music festivals, is the unofficial summer capital of Russia. To set off the beautiful subtropic climate, Sochi is also located at the base of the Caucasus Mountains, which make for perfect winter sports.
Sochi became popular when Joseph Stalin built his summer resort here, which has now become a museum open to the public, and it's still today a popular summer resort for Russian leaders.
When not lounging on the beach or swimming in the ocean, you can find healing in the many mineral springs, which make Sochi home to popular spa resorts, such as the Matsesta sulphur springs, known as "the path of lucky springs," which gave way to effective spa treatments for health and healing. Walking is considered an important part of health and treatment, so spa doctors recommend their patients to take daily walks along the long, beautiful walking paths of Sochi -- such as the Coastal Public path and Sochi Eagle Rocks path.
The reason that Sochi is most popular for its natural sites is because a huge proportion of the city is actually a national park, known as the Caucasian State Biosphere Reserve. This national park holds beautiful waterfalls -- such as the Agura waterfalls and Orehovskiy waterfalls -- as well as mysterious caves -- such as the elaborate and complex Vorontsov Caves and the Akhshtyrskaya Cave, which have traces of Europe's first ancestors, the Cro-Magnon men. And Sochi's parks, botanical gardens, and arboretums hold the most rare and exotic species of tropical flora in Russia -- around 1,500 different species.
Sochi also has the only tea plantation in Russia and the northernmost tea plantation in the world. Here you can try Russia's home-grown teas overlooking the spectacular Black Sea. And if you want to visit some interesting fauna, don't forget to take a tour of Sochi's large trout farm and it's spectacular dolphinarium and aquatheater.
Surprisingly, despite the low latitude, Sochi has been chosen to host the 2014 winter olympic games. This will bring many changes to the city, as the government will spend billions on preparing it for the games. It has also created some controversy for the region -- which has been part of three major wars, the Crimean War, the Russo-Turkish Wars, and the Caucasian War -- the latter war causing genocide against the Circassian people, whose home was Sochi, until they were forcibly removed by the Russians of that time.
Having the olympics during the 150th commemorative year of the Circassian Genocide has become a sensitive issue, as the Russian government has yet to take responsibility for the genocide of the Circassian's ancestors and the Circassians believe that when the Olympic Village is built, it will be essentially covering over the memory of this ugly past.
Facts about Sochi
Sochi is located on the banks of the Black Sea and is the southernmost site of Winter Olympics, ever.
Although named in ancient times Pontus Exinus, 'The Inhospitable Sea', the Black Sea proves that name completely unjustified. Today it hosts hundreds of resorts and makes the perfect holiday destination for anyone seeking sun and sea. Far and away, the most popular spot for Russians is Sochi, often known as 'the Black Sea pearl'. Warm climate, legendary spa waters, beneficial air, and the city's unique mountain backdrop attract millions of Russian and foreign tourists to Russia's unofficial summer capital.
Sochi was the most popular summer resort in the Soviet Union.
What makes Sochi that bit special is that you can swim in warm sea waters, sunbathe and laze on the beach in the morning and then head off in the afternoon up into the mountains for some great skiing in Krasnaya Polyana (Red Valley) - or simply play with snowballs and make snow angels. Amazingly, the balmy beach resort of Sochi will actually host the he Winter Olympics in 2014. The humid subtropical climate keeps waters of the Black Sea amazingly warm from April through October, yet just a few hours away the mountains, which protect the city from cold winds, are well-covered enough with snow for top-class skiing on well-groomed pistes right through until late May.
Sochi is the longest city in the world - 90 miles.
Sochi is an ideal destination for a relaxing holiday. The sandy, pebbly beaches of Sochi are not wide, but they are very long and there are countless seaside activities to entertain you, from scuba diving and water-skiing to para-gliding and hang-gliding. And there are aqua-parks and funfairs by the dozen. No wander, then, that young Russians and families flock here by the thousand in July and August - which is why it is worth coming in June, if you can, to beat the crowds. But there is much more to Sochi than a beach holiday.
Sochi is re-discovering itself after a decade-long pause.
Sochi is a big, bustling city and at night it resounds to the beat of lively cafes and casinos bars and clubs pumping out music - anything from Russian ballads to the latest Western hits. But there is a more sophisticated side to Sochi, too, with many concert halls, theatres, and museums. Especially worth visiting are the Sochi Museum of Fine Arts -- which boasts more than 3000 exhibits of Russian and foreign painting, sculpture, and handcrafts, the Town Museum -- which holds the Soyuz 9 space capsule, the Mikhail Archangel Cathedral -- built to commemorate the end of Caucasian War of 1864, and the beautiful arboretum, where 1500 species of rare and exotic trees are laid out in Japanese, Mexican, English or other ethnic styles.
A real gem is the 'Tea Cottages' in Uch-Dere village. Here Russian tea is grown on the most northern plantations in the world. From the cottage terraces you can enjoy a breathtaking panoramic view over the Black Sea, and you sit here sipping pungent and flavoured tea brewed in smoking samovars, while tasting appetizing pies, blini, and jam - all to the soothing sound of Russian traditional songs. No wonder Russian Ex President Vladimir Putin and German Ex Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder often drop in on this place!
If you just want calm, natural beauty, Sochi has that too. Not far away are spectacular landscape features such as the Orekhovskiy waterfall, the Salvation Cave, Tiger's Cave, the romantically named Lakes of Love, Dragon's Jaws, canyon Devil's Gates and the Eagle Rocks, Agoura Waterfalls and Greater Akhoun Mountain.
You can get to Sochi by air, train or boat.
Getting to Sochi is surprisingly easy. There are daily flights from Moscow and from some other major cities like St. Petersburg. You can catch a train from Moscow, too, but it is a long journey, taking up to 30 hours. You can also get there during the summer by daily boats from Trabzon in Turkey or Bakumi in Georgia. Once you get there, there is a wealth of hotels to suit all pockets -- from the luxurious Hotel Lazurnaya, to the cheap and cheerful Hotel Sochi.
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