This is a tough one! There was much possibility here. The city was charming and clean, with winding roads skirting the Black Sea, large pillared buildings, many of which were painted a sunny yellow. There were beautiful churches, concert halls, theaters, statues, museums, flowers, flowering trees, bridges lined with globed lampposts, the Caucasus Mountains on one side, the Black Sea on the other. An idyllic place to be! That’s the upside!!
Here’s the downside. This is Sochi, the site of the 2014 Winter Olympics and if they don’t get their tourism act together it will be a disaster. They don’t seem welcoming AT ALL. We were only permitted to leave the ship if we had purchased an expensive visa and had a personal escort, or if we were on a Holland America tour. No one was allowed to use the steps to go to the gangway; we had to use the elevators. They didn’t permit the ship to use two gangways and this created a backup because we were anchored offshore and had to use tender boats to get to shore. The Russians who were on board to stamp our passports would not work until they were fed by the ship and this added to the delay in getting the tours off the ship.
We were scheduled on a tour called Sochi Seaside and Spa. We were to meet at 1:30 for the tour and finally at 2:45 we were called to go down to the gangway. Since we all had to take the elevator, there was a bottleneck there and when we got downstairs we had to wait in line until a Russian agent stamped our passports and gave us a landing card. By the time we got to our tour bus, it was after 3PM. We were supposed to be back on the ship at 5:30 with the ship set to sail at 6PM, so our 3-hour tour would have to be cut short.
Our guide, Alla, spoke very bad English and the microphone on the bus wasn’t very efficient so many of us missed most of what she said. The one word we did understand was “sanitorium”. She said we were driving through the “sanitorium area”, and for many miles she pointed out sanitoriums on our left and our right. We were all looking at each other, wondering what she meant by the word “sanitorium”. Were they hospitals? Was there an outbreak of TB?
Finally we stopped in a pretty little valley by a large building that looked like a hotel. Alla said this was the “biological garden” and we were to get off the bus for a 30-minute look around. The smell of sulfur hit us in the face when we descended the steps of the bus and it was so strong that we almost gagged. There was a pool there that Alla told us was where people came to cure their sicknesses. It was called a “thermal” pool but the water was cold. It was called “thermal” because the skin turned red when immersed in the water. Again she used the word “sanitorium” and at that point we were getting the idea.
Then we walked into the big hotel-like building. It was one of the “sanitoriums” that we had heard so much about, and was like something out of a 1930’s movie. The main lobby of the building was beautifully appointed in marble, with overstuffed chairs and couches, but the treatment rooms were almost primitive. Here you could take the cure for arthritis, hernias, infertility and other ailments. In the Communist days the treatments were free, but now it is quite expensive, which might explain why there were no patients. Overall, it was an interesting place. Alla told us that there are 240 of these institutions in Sochi, a city of 500,000 people. This was our spa tour.
Alla then announced that it was so late that we wouldn’t be able to see the seaside. Instead we stopped at Riviera Park which was the focal point of the town. It was a Coney Island style park with rides for the and game booths and souvenir stands, but nothing was open for tourists and all the Americans, with money to spend, were frustrated because there was nothing for us to buy, not even a postcard.
So that was the end of our tour. Many people were unhappy about the day but my attitude is that we are in Russia and we have to accept what they have to offer. We hope George Bush will have a better experience; he will be here in 5 days for a meeting with President Putin.
We’re off to Sevastopol for a 7 hour tour of the Crimean Riviera tomorrow.
Here’s the downside. This is Sochi, the site of the 2014 Winter Olympics and if they don’t get their tourism act together it will be a disaster. They don’t seem welcoming AT ALL. We were only permitted to leave the ship if we had purchased an expensive visa and had a personal escort, or if we were on a Holland America tour. No one was allowed to use the steps to go to the gangway; we had to use the elevators. They didn’t permit the ship to use two gangways and this created a backup because we were anchored offshore and had to use tender boats to get to shore. The Russians who were on board to stamp our passports would not work until they were fed by the ship and this added to the delay in getting the tours off the ship.
We were scheduled on a tour called Sochi Seaside and Spa. We were to meet at 1:30 for the tour and finally at 2:45 we were called to go down to the gangway. Since we all had to take the elevator, there was a bottleneck there and when we got downstairs we had to wait in line until a Russian agent stamped our passports and gave us a landing card. By the time we got to our tour bus, it was after 3PM. We were supposed to be back on the ship at 5:30 with the ship set to sail at 6PM, so our 3-hour tour would have to be cut short.
Our guide, Alla, spoke very bad English and the microphone on the bus wasn’t very efficient so many of us missed most of what she said. The one word we did understand was “sanitorium”. She said we were driving through the “sanitorium area”, and for many miles she pointed out sanitoriums on our left and our right. We were all looking at each other, wondering what she meant by the word “sanitorium”. Were they hospitals? Was there an outbreak of TB?
Finally we stopped in a pretty little valley by a large building that looked like a hotel. Alla said this was the “biological garden” and we were to get off the bus for a 30-minute look around. The smell of sulfur hit us in the face when we descended the steps of the bus and it was so strong that we almost gagged. There was a pool there that Alla told us was where people came to cure their sicknesses. It was called a “thermal” pool but the water was cold. It was called “thermal” because the skin turned red when immersed in the water. Again she used the word “sanitorium” and at that point we were getting the idea.
Then we walked into the big hotel-like building. It was one of the “sanitoriums” that we had heard so much about, and was like something out of a 1930’s movie. The main lobby of the building was beautifully appointed in marble, with overstuffed chairs and couches, but the treatment rooms were almost primitive. Here you could take the cure for arthritis, hernias, infertility and other ailments. In the Communist days the treatments were free, but now it is quite expensive, which might explain why there were no patients. Overall, it was an interesting place. Alla told us that there are 240 of these institutions in Sochi, a city of 500,000 people. This was our spa tour.
Alla then announced that it was so late that we wouldn’t be able to see the seaside. Instead we stopped at Riviera Park which was the focal point of the town. It was a Coney Island style park with rides for the and game booths and souvenir stands, but nothing was open for tourists and all the Americans, with money to spend, were frustrated because there was nothing for us to buy, not even a postcard.
So that was the end of our tour. Many people were unhappy about the day but my attitude is that we are in Russia and we have to accept what they have to offer. We hope George Bush will have a better experience; he will be here in 5 days for a meeting with President Putin.
We’re off to Sevastopol for a 7 hour tour of the Crimean Riviera tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment