KALYAN KUMAR MAHATA
The true appellation of Apu.
Sochi offers much for tourists to enjoy
©Getty Images (3), IOC (1)
31/01/2014
Sochi, situated on the south-west tip
of Russia and on the northern shore of the Black Sea, has long been the
nation’s most popular holiday resort, with visitors drawn to the warm
weather and palm-fringed avenues of a city that stands as far south as
Nice on the French Riviera.
“Sochi is a very special place, even for Russians,”
explains Russian Olympic swimming gold medallist and IOC Member
Alexander Popov. “For a very long time it has been regarded as one of
the most prestigious resorts in the country.”
While Sochi has long been regarded as a summer destination, thanks to
its seemingly endless pebble beaches, there are many other sights and
attractions for visitors to enjoy.
Popular parks include the Dendrarium, where visitors can take a cable
car to the top of the hill to enjoy panoramic views of the coast, and
Riviera Park, the biggest and most popular park in Sochi, which features
restaurants, bars, sports facilities, leisure centres and a cinema.
Other attractions include Sochi Art Museum, which features more than
5,000 pieces from myriad artistic styles.
Many visitors also make the trip to the observation tower at the top
of the 700-metre Mount Akhun, which is the highest point of the coastal
area and offers spectacular views of the local countryside. There are
also many ancient caves in the area around Sochi, with the most famous
being those in Vorontsovka village, in the Khosta district, which
consist of three interconnected cave complexes with a total length of
around 11km.
Sochi is also well known for its tea production, boasting some of the
most northerly plantations in the world. Many tourists choose to visit
the Dagomys Tea Plantation, where they enjoy a tea party in a
traditional wooden ‘izba’ (country log home), along with a performance
of Russian folk songs while drinking tea from a traditional Russia
‘samovar’.
During the Games, visitors will also be able to enjoy a number of
arts, ballet, music and theatre events as part of the conclusion of the
four-year Sochi 2014 Cultural Olympiad, which has so far attracted more
than three million spectators.
More than 5,000 artists from 70 regions of Russia will perform at
numerous venues around the two Games centres during Sochi 2014, and many
events will be free. Games-time performances will include a ballet
gala, throat singing from the Chukchi region in eastern Siberia,
lezginka dancing from Dagestan and traditional Kuban Cossack tunes.
Sochi Art Museum will also feature an exhibition charting the history of
sport in Russia and the favourite sporting pastimes of historical
Russian figures.
While the world-class sporting action will be the main attraction in
Sochi during the Games, the city is set to continue attracting more and
more visitors even once the Games have left town.
Currently, around one million people visit Sochi each year, although
that figure is expected to rise after the Games, when the city will
become a year-round destination thanks to the venues that have been
constructed and new transport and engineering infrastructure that have
been put in place. In addition, a total of 42 new hotels with 27,000
rooms have also been constructed.
After the Games, the Rosa Khutor Alpine Centre, for instance, will be
used to develop Russian winter sport and will also be the basis for the
main leisure and relaxation centre in Sochi, attracting tourists from
all over the world.
"The key achievement of the Sochi Winter Games will be that Sochi is
no longer regarded simply as a summer resort, but as a place where
people can visit all year round,” explained Sochi’s mayor, Anatoly
Pakhomov, last year. “Sochi has 300 days of sunshine a year. It has a
unique sub-tropical climate, so in March and April you can come skiing
here and still find people sunbathing on the coast. It can be 10 or 15
degrees below freezing in Krasnaya Polyana and 15 degrees on the
coastline.
"This is really a unique place. Sochi has always had the capacity to
be an all-round resort, not just the most popular Russian summer resort.
We never had the infrastructure or the conditions to make it happen
before – but the Winter Games have prompted us to take that
opportunity.”
