BLACK SEA, SUDANS, ETHIOPIA 2013: 3 - Abkhazia, Sochi, Novorossiysk, Russia

Monday, October 21, 2013

Today started with a gathering in the show lounge to assign tenders to be taken to shore, as for some reason we anchored out of the harbour. The stay in Sochi had been shortened by 4 hours - we were not certain we could make it back to the ship in time for the last tender at 6 PM, so we took backpacks with basic gear in case we had to make our own way to Novorossiysk, the next port of call about 400 km away. We had made prior arrangement to be on the first tender in, and managed to get off first to avoid a lineup for Russian passport control. Our guide and driver, arranged by My Excursions were waiting for us.

In Sochi there was a lot of construction going on only a few months before the opening of the winter Olympics. Highways were being improved, causing massive traffic jams, and many buildings were not yet completed. We drove through the nearly complete Olympic village and media area, which is close to the Abkhazia border and about 25 km from Sochi. There is a second Olympic Village in the already snow covered mountains, connected to the airport and Sochi by a new high speed train..

At the border we had little trouble exiting Russia, but the immigration official for the non-country of Abkhazia said we had to drive the the capital about 140 miles away to get a visa stamp. As they are a breakaway province, technically still part of Georgia, they have no foreign service and are accessed only through Russia. Our guide Vasily, had a talk with the head guy, who told the official to let us through. The whole "country" has a population of only 100,000, but apparently does well on tourism, mostly from Russians enjoying the semi tropical climate and beaches.

Traffic was much less in Abkhazia We made a lot of stops, one of which had a still functioning Christian Church built in the 2nd century AD, stone barracks that held Russian troops during the Crimean and Turkish wars, one of Stalin's fully furnished country houses beautifully finished in exotic woods without the use of nails and a number of beaches and parks. Due to the limited number of people there was lots of forest and open space. The mountains almost reach the sea along this beautiful coast. Near the beaches are a lot of palm trees - not something generally associated with Russia. By Costa Rica standards the beaches were OK but not great.

After driving a considerable distance Vitalia, the driver, suggested a restaurant he knew for lunch. It was a small, well built wood building on a river with a wood fireplace. I had a local beer, and Marilynn a local white wine, both of which were very good. We had a hearty soup with lots of beef, then shish ka babs, both cooked over the open fire, home made cheese and bread. It was a fabulously delicious meal. Both Vasily and Vitalia spoke some English, and were fun travel companions, full of stories and information.

It was getting late, so we enquired about air or train travel from Sochi to Novorossiysk only to find that neither existed. It seemed the only alternative was a bus or taxi, neither a particularly appealing thought, so we encouraged the driver to get going to get us to the ship. He drove very slowly, and we were becoming pretty antsy as car after car went whipping past us. We suspected that the van had no brakes, as he used only the emergency brake to stop, something that may have caused the excess caution.

When we arrived at Abkhazian immigration a different official told us we couldn't leave without a visa stamp and would have to drive back to the capital to get one. After what seemed like ages, a bribe was paid and we were allowed to proceed. Vasily, who paid the bribe, said almost everyone going through was being forced to pay. Corruption is alive and well! Russian immigration was very slow. After waiting in line we were sent back to fill out entry cards, which one of the agents helped us with, and then had to start again at the end of the line. When we thought we were finished the van was turned back at the final barrier as Vitalia had neglected to get a required stamp on the car form.

At this point it looked like a long, expensive taxi ride would be inevitable, hope of reaching the dock in time was fading, and when we hit a barely moving traffic jam, we were certain we were done for. The guide kept saying we have time, and the driver continued to plod along several car lengths behind the vehicle in front, allowing dozens of cars in front of us while he happily chatted and told stories.

When we pulled up to the port terminal we had three minutes to get through immigration to the last tender. I asked Vasily to try to talk his way onto the dock to keep the tender from leaving until we cleared immigration, so we hit the ground running. As we neared the entrance the staff member who helped us get to shore early called out to say no hurry - one of the buses had been caught in traffic and was a few minutes behind us. A tall strong drink was in order when we finally got on board!

The city of Sochi seems a fairly pleasant place. The population is about 343.300, and the climate sub-tropical. In the background are high snow capped peaks where much of the winter Olympics will be held. In summer it is swamped by Russians on holiday, or going to one of its many spas and health resorts. It is known as the "Summer Capital" of Russia due to the number of top politicians from Moscow that join some two million Russians here. The city, with a coast line of 145 km (90 miles), claims to be the longest city in Europe. Besides hosting the winter Olympics next year, Sochi will be one of the host cities for the 2018 World Cup football and the Russian Formula 1 Grand Prix from 2014 to 2020.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013 - Novorossiysk, Russia

Once again the immigration formalities were difficult. We had double entry Russian visas, but they counted the double entry as once from the ship into Russia at Sochi, and then again on the return from Abkhasiza. In the end common sense prevailed and the boss decided to let us into the city anyhow. This is the country's main port on the Black Sea and the biggest for grain exportation. It is an industrial city noted for cement, wood processing, food and steel industries. The district is one of the principal wine making centres in Russia.

The city does not offer much to a tourist, although it was very clean with wide, treed boulevards and pleasant parks. We walked around the streets, but could buy little as no currency other than Russian roubles are accepted here. We were able to make some purchases by credit card, though.

We found a small, nicely done restaurant and went in for lunch. The menu was fabulous - duck, quail, lamb, pork, beef and about everything else were featured on the multi-page English language menu they presented us, which we studied while downing drinks - beer for me, of course. We ended up ordering four courses of Caucasian food, one at a time, accompanied by the excellent local wine over the next 5 hours.

Part way through the afternoon a Russian couple sat down opposite our table, and as he spoke English we got into conversation. He had a Cessna 182 aircraft, which he has flown on all the routes where we drove the Rolls Royce - a complete circumnavigation of the world, and from Alaska to the south of Chile and Argentina and back. As he was celebrating his wife's birthday we were soon making toasts and singing happily together. We were in truly fine form when we arrived back at immigration - our loud arrival in very high spirits had the officials processing us very quickly. In the morning we checked our restaurant bill to find we had 22 large glasses of wine in addition to the beer, and the bottle of wine our Russian friend bought us! It was a wonderfully rowdy night, but fairly quickly to bed on our return.

Tomorrow we will enter the Ukraine for three ports of call.