Thursday, October 14

Sochi, Russia. Sochi is the longest city in Europe stretching some 90 miles along the coast perched between the Black Sea and the Caucasus Mountains. It is an extremely popular resort area where both Czar Nicholas II and Joseph Stalin built dachas (vacation homes). Nearby (about 30 km from the port) is Dagomys which is the “tea capital” of Russia.

I took a tour to this tea capital. First, of course, we had to get through Sochi...easier said than done as the roads are narrow with traffic jams about every mile or so. Sochi is, however, a lovely, very green city with extensive botanical gardens, amusement parks, etc. It is also the site for the 2014 Winter Olympics. The actual venue for the Olympics will be about 20 km east of the city where construction is underway even now on the ice skating rinks, etc.

The roads, even in the city, are one long set of curves, many of 180 degrees or more. By some miracle our driver managed to negotiate them even while occasionally talking on his cell phone. Once out of the city, the curves got even steeper and curvier. Fortunately our driver did not receive any calls during this stretch.

As you can see from this photo, the scenery at the tea plantation is absolutely spectacular! We had a short stop for photos and a description of the tea industry here in Russia, then we went on up a one lane cobbled road to the very top of this particular mountain to a tea house. The tea house was about a quarter of a mile from where the bus parked, and the “road” to it was extremely rough underfoot and somewhat hilly, but I got there eventually. We were served strong black tea and a delicious bread with poppy seeds and sugar folded into it as you would find in a marble cake. There were also three kinds of jam and honey to go with it. The hike back out to the bus almost did me in, but I managed to make it.

According to our guide, we are only the fourth ship to stop at Socki this year. Prinsendam is the only ship of the Holland America fleet that can fit under the bridges at Istanbul to come into the Black Sea. This means that very few cruise ships come here.

We got back to the Sea Terminal (built during the Stalin era, and looks it) about 1:15 p.m. I spent a while sitting in a nice little park with a huge fountain and a rose garden which also included what appeared to be yucca plants in full bloom before hiking back out the pier to the ship.