When you look from a distance at the domes of the Olympic Park stadiums in Sochi, surrounded by a triple ring of fences, you quickly forget that this is a space for sports competitions and a symbol of the success of the new Russia. Broken eggshells come to mind. Now the omelette seems to have been eaten to the last crumb, and the Radio Liberty correspondent, having visited Sochi, fully felt the aftertaste.
I arrived in Sochi on a double-decker train; this train, running on the Moscow-Adler route, was specially launched for the Olympic Games. It is still possible to get to the south on it, and for exactly the same money as from Moscow to St. Petersburg, despite the distance being twice as long. Leaving the comfortable carriage, in which I could use, albeit slowly, but still working wireless Internet along the way, I did not believe that I was in Russia. On one side is the sea embankment behind a chain of palm trees. On the other is a huge, shiny station building in the shape of a wing. And in the distance behind him are snowy mountain peaks.
From a special machine I purchased a ticket for the Lastochka train to the Olympic Village station for 17 rubles. A few minutes later, a silent Siemens carriage was taking me towards post-Olympic Sochi.
MIRLNY VILLAGE – STATE FARM “RUSSIA”
I stayed in the village of Mirny, one of the suburbs of Adler in the Imereti Lowland, surrounding the Olympic Park. Mirny is separated from the sea by brand new Olympic facilities, which means a dozen three-meter-high fences. Neat fences - made of boards, metal mesh, barbed wire - are the first thing that catches your eye. “Fenced edge,” the locals joke. The time is still early, around 9 am, and there are almost no people on the streets
Passers-by. Occasionally there are people who look more like visiting workers than local residents or tourists. A couple of times I see women with strollers. In the shade of nice wooden fences, the same throughout the village, dogs are resting - it is not clear whether they are domestic or stray. All buildings have been recently renovated, every third one was built just a year or two ago. The roofs of most houses are the same brown-red color. On many gates there is a sign: “For sale.”
We meet with Viktor Kobylin, an enterprising local resident, a public representative of one of the neighborhoods in the village of Mirny. Victor is a large, fair-haired man who looks more like a Siberian than a Sochi resident. It turns out that he was born in the Far East, studied in Omsk, and has only lived here for the last ten years.
I share with Kobylin my first, quite favorable impressions.
– I agree, at least they built excellent roads. Gas will probably be provided eventually. They built a thermal power plant in Adler - problems with electricity almost stopped. The village has become much cleaner, although before construction began it was greener. All that remains is to remove the various black touches. The administration should end the euphoria that they were not dispersed, and they should take care of our problems.
A sprinkler passes by, washing away dust from the asphalt path. It was impossible to imagine such a thing in the village just a few years ago, and there was nothing special to wash.
Kobylin is clearly an optimist, and an active optimist at that. As it turns out, there are plenty of black little things, it’s just that some of them are hiding behind brand new fences, while others are literally buried in the ground. Even at the beginning of the Olympic construction, the village, which was preparing to receive hordes of Games guests, was promised sewerage and gas. Gas pipes are connected, they stick out of the ground in almost every house. But there is no gas in them. “The gas workers were in a hurry, and as a result the pipe was simply laid incorrectly,” explains Kobylin. – When the test pressure was given, the pipe began to level out and float due to vibration. In some places it is located at a depth of 20-30 centimeters from the road surface, and according to the standard it should be buried almost two meters. That’s why they don’t give us gas - they don’t understand how it will work. Gas comes to our distribution station in the village, but it doesn’t go further because it’s simply dangerous.”
Now Kobylin expects that “smart people will think about how to fix this,” and, hopefully, local residents will be able to heat their homes not only with wood, diesel fuel and electric heaters. By the way, during the Olympic Games it was forbidden to heat with wood, so that the smoke coming from the chimneys would not spoil the decent picture. But the lack of sewerage could only spoil the atmosphere: in Mirny there is still a specific smell in some places. Unlike gas pipes, sewer pipes were not laid at all.
“The initial project was prepared by an organization from Rostov that deals with some kind of nanotechnology,” says Kobylin. – We wanted to make some kind of special vacuum sewer, because we are located in the lowlands, below sea level. We thought for a long time, then we realized that there was not enough money in the budget for this. As a result, the project was finally closed a year ago. What now - I don’t know, maybe there is a sewerage system on paper, maybe it was reported somewhere that it was built. I have no doubt that this is so.
From Kobylin’s point of view, the problem is not even that the promised sewerage system does not exist. What angers him much more is that the residents of Mirny were fed with promises until the very last moment. People built large houses, hotels with 3-4 floors. It is simply impossible to service these without a central sewer system: the only reasonable alternative, a septic tank, requires careful control of the drainage, into which detergents and toilet paper should not fall. How to achieve such accuracy from hotel residents? As a result, most owners pour dirty water directly into the drainage system; So,
Apparently, they do it in my hotel, too, judging by the aroma spreading from the open hatch for some reason right there on the corner. From the drainage, wastewater flows into nearby lakes - wintering grounds for migratory birds - and from there into the Black Sea. In itself, such a system is not something unprecedented for Russian seaside resorts, but Kobylin explains that in the Imereti Lowland, located four meters below sea level, it is especially dangerous: “Drainage pipes become clogged and stop letting groundwater in. In three or four years, after a good rainfall, the village of Mirny will simply drown. Of course, the management will say: they shit in the drainage, so it’s their own fault. Where else to shit? The alarm needs to be sounded now. And who will do this if everything is already over, everyone has reported and the picture from the helicopter is beautiful?”
Sounding the alarm would not be enough for the energetic Kobylin. Looking out of his window onto the street at the end of 2012, he noticed that the gas pipes had already been laid, nothing was being dug under the sewer pipes, and at the same time they were going to lay asphalt. He realized that the Rostov vacuum nanosewage system was preparing to share the fate of many other innovative projects and remain, at best, a beautiful drawing, and sent a request to the local administration. The answer was extremely cynical: for such and such reasons there will be no sewerage system, but if you want it, build it yourself.
To my chuckle, Kobylin replies: “Why are you laughing? That's exactly what we did."
Having agreed with the owners of houses in his part of Mirny, Victor, with the help of a former classmate at the Omsk Automobile and Road Institute, made a sewer network project, and within several months, “opening the doors of offices with a horn,” in his own words, he received numerous approvals. As a result, over the summer and part of the fall of 2013, residents installed a private sewer network. The planned Olympic asphalt was already laid on top of it, and now in the right half of Mirny, when looking from the sea, the air is much fresher than in the left.
I look at photographs that chronicle the construction in detail. Kobylin, who in some photographs stands in person at the bottom of a ditch with a shovel in his hands, apparently carries this photo album in his car all the time. There really is something to be proud of. I ask how fair it is that part of the village is now in a better position. “If we had been warned earlier that there would be no sewage system, we would have reached an agreement with the entire village and would have built a network for everyone ourselves. Now we are ready to sell our sewer system to the administration so that they can continue to build it for everyone, at the price at which it cost us - it’s definitely cheaper than if they had built it themselves. But so far no one is having such conversations with us.”
Construction cost each of the cooperators approximately 185 thousand rubles. A lot of money, but many here, apparently, thanks to the holiday season and the wonderful climate that allows them to harvest three vegetable crops a year, could afford it. “People here have the opportunity to live a little better than in many other places in Russia,” says Kobylin. “And we have a little more time to think about how we live, and how we can make our lives better.” For him, the Olympic Games mean an opportunity for change that should be taken advantage of, regardless of the incompetent government. “I do this to my guys.” and said at the meeting: if the Olympics had not happened, Mirny would never have become so beautiful. Beautiful on the outside. Inside, this is a different question. Inside, a lot needs to be changed. And we will change, and we will start doing it from below. It must happen in our heads changes, and then we will put pressure on management and get from them what we need.”
State Farm “Russia” is another village in the Imereti Lowland, it is located behind the Olympic Park, right on the seashore not far from the border with Abkhazia. Unlike Mirny, “Russia” has its own section of the beach, and with it its own problems.
Here we meet local environmentalist and social activist Natalya Kalinovskaya. I tear Natalya away from her conversation with the man in overalls - this is a representative of the responsible economic service who came at Kalinovskaya’s request to inspect the clogged storm drains. Kalinovskaya makes him lean straight towards the drainage holes, showing leaves, candy wrappers and empty plastic bottles packed under the bars. She has the loud and energetic voice of a person who is confident in her rightness and accustomed to defending her opinion. Clogged drains can lead to flooding - the most feared and most likely disaster here in the lowlands. Having dealt with the water utility, Kalinovskaya drops into the house for an impressive stack of documents and takes me on a tour of the village. Almost everything that catches my eye is criticized: here are the gas pipes that are already familiar to me, in which there is no gas (Kalinovskaya claims that the Olympic flame burned “from a cylinder,” although I am inclined to think that this is a local myth). Here are wooden pillars installed instead of old reinforced concrete ones. Here
Drying cypress trees, new asphalt laid close to their trunks. Here are yellowing palm trees, stuck, as the ecologist explains, directly into a two-meter layer of crushed stone and sand, which was used to fill the lowlands for the construction of Olympic facilities. Judging by the story, for almost every tree, for every flowerbed and piece of sidewalk, Kalinovskaya, at the head of a group of local residents, fought tooth and nail, and sometimes this struggle ended in victory. Here, as in Mirny, at first glance it is very clean and cozy; I can only notice the shortcomings after prompting. However, I guess that it was precisely for the sake of this first positive impression that everything was done.
We go out to the central square. Around the brand new but non-working fountain, teenagers with toy pistols are running after each other. Elderly women are sitting on a bench.
– Are you admiring the fountain? - Kalinovskaya calls out to them, who seems to know all the local residents without exception.
– Yes, Natasha, we just wanted to talk to you about him. We come here every single day, but it doesn't work. Well, at least watch it once!
– And this gift to us from the governor, a singing and dancing fountain, costs eight million rubles. To turn it on - there's a special booth - guys from Krasnodar must come, we don't have such smart ones here. They press the button and it starts working. This is if there is a holiday or someone important is coming. Very beautiful, by the way!
“Well, we can’t find these boys,” the women get upset.
In general, there is a special attitude towards Krasnodar residents here: according to local views, it is not so much the distant Moscow government that is to blame for all troubles, but the middle link, most often at the level of the administration of the Krasnodar region. A mythology has developed according to which somewhere there, in Krasnodar, the full-flowing financial Olympic Amu Darya diverged to irrigate the pockets of officials and businessmen, never reaching the Imereti Lowland.
Having learned that I am a journalist, the grandmothers immediately report that someone worked on the construction of stadiums and built “two two-story and one four-story” here on the state farm. This “someone,” of course, is from the outside, while the locals were left with only debts - people took out loans from banks to get a hotel license for 200-300 thousand rubles, and much fewer guests came to the Olympics than they expected.
– Has there been a season in recent years? - I ask.
“It’s been four years since I’ve been gone.”
- Will it happen this year?
– Have you turned on the TV at all lately? There they send everyone to Crimea, but here in Sochi everything is supposedly very expensive, everything is for the rich.
Vladimir Putin said exactly this during a recent direct line: “After all, you yourself said that world-class and high-level hotels were built in Sochi. This means that there will be different categories of vacationers in Crimea and Sochi. In Crimea, the infrastructure is designed for people with low incomes; they will not be able to afford luxury hotels in Sochi.” The president’s words fit into the stereotype, because of which many Russians did not even seriously think about going to their home Olympics. At the same time, residents of Mirny and the Rossiya state farm convinced me that during the Olympic Games it was possible to stay here without any problems for a rather modest amount of 500 to 1,500 rubles per day per person. In a normal summer season, you can spend the night for 250.
After briefly discussing the gas problem (the grandmothers heard on TV that it would be supplied in the summer, but Kalinovskaya refuses to believe it), we say goodbye and go to the embankment.
In my opinion, the word “embankment” is more consistent with the city bank of the Neva or Moscow River. I can imagine the sea embankment in Odessa or Nice. At the seaside state farm “Russia” you expect to see a beach. However, there is no beach here anymore.
A narrow strip - about five meters wide - of pebbles and stones separates the sea from the gentle concrete slope. At the top there is a pedestrian road with benches and lanterns, and a red bicycle path is marked along it. In all this heat, even at 22 degrees in April, there is not a single tree on the stone structure.
“And here we had a hundred-meter beach,” Kalinovskaya ironically points to the concrete slide.
- Why was this built? For beauty?
“This beauty is washed away by the sea every time.” When there is a storm, everything here is covered in stones, these benches hang on those trees, and then the Ministry of Emergency Situations pumps out water in the village.
– Where will people rest now?
– Walk along the embankment
– Where can we put umbrellas and sunbeds?
- That's all. Walk or lie on concrete at 37 degrees in the shade.
The clean pebble beach was a competitive advantage of “Russia”, distinguishing the village from most coastal resorts. If in Sochi almost the entire coastline is divided between hotels and sanatoriums, then the Imereti coast, from the mouth of the Mzymta to the border river Psou, was famous for its wide public beach, for which many tourists stopped here, thirty kilometers from the temptations of the big city. The embankment on a concrete embankment, however, was erected not only for decorative purposes: the cargo port built at the mouth of the Mzymta, which served the construction of the Olympic Park facilities, was stopped
Washing of river pebbles onto the shoreline. Without this natural process, the entire Imereti lowland, and with it the stadiums, risked being washed away into the sea. The multi-kilometer embankment should serve as protection from storm waves, but, according to Kalinovskaya, it copes with this function poorly. Alternative projects that use world experience in the construction of such structures, the ecologist is sure, could preserve the beach and provide reliable protection to the lowlands. “We are not against beauty, we are normal, adequate people. We're just saying it could have been done differently. Leave the beach at its width and then make two-tier terracing. It would be cheaper, and no one would be washed away - neither people nor the embankment. You see, a natural monument of world significance, protected by UNESCO - here it is, filled with concrete. But no one listens to us, we are locals, we are fools.”
“We know how to paint our lips,” Natalya sums up. “I said right away: they’ll catch up with the bears and gypsies, play the balalaika, treat them to caviar and pour vodka.” And so it happened. They say it right on TV, people, go to Crimea before they mess it up. They are happy there now, and then, like us, they will live at the construction site for three or four years.
The sun is rapidly sliding into the sea, the screams of the youth resting on a narrow rocky strip near the shore are becoming louder, and the sound of broken glass is heard. Kalinovskaya decisively takes out her phone and dials the number of the district police officer:
- Darling, have you been to the beach lately? Come on in, otherwise our beautiful youth have gotten naughty.
I ask if she’s not too strict: Friday evening, south, sea, and no one seems to be fighting yet.
“They’re not fighting yet, and they’re not drowning anyone yet.” And at least let them clean up after themselves and take care of at least the good things that are left.
Kalinovskaya sets off home with a firm gait, along the way greeting everyone she meets and discussing in whose pockets the village gas could have ended up. I decide to walk straight along the embankment to the Olympic Park to finally see the stadiums familiar from sports broadcasts without looking through the fence. The area is quite crowded: rare off-season tourists, local fishermen rushing on bicycles to the pier for the evening bite, athletes (apparently undergoing some kind of training here) on evening jogging. I pass the pier, gradually there are fewer and fewer passers-by, and a disgustingly familiar three-meter fence grows on the right. Soon the Olympic venues appear behind it. I hope that somewhere in this fence there will be a wicket or gate leading to the desired Olympic Park, I walk a kilometer or two and come to a dead end: right in front of me, the same fence crosses the embankment and goes into the sea. On the left, the waves of the Black Sea crash against the stones; on the right, behind a high fence, the famous Olympic fountain dances to Tchaikovsky's waltz. I turn around and wander back along the alley of half-dried palm trees stuck into the dusty gravel, until the pier, illuminated by fishing lanterns, like a Christmas tree with a Christmas garland, appears in the distance again.
The Olympic Park was built exactly where I once loved to walk and next to the bay in which I always swam in splendid isolation.
Several times I tried to go the same route and find my once favorite place. Almost succeeded.
The picture during the day, to put it mildly, is nothing - glass, concrete and asphalt with rare splashes of greenery. However, the pre-sunset sun works wonders, and if you are going to take a walk there, then go in the late afternoon. At the end of the post there will be before pictures, and now some recent photos with explanations.
For starters, an inspiring view of the sea from the large ice palace
Exactly in this place there was an emerald green plain and reeds above my 172 (the only Colchis swamps in Russia - a stopping place for migratory birds and one of the key ornithological territories of Russia).
Now the tile is vibrating under my feet (I never found out the reason for the vibration), and a view of 3 buildings:
On the left is a large ice palace, on the right is the Shayba ice arena, and Fisht stadium is farthest in the center.
The stadium received its name from the mountain peak of the same name in the western part of the Main Caucasus Range (translated from the Adyghe language the word “fisht” means “white head”)
Mountain View. The painted hangar on the right is the back of Fisht Stadium. Do you see the trees behind the tourists? This is an Old Believer cemetery fenced with a high fence, it is located between the Fisht stadium and the torch square.
Sea view from the same place.
Directly ahead are new houses on Parusnaya Street; there used to be a holiday village there.
Another view of the sea.
Reflection of the sunset in the large ice palace. Its glazing has a secret. During the day, the glass is mirrored and nothing but the reflection of the surrounding space is visible there. As soon as it starts to get dark, the mirror properties gradually disappear and you can already look inside.
View of the sea from the inside, a very futuristic building.
View from the end, a sectional view of the wall of the large ice palace, so to speak). These metal laces are lined with glass on the outside and are part of the supporting structure for the stadium roof.
And a couple of photos from the past.
The Imereti lowland (2006), untouched by construction, look at the color of the sea in the lower left corner, there was the cleanest water in the Sochi region. Photo taken
Now this place looks like this, there is simply no greenery. Photo from here
The same place in 2010, the construction site has already been completed, surrounded by a fence... and carefully guarded!
I wonder from whom? There were several such installations around the construction site.
There will be no conclusions yet; I have shown you only a tiny piece of a huge territory. To be continued, as well as my personal opinion about what we lost and what we gained.
As they say, don't switch.
The forest is being cut down and the chips are flying. This Russian proverb becomes relevant every time important government construction projects come into contact with the daily lives of the country's residents. Global construction projects of the 20th century destroyed many unique topographical objects. Many towns, villages, monasteries, temples, and ancient necropolises perished in obscurity.
Thus, during the creation of the Ivankovo reservoir, more than 100 settlements were flooded, including the ancient city of Korcheva. Under the pretext of flooding, many churches were blown up, including a unique Old Believer church in the village of Kuznetsovo (now Konakovo), which you can read more about on our website.
Nowadays, serious changes in the historical landscape have occurred in Imereti Lowland, located near Sochi, in the construction zone of sports facilities for the 2014 Winter Olympics.
The history of the Imereti Lowland is connected with the Old Believers, in particular, the “Nekrasovites”. They appeared in Russia at the beginning of the 18th century, were persecuted for two centuries and were forced to leave for the possessions of Turkey. After the revolution of 1905-1907. they returned to their homeland. The first place of their settlement was the Sochi district of the Black Sea province - the least developed among other districts. As local historians point out, by inviting the Nekrasovites, the authorities pursued a specific goal - to oust the Turks from fishing and, most importantly, to stop smuggling from Turkey, disguised as cabotage (coastal shipping). And the Nekrasovites were not only good farmers and hunters, but also excellent fishermen and coasters.
Old Believers settled in Matrosskaya Shchel (near Golovinka), in Imereti Bay and Babuk-Aul. Most of the Sochi Old Believers by the mid-20s. XX century left for the uninhabited Don lands. The reasons were the lack of suitable land for farming, infertile soils, difficult living conditions in the mountainous zone, and increased tax pressure. By the end of 1926, the Old Believers remained only in Imereti Bay.
The uniqueness of the Imereti Lowland was recognized by the tsarist government, in 1911 assigning it the status of a specially protected natural zone. Here are the only areas of Colchis wetlands in Russia with unique flora and fauna. Imeretinka is home to many rare species of plants, birds and animals.
For the 2014 Winter Games, the Olympic Park (central stadium and five ice palaces, as well as a media center) was built in the Imereti Lowland. The construction of the Olympic Park in 2008 caused serious conflicts with the local population - Old Believers and Cossacks living in the area, which even led to violent clashes and arrests.
Fortunately, both sides found patience and restraint to avoid tragic developments. Residents of the area received compensation to build themselves housing in a new location. In 2010, three sites for new construction were allocated in the Adlersky district, the rest will be developed in the Khostinsky and Central districts.
It is interesting that part of the Old Believer cemetery remained from the ancient village, which was preserved by the builders. However, this cemetery is practically invisible from the ground. A passerby who does not know about its existence can walk a few meters from the ancient necropolis and not notice it. Access to the cemetery is open, and former residents of the Imereti Valley can visit it.
Chairman of the Old Believer community Dmitry Drofichev now he says: “As a result, the Old Believers’ village of Morlinsky was moved a kilometer higher from the sea. But it was not possible to raze the cemetery to the ground: the people blocked the road for the bulldozers with their breasts.”
Today we are publishing unique photographs of the Old Believer necropolis of the Imereti Valley, taken by blogger Alexey Nadezhdin and photographer
01. Torch, “Big” and “Ice Cube”.
Sochi Olympic Park is the main site of the 2014 Winter Olympics. It was here that all the main action of the Games took place, and after their completion, various sports events are held here. The park is located in the Adler region, in the Imereti Lowland, right on the Black Sea coast.
02. Part of the Adler Arena, a training skating rink for figure skating and the Iceberg.
The most important thing in the park are the sports facilities. Six stadiums are located in the form of a circle: “Fisht” (opening and closing of the Olympics), “Shaiba” (second hockey arena), “Bolshoi” (the main ice palace for), “Ice Cube” (), “Adler Arena” () and "Iceberg" ( and ). In the center of the circle there is a huge torch in which the fire of the games burned. A wall of champions of the games was also installed on the square and a Formula 1 track was built. An amusement and amusement park, Sochi Park, was built next to the sports facilities.
03. Torch and “Fisht”.
Such a cluster of objects of the same type in one place is beneficial during the Olympic Games themselves, but what to do with them after is a big question. For many years it was said that the objects were prefabricated and would be transported to other regions of Russia. This immediately seemed absurd, and after construction it became completely clear that nothing could be transported. Everything was left standing on the Black Sea shore.
04. Formula 1 track. Because of it, the Olympic Park is now constantly covered with a large number of fences and it is best to move around it on bicycles. By the way, they are allowed on the track once a week and you can ride like a real F1 pilot before the race.
The Fisht is undergoing expensive construction work again: it is being prepared for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. An amazing thing: in Krasnodar there are two football clubs playing in the RFPL - Krasnodar and Kuban. The owner of Krasnodar and the Magnit chain of stores, Sergei Galitsky, has a new and purely football stadium for his club, which in the spring of 2015 became the bronze medalist of the Russian Championship. But the regional capital was left without a World Cup, despite the huge interest in football. There is no football team in Sochi, there has been no interest from fans for even longer, but it was the resort city that won the World Cup.
05. 40,000-seat Fisht Stadium, where the opening and closing of the 2014 Olympics took place. It cost approximately 20 billion rubles, which is 2.5 times more expensive than analogues.
The Shayba ice hockey arena with 7,000 seats is one of the most modest construction projects of Sochi 2014. They spent “only” 3.4 billion rubles on it, which is about 1.5 times more expensive than its analogues. Minor matches of the Olympic hockey tournament were held here. Nowadays the All-Russian Children's Sports and Fitness Center is located here.
07. Next to the “Shaiba” there is the most grandiose object of the Olympic Park - the Bolshoi Ice Palace.
The 12,000-seat Bolshoi Palace cost almost 10 billion rubles, which is 2.5 times higher than its analogues. A spectator seat at the Bolshoi stadium costs as much as a Toyota Corolla. But building is not enough: you also need to maintain the object. During the Olympics, the Russian Hockey Federation complained that one day of work for the Bolshoi cost 1 million rubles, which is a fabulous amount. They are trying their best to load the facility even after the Olympics. The 2014 Channel One Cup (Euro Hockey Tour stage) and the 2015 KHL All-Star Game took place here. Since the 2014/15 season, Bolshoi has become the home arena of the newly created Sochi hockey club. Also, for the second year now, the arena has served as a venue for the final festival and Gala match of the Night Hockey League, a project personally sponsored by the President of Russia.
The Sochi hockey club was organized very quickly in the summer of 2014. Coach Vyacheslav Butsaev immediately managed to lead the team to the playoffs of the Kontinental Hockey League, where in the spring of 2015 they lost to the regular season winners CSKA Moscow in the first round. Haste is very noticeable in everything that concerns the club itself. Unsuccessful logo and corporate identity, unclear marketing, mediocre attributes, lack of a school and youth team, weak press service, etc. As the debut season progressed, Sochi began to experience financial problems, which became even more acute after the resignation of the Governor of the Krasnodar Territory, Alexander Tkachev, in April 2015. It is likely that this year the team from the regional capital, “Kuban”, which played in the VHL, will cease to exist. There the money “unexpectedly” ran out. The team, of course, is more important to the resort of Sochi, and in June the debts were repaid. Despite all the disadvantages, HC Sochi is interesting both as one of the features of an all-season resort, and as simply an interesting participant in the KHL championship, where fans can enjoy a pleasant trip, and where the same KHL All-Star Game can be held.
The most modest object of the Games is the Ice Cube, a curling arena. The 3,000-seat stadium cost a billion rubles. After the Olympics, almost all domestic Russian curling competitions, educational and training events for Russian national teams, as well as the emerging super cups (qualifying tournaments for the European and world championships) were transferred to it. There was so much desire to load the facility that some athletes were already tired of Sochi. In April 2015, the arena hosted the world championship among mixed pairs (double mixed) - a discipline included in the 2018 Olympic program.
10. Last May was the Russian Curling Championships, in which I had the chance to participate.
If the decision to hold the Winter Olympics in the subtropics was absurd, then using the Olympic Park as a Formula 1 track is an interesting solution. There are plenty of large concrete spaces around, expensive chain hotels and small guest houses too, and the airport is nearby. The Black Sea is within walking distance. Going to Sochi for the weekend for the Russian Grand Prix, “touching the history” of the Olympics, swimming in the sea and visiting the mountains in Krasnaya Polyana - the public who has money should be happy. There are enough wealthy people in Russia and directing their flow to Sochi, forcing them to spend money on expensive pleasures (and F1 is always expensive), is a good option.
A year after the Games, the Wall of Champions of the Games was opened in the Olympic Park. By the way, “Wall of Champions” is the name of the wall at the circuit in Montreal, Canada, where in 1999 three Formula 1 champions crashed their cars. The Sochi Wall consists of two pyramids, symbolizing snow-capped mountains. The pyramids contain multi-colored plaques with the names of Russian Olympic and Paralympic medalists.
13. At the 2014 Paralympic Games, also held in Sochi, immediately after the Olympics, Russia confidently won the medal count. Of the 80 medals, 30 gold, 28 silver and 22 bronze were won. The closest pursuer, Germany, has only 9 gold medals.
14. 88 countries of the world were represented at the 2014 Olympics, which is a new Olympic record for the Winter Games.
15. Russia became first in the medal standings of the Games. Of the total 33 medals, 13 are gold, 11 are silver and 9 are bronze.
16. Nearby are the Olympic rings - the object of constant photo sessions for tourists.
An indoor speed skating center with an Olympic 400-meter track is a rare phenomenon in the world. On the territory of the former USSR there are such in (Belarus) and Astana (Kazakhstan). Russia had three: in Moscow (“Krylatskoe”), and Chelyabinsk (“Ural Lightning”). The facilities are extremely in demand for training and competition by speed skaters, as modern speed skating has gone under the roof. And now the fourth center was built in Sochi - Adler Arena. Alas, its only one of all the Games facilities was repurposed into a tennis academy. Of course, tennis in Sochi has great traditions, but it can be practiced at other facilities that are not as unique as the skating center.
17. Adler Arena is one of the most beautiful venues of the Games, because the skating stadium cannot but be beautiful.
18. Tennis is worth being happy about, but it was realistic to find another place for the tennis academy. About 7.5 billion rubles were spent on the facility (2.5 times more expensive than analogues). One spectator seat in an 8,000-seat arena cost 925 thousand rubles.
19. Anna Chakvetadze finished with tennis and... Maria Sharapova Surprisingly, she turned out to be one of the last torchbearers of the Olympic flame. It has nothing to do with Sochi, it’s a summer sport, but come on! Born in Sochi, Olympic champion (Sharapova did not win the Olympics, although they are not particularly rated in tennis) and winner of Grand Slam tournaments Yevgeny Kafelnikov remained out of work. Ugly!
20. Between the Adler Arena and Iceberg there is a training arena for figure skating - now it is the Volosozhar and Trankov Figure Skating Center. Tatyana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov became Olympic champions in pairs figure skating. There is a training center for figure skating and short track speed skating. For example, in May 2015, the Russian short track national team trained there. There is also public skating for everyone.
21. Many consider the Iceberg to be the most beautiful arena of the Games. This is definitely the most successful arena, as it hosted competitions in figure skating and short track speed skating, where Russia won a scattering of medals. The 12,000th "Iceberg" cost 9 billion rubles - 2.3 times more expensive than its analogues. At first they wanted to transport it to another region, then repurpose it into a cycling track, and then they said that such a base was needed by athletes. Before the Games, the arena hosted test Grand Prix Finals in figure skating and Russian championships in short track speed skating and figure skating. After the Olympics, figure skaters came here only once with a national championship. Representatives of both sports are no longer going to hold competitions at the facility. Only commercial ice shows stage their performances here. The spending of the Olympics is clear.
The problem with the Olympic Park and its facilities is the distance from where people live. Directly from here it takes from 40 minutes to an hour and a half, depending on traffic jams in Adler. Even from neighboring Adler, and the park lies behind it, it takes some time to get there. was good because all its objects are located close to residential areas and are people-oriented. Yes, by Kazan standards, something is located on the outskirts, but this is not an option with Sochi, where you need to go not just to another city, but even further. By the way, the winter one is also being built more or less within the city and not far from residential areas.
Nevertheless, they try to hold all sorts of events in the OI Park. In October 2014, for the first time in Russia, the Formula 1 Grand Prix took place on a local track. This year was marked by the Olympic Sky air show held at the end of May, and in April, racing drivers competed here as part of the Russian Rally Cup stage. Sochi Autodrom also serves as the venue for the Arctic Cup stages of the Mitjet 2L touring car series. On October 11, Sochi will again host Formula 1, with which a contract has been signed for racing until 2020.
24. The fifth stage of the open championship of the Krasnodar region Mitjet 2L - “Victory Cup” took place on May 9 and 10. 9 cars took part in the race.
25. Igor Muravlev became the winner of the race in the Semi PRO category.
26. Black Sea coast of the Imereti Lowland. Five minutes from the Olympic Park.
27. Abundance of fishermen. Don't forget that people live here.
28. From the park almost to the border with Abkhazia there is an embankment. It's a pleasure to ride bicycles on.
29. Road to the clouds. BAR, Jaguar and Joradn? :)
30. Black Sea.
31. A site next to one of the hotels.
32. Bridge Resort is among the most decent local hotels. High quality, but also very expensive. The food is excellent. If finances allow, feel free to choose it.
33. The hotel has several buildings in addition to the main one. They are named after world capitals: Tokyo, Beijing, Istanbul, Paris, London, Vienna, Sydney. I am happy to return here.
34. In early May, the Russian national beach soccer team conducted its training sessions at the hotel site. Who doesn’t know, unlike regular football, the guys are the strongest in the world. Russia won the last two World Cups, breaking the Brazilian hegemony. She also has “gold” at the 2014 European Championship and four victories in the Euroleague. All the stars were in Sochi. Goalkeeper Andrey Bukhlitsky I remember it very well, because at the coolest children’s festival “Locoball” we had a station (interregional tournament) named after him. It's funny that the captain of the team Ilya Leonov, if I’m not mistaken, I regularly wished for a pleasant appetite at meals. At the end of the training camp, from May 11 to 13, two teams of the Russian national team, as well as the teams of Azerbaijan and Belarus, held a mini-tournament here called the RFU Cup. I thought about taking a photo, but someone was already taking pictures for the BeachSoccerRussia portal and I decided to postpone photographing beach soccer until next time. It would be interesting, of course!
37. Mountains can already be seen from Abkhazia, a part of Georgia controlled by an unrecognized government supported by Russia. The latter traditionally provides assistance to separatists - in addition to Abkhazia, in South Ossetia and Transnistria. There are people who like to travel to such territories, but it’s safer to stay where at least some laws apply.
40. Mountains in Abkhazia.
41. Beautiful!
42. Let's return to the evening Olympic Park. Colorful musical fountain. Average and the repertoire is monotonous. This is not Barcelona.
43. “Big” in the night. Notice how massive the staircase and the arena itself are. It takes quite a long time to get to your place from the parking lot or from the bus stop (in addition to a long trip from Sochi).
In the year since the Olympic Games, little has changed in the coastal cluster. Only the Formula 1 track has been added. The objects are all standing, do not appear to be falling apart and are more or less in use. The only exception is “Fisht” - an eternal construction site. The layout of all this is not the best, especially for subsequent operation, imperfections, endless fences and fences, empty checkpoints and parking lots - it’s all there. And, of course, endless asphalt spaces along which you walk and don’t see the end.
44. “Fisht”.
During the Olympic Games, a number of media outlets published photo collections of objects from past Games that are no longer in use. Like, “they” also have objects standing idle, like this is an Olympic feature. Moreover, the selections contain the same arenas: Sarajevo 1984 (thirty years ago!), Athens 2004, Beijing 2008. Using as an example the capital of a country that was formed from the fragments of the former Yugoslavia and survived a major war is very appropriate, yes. As well as remembering the laziest nation in the EU, whose services in organizing the Olympics the IOC decided to honor. Nobody really remembers “winter” Vancouver, Turin or Salt Lake City.
45. The park is deserted in the evening.
46. Even the queue for the Olympic rings is not too busy.
47. Recruits of CSKA sports companies are preparing to take the military oath. The patriotic frenzy intensified in connection with the May 9 holiday. For several days in a row, the same 10 songs about the war were played in the park from morning to evening.
The main message of the country's leadership: the facilities must be used. We can still download sports ones. Things are not so rosy with non-sports people. Instead of adapting everything to a new life, demolishing something, rebuilding and repurposing something - everything remains as at the Games. Like a gradually decaying symbol of past victories. Several times a year, the old man will continue to be dressed in a military jacket with awards, reminding him of how good it once was. The taking of the military oath by athletes and the amusing 8 goals of the head of state in the gala match of the Night Hockey League fit well into this series. Alas.
49. A hotel behind several walls of fences. They make me feel uncomfortable.
Although the stadiums are occupied, huge amounts of money are spent on their maintenance. In Sochi the temperature is above zero almost all year round, and in the summer it is very hot. Ice complexes in the subtropics are expensive. Moreover, built on such a grand scale. At the same time, the internal debt of the Krasnodar Territory is about 130 billion rubles. Of course, it’s great that several thousand children and young athletes have the opportunity to go to camps in Sochi, but at whose expense? The effectiveness of all this is very low. Throughout Russia, it was possible to build tens of thousands of sports grounds, palaces and swimming pools, and maintain them for many years. Instead, they got a one-time event, whose effect on the country’s image was dissipated by its own hands literally a couple of weeks after the end of the Games. The lucky ones will visit Sochi, but what should the rest of the residents do?
50. Iceberg is especially beautiful at night.
51. But looking at its decoration up close, you can’t perceive it as the most beautiful object. Unattractive materials.
52. Behind the Adler Arena, the Olympic Media Center was built, accommodating up to 8,000 people. In November 2014, it hosted the World Chess Championship Match between Norwegian Magnus Carlsen and Indian Viswanathan Anand.
53. Nearby is the most beautiful local hotel - Tulip Inn. Surprisingly: it’s difficult to find places there, despite the very high cost of rooms and the unfortunate location at the intersection of two highways.
Of course, like any sports fan who also works in it and sometimes even competes, I would like to come back here. I don’t know in what capacity and for what event. It is warm here, pleasant air, beautiful sea, there is a place for cycling, beautiful and majestic mountains in the distance - this is another reason to go to
Surely you are primarily interested in where the Imereti Valley is located. This is the extreme southern coastal territory in the Adlerovsky district of the city of Sochi. This is where the famous Olympic venues were located, which caused such an influx of tourists. This is the most transformed, modern and beautiful area of the resort town. Until 2007, ordinary private houses were located in this place, and after construction was planned here, the picture changed dramatically: in addition to all other objects, hotels in the Imereti Lowland began to be built here en masse, so that visitors would have a place to stay.
City-hotel "Velvet Seasons"
First of all, we are interested in this stunning resort in a resort town because it is located in the Imereti Lowland, on the shores of the Black Sea. Sochi is very close, and from the windows you can admire the beautiful landscapes of Krasnaya Polyana. Leaving the hotel, you immediately find yourself on the Black Sea coast, a little further there is an ornithological park with freshwater ponds and walking alleys, a theme park and other wonders. That is why hotels in the Imereti Lowland are invariably popular with tourists; there is something to do here. This city-hotel consists of four blocks. We will look at each of them in more detail.
"Alexandrovsky Park"
This large and beautiful hotel is located 9 km from Sochi Airport and the railway station. In the immediate vicinity there is a park with an area of several hectares. Rare tropical plants grow here. Not all hotels in the Imereti Lowland can boast of such popularity, and this is not without reason. The first impression is made by the territory; the presence of developed infrastructure creates good conditions for a good rest. The second is the equipment of the rooms. The interiors are specially selected in a classic style, and only high-quality natural materials were used for decoration. All rooms are equipped with air conditioning and comfortable upholstered furniture, each with a bathroom. There is a fitness room and a tour desk on site. You can explore not only local attractions, but also hotels in the Imereti Lowland so that you have something to compare with. Judging by the reviews, tourists are very fond of Alexandrovsky Park for its close proximity to the sea, cleanliness and comfort.
"Chistye Prudy"
A unique hotel in its own way, which is located between a fresh lake and the Black Sea. This tourist quarter is located on the territory of the Olympic Park. Of course, all hotels (Imereti Lowland) have a good level of service. Adler is distinguished by its cordiality and hospitality, which is felt immediately upon arrival. But it is “Chistye Prudy” that is a place filled with a special atmosphere of warmth and care. It will be interesting for adults and children; for the former there is a fitness center, a beauty salon and a nightclub, and for the latter they will spend time in the games room. Guests can stay in standard or luxury rooms. Apartments are available for the most demanding guests. Each room has air conditioning and TV, minibar, furniture and a bath with hairdryer and other necessary accessories. Room rates start from 2900 rubles. per day, it includes breakfast and excursions, you will discover the entire Imereti Lowland. The Velvet Seasons Hotel always receives a large number of warm reviews, the conditions for relaxation here are fabulous, and, judging by the words of tourists, it is worth coming here every year.
"Catherine's Quarter"
When choosing a hotel for yourself, be sure to note how much you enjoy being among a large number of people. For some, this is a wonderful opportunity for communication, while others, on the contrary, strive for maximum privacy. Hotels in the Imereti Lowland (Sochi) are mostly large, but this one is especially special. It has 1,194 rooms, each of which can accommodate from two to four people. However, the hotel area is so huge that sometimes the illusion of loneliness is created.
All hotels are very comfortable, and everyone chooses the number of services independently. A standard room will cost 2970 rubles, the amount includes breakfast. Numerous reviews confirm that the hotel rooms are spotlessly clean, very beautiful, and the staff is courteous and polite.
"Russian house"
This stunning hotel is located a three-minute walk from the Black Sea coast and pebble beach. You can get to the Olympic Park from here in 10 minutes, and to the center of Sochi in about 30 minutes. If you are looking for the most wonderful place on the entire coast, then before you is the Imereti Lowland. Hotels (“Russian House” and all listed above) are real examples of an ideal hotel complex. We have already talked about the rest, as for the “Russian House”, it is designed for 3,500 rooms, decorated in a modern style with functional furniture. On site there are bars and restaurants, a pizzeria and luggage storage, laundry and much more. Judging by the reviews of tourists, the hotel’s work is just perfect. Here you can have a great time with your family and fun company.
Hotel Azimut
This is a three star resort hotel that only opened in 2013. It is not part of the Velvet Seasons city-hotel, but is located on the same territory of the Imereti Valley. There are not many reviews about room service; they note cleanliness and order, delicious breakfasts, etc., things that are commonplace for these places. But many tourists emphasize the magnificent hotel grounds, created specifically so that you can fully enjoy your walks. Hotel "Azimut" (Imereti Lowland) offers accommodation in any of eight residential buildings, each of which has its own focus (youth, family). A group of hotel buildings surrounds a stunning area with numerous swimming pools, walking alleys and cozy gazebos. You can spend days here, but do not forget that Sochi has prepared a lot of interesting excursions that cannot be missed. The cost of a stay with breakfast included here starts from 2,500 rubles per day, superior suites cost up to 7,000 rubles.
Hotel "Imeretinskaya"
The luxurious hotel, impressive at first glance, is located a 20-minute walk from the Sochi Olympic Park. Everyone's favorite aquarium is about a 10-minute walk away. The hotel has 196 cozy rooms with sea views. Each of them is equipped with impeccable furniture and modern appliances. In the mornings, the restaurant serves a luxurious buffet, and during the day you can taste dishes of Russian and European cuisine. Every year the collection of positive reviews about the hotel is replenished; guests are simply enchanted by the atmosphere and service. To summarize, I would like to say that each of the presented hotels is distinguished by the highest level of service, which means they will provide you with a wonderful holiday.
