The view of Adler from Mt. Akhun.
Sochi has much to offer visitors alongside (and after) the Olympics, particularly when it comes to exploration and enjoyment of the natural world. This roundup is a guide to the city and all it has to offer visitors, yet it also provides insights into the history, geography and culture of the region.
Founded in 1838 as Fort Alexandria (renamed Fort Navaginsky a year later), much of the settlement was destroyed during the Crimean War (1853-56). In 1864 it was rebuilt as Dakhovsky Posad, and in 1896 was renamed Sochi (from the word Shacha or Sshatche – an indigenous name for the area). Soon after, it became popular as a resort destination. During the Second World War, its resort facilities were transformed into hospitals, where half a million Soviet troops received treatment. Today it remains the country’s largest resort and rehabilitation destination, with over 200 centers for healing and rest.
The Sochi History Museum was created in July 1920. Its initial collection was from the Caucasus Mountain Club and today its sizeable offerings cover the history of the Black Sea coast from ancient times to the present day. Over 4000 items are in the museum’s holdings, including items on archaeological, ethnography, daily life and the culture of this multinational region, documents and photos. Visitors can explore the permanent exhibits on nature, archaeology, and cosmonauts in Sochi, and examine the dolmen at the entrance. Several hundred dolmens – stone megalithic tombs – are scattered along the coastline and foothills of the region surrounding Sochi. They are oriented toward the sun’s position on the winter solstice, yet the true significance of dolmens, as well as the technology used for their assembly, remains a scientific mystery akin to Stonehenge or the pyramids.
Phone: +7 862 2642326
Website: museum.ru/M1378
Address: ul. Vorovskovo 54/11
Hours: Daily from 9 am to 6 pm, except Mondays
Admission: Adults, 100R; children 50R.
Mount Akhun (663 meters above sea level) is the highest point along the Sochi seacoast between the rivers Khosta and Agura. You can see the mountains of the Sochi region from many points along the coast, but the tower on this mountain offers the best panoramic view, up to 70 kilometers on a clear day. The 30-meter observation tower was built in 1936 in the Romanesque style, using local limestone. Tourists can climb the stairs on the outside of the tower and from the top see Kadosh Cape and its lighthouse, located near Tuapse; the summits of the Caucasus ridge, covered in snow; and mountains near Gagra in Abkhazia. You can drive up Mount Akhun, to the very base of the tower, by following the serpentine, 11-kilometer road that starts near the pension Sputnik, located in Sochi’s Khostinsky district. The tower is open 24 hours, but the best time for viewing is in the “golden hours”: just after sunrise or just before sunset. {View from tower of Adler is shown at the top of the article.}
Admission: 100R.
The heart of this museum is its permanent collection, Russian Painting and Drawing of the Eighteenth to Twenty-First Centuries, which presents the evolution of Russian art of this period. Paintings from the turn of the twentieth century are represented by works of Ivan Aivazovsky, Lev Lagorio, Ivan Shishkin, Mikhail Clodt and others. There are also works by Russian impressionists and cezannists such as Abram Arkhipov and Pyotr Konchalovsky, and artists of the Stalin era like Sergei Gerasimov and Isaac Brodsky. The pride of the museum is its recently assembled collection of antique arts and crafts and weaponry. Notably, the museum building is one of the city’s most beautiful structures, and is a historical monument in its own right. Built in 1936 in the Renaissance style, it was designed by architect Ivan Zholtovsky. For many years it was the center of administrative and ideological power in Sochi, housing the City Committee of the Communist Party.
Phone: +7 862 2622985
Website: sochiartmuseum.com
Address: Kurortny prospect 51
Hours: Tu,We,Fr, Su 10-5:30; Th, Sa from 12:30 to 8:30 pm
Admission: Adults 200R; children and reduced rates, 100R.
Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin’s dacha in Sochi is located between Adler Airport and the city center, on the territory of the Zelyonaya Roshcha (Green Grove) sanatorium. The resort’s 50 hectares teem with plant life and are part of the Sochi National Nature Park. The Sochi dacha was designed by architect Miron Merzhanov. Its original, and valuable, wood interiors have been preserved, as have chandeliers, Stalin’s horsehair divan – made according to his special directive, and locks with tightly-sealing keyholes (so that his enemies could not eavesdrop or poison him). Built in 1937, the dacha was a special place of rest for political leaders and heads of government. You can see Stalin’s writing table, the carpet on which he trod, family photos and his fireplace. The vozhd typically visited the dacha in the fall, in order to improve his health by imbibing the sea air.
Phone: +7 862 2970502
Address: Kurortny prospect 120, Zelyonaya Roshcha
Hours: Daily from 9:30 am to 6 pm; closed Mondays
Admission: 300R
The Agura waterfalls are one of the true gems of the Sochi resort area. Excursions along the Agura River gorge are the most popular in Sochi and its surrounding region. Visitors walk to the waterfall along a path laid down in 1911 by members of the Sochi Mountaineering Club. It is a 2.5-kilometer walk through the unusual Colchis forest, which, thanks to its abundance of lush, subtropical evergreens, is beautiful year round. There are several beautiful waterfalls in the Agura gorge, as well as fantastic limestone canyons, caves and natural, sulfide-rich springs. The most famous and most visited waterfall is the first one in the river gorge. The path to the Agura waterfalls travels through the Sochi National Park and is open year round.
Eagle Cliffs rise above the right bank of the Agura River, two kilometers from its mouth, near the Agura waterfalls. A local legend is connected with Eagle Cliffs and relates to the myth of Prometheus. As the retelling has it, it was to these cliffs that Prometheus was chained after he stole fire for humans, against Zeus’ wishes. As in the ancient Greek myth, Prometheus was doomed to eternal suffering: each day an eagle came and pecked out his liver, and each day it re-grew.
The formidable Eagle Cliffs cascade vertiginously downward to the narrow Agura River, which courses like a snake through the ravine. The waterfalls are easily visible from here, especially the lower one near the lake, and the little bridge across the Agura. The horseshoe-shaped Eagle Cliffs, covering the Agura ravine from the west, consists of two layers – the upper and the lower. The opening of the upper tier reaches its maximum height – about 85 meters – where the path approaches an overlook at the edge of the cliffs. The view from this observation platform in good weather offers a beautiful panorama of the Caucasus Mountains.
There are two paths to the top of Eagle Cliffs: through the Agura ravine or from the valley of the Matsesta River. The first follows the path to the Agura waterfalls until the confluence of the rivers Agura and Agurchik, then climbs along the separate path to the left for 30-40 minutes. It is also possible to walk or drive to Eagle Cliffs from the Staraya Matsesta station and stop along the way to visit the famous Matsesta Sulphur Springs, the heart of the Sochi resort. It was thanks to these springs that Sochi first began to develop as a popular Soviet tourist destination. Here, Sochi spa specialists developed unique treatments, recognized around the world, to treat burn victims, surgical scars, and diseases of the musculoskeletal system. The first baths were built at the start of the twentieth century, not far from the springs. From the springs an asphalt road leads to a dirt road, through picturesque meadows and on toward Eagle Cliffs.
In 1934, scientist Fyodor Zorin planted a wild lemon tree in his garden as part of his research into cultivating new types of frost-resistant citrus plants. To the tree he grafted Japanese mandarins, Spanish oranges, Chinese kumquats, Italian lemons and grapefruits, etc. – some 45 types of citrus plants in all. Zorin’s scientific experiment was a success and his unusual tree soon became famous beyond Sochi.
In 1940, during a visit to the garden, popular scientist Otto Schmidt added his own graft. In 1957, a visiting Vietnamese doctor suggested calling the unique tree the Tree of Friendship. Soviet authorities gave their thumbs up to the proposal and it soon drew political delegations from all over the world. To this day, the tree has received more than 630 grafts affixed by representatives from some 167 countries, many of them done by heads of state, prominent social and political figures, cosmonauts, scientists and cultural representatives. Alongside the Tree of Friendship are some 60 other small trees of friendship from the US, Canada, Japan and other countries. In all, the museum houses some 20,000 presents from every continent on Earth. The garden museum is located in the center of the city, not far from the Central Stadium, near Zolotoy Kolos station.
Phone: +7 862 296-42-37
Address: ul. Fabritsiusa 2/28
Hours: Daily from 9 am to 5 pm.
Photo by Edward Gudkov
This remarkable Sochi botanical garden contains over 1600 types of plants from all corners of the planet. The park was built at the end of the nineteenth century by Sergei Khudenkov, a progressive polymath who was a writer, dramatist, journalist, publisher of Petersburg Newspaper, theater critic, arts expert (authoring a foundational work on the history of dance), jurist and teacher. He also dabbled in architecture, landscaping and phyto-design, and horticulture. As a result of profitable ventures in Ryazan guberniya, in 1890 Khudenkov acquired a dacha in Sochi. In just two years, he transformed his land’s wild, untamed acreage into a beautifully planned parkscape, with a rich collection of plants brought in from the Crimea, Germany and the Caucasus. At the park’s center stood his villa Hope (“Nadezhda”), dedicated to his beloved Nadezhda Strakhovaya, who later became his wife. An expert on exotic plants, Khudenkov planted over 400 varieties of trees and bushes in his park; envisioning it as a Russian counterpart to Franco-Italian terraced parks of the era, he decorated it with sculptures and vases from France. By 1917 there were 550 types of plants. In 1922 the park was nationalized, and in the early 1960s it was expanded, adding ponds with waterfalls and rose gardens. In 1978 a funicular tramway was installed, allowing visitors to take in the parks and the city from a bird’s eye view. The park is divided into two parts: upper and lower. The lower portion has a picturesque pond and an aquarium that exhibits life from the Black Sea.
Phone: +7 862 2 67-16-46
Website: www.dendrarium.ru
Address: Kurortny prospekt 74
Admission: 230R. 430R for entrance plus ride on the funicular.
The overlook named for Yury Yefremov (a respected poet, geographer, and nature preservationist who loved the Caucasus and is buried here) is considered one of the finest in Krasnaya Polyana, in part because it is so easily accessible, but also because it offers an amazing panoramic view of the surrounding mountains.
The overlook is reached by a 40-minute walk that begins on the dirt road between the village of Krasnaya Polyana and Medoveyevka. This road, likely laid by Circassians, is the oldest road between the towns. Follow the path to an isolated, wooded peak, which is visible from the village. At the “saddle” near this peak (from which the neighboring Monashka River valley is visible), leave the well-worn path and proceed along the crest. A five-minute walk through soft snow brings you to the overlook, where you can behold breathtaking views of Krasnaya Polyana and the snowy peaks of the main Caucasus ridge.
This forest preserve is located two kilometers from the seacoast in the White Cliffs Gorge, along the Khosta River, and is a natural landmark of exceptional significance, protecting ancient flora of the Sochi Black Sea coast. It is, in effect, a museum under the open sky. Thanks to the unique microclimate, rare plants have grown here since the Tertiary geologic period, thriving among an abundance of thermophilic evergreens.
Of particular significance here are the preserve’s huge yew trees, some 40 meters high and 3000 years old, making them the oldest trees in Russia. Aside from such rare plant life, the grove also includes picturesque canyons, tectonic fissures, rocky cliffs and the remains of a medieval Genovese fortress. One of the most widespread explanations for how this building got its name is connected to the traders from Genoa who, according to Italian maps from the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries, had a trading post in this region, then known as Kosta. At present, just four towers and fragments of the fortress wall remain, covered with old trees.
The grove has a visitor center for the Caucasus Biosphere Preserve, as well as a small nature museum. Guests are offered two excursions: the Small, or so-called Yew Ring, which is about two kilometers long, and the Large Ring, which is five kilometers, and allows one to see the oldest residents of this grove, as well as the ruined fortress.
Phone: +7 862 265 00 97
Website: kgpbz.ru
Address: Samshitovaya ul. 1
Hours: Daily from 8 am to 6 pm.
Admission: Small Ring: 150R, Large Ring: 300R.
Photo by Plotnikov and Berezhnaya
A few years ago, in the Adler district village of Lesnoye, Troitse-Georgievsky Convent was founded. Thanks to the efforts of the Abbess Matushka Anastasia, and as a result of private donations, it has grown to include a number of interesting churches.
In 2003, in a wide meadow, a church was built to honor Saint Varus, a soldier in the Roman garrison in Egypt who embraced Christianity and was martyred for his faith in Alexandria in 307. The church’s bright white outlines look glorious in any light; a pond filled with water lilies completes the peaceful scene. Nearby is another surprising church, bearing the name of the icon “Soothe My Sorrows!” It is perhaps Sochi architect Fyodor Afuksenidi’s finest work. Inside, one can view an iconostasis carved from linden wood and beautiful stained glass. Also on the convent’s grounds, along the Psakho River, is the church in honor of the Icon of the Vladimir Mother of God.
One senses that everything here has been created with great love and diligence. The sisters and novices always greet visitors warmly, willingly relating the convent’s history or the biography of the martyred Saint Varus.
Services are held on weekends and Orthodox holidays. The convent can be reached by car from the village of Forelevoye Khozyaystvo (“Trout Farm”), between Adler and Krasnaya Polyana. Turn off the federal highway at the sign for Golitsyno village.
Address: Lesnoye village, ul. Mira 5
On the outskirts of Sochi are several extraordinarily beautiful canyons. One of the most accessible and interesting is Navalishinsky. Visiting it requires neither special skills nor equipment.
Navalishinsky is 3.5 km long and 150 meters deep, with the Bolshaya (or Eastern) Khosta River flowing through it. The gorge was cut out of Upper Cretaceous limestone and is populated with boxwood trees. On the edge of the cliffs is an observation platform that offers a stunning panorama over the entire canyon, with its beautiful snowy white cliffs, tree covered hillsides and the sea. For those in search of a bit of excitement, there are zipline and bungee-jumping opportunities. For those seeking gustatory satisfaction, there is a small cafe offering tasty bliny with honey and local teas.
The canyon is open year round, but only in sunny, dry weather; it is vital to check the weather before setting out, because when it rains the water level in the canyon can rise several meters in a very short period of time.
Phone: +7 918 608 53 18
Website: vk.com/club4087
Address: Khostinsky district, Krasnaya Volya village
Hourse: Daily, from 8 am to 6 pm.
In the 1930s this estate housed the leadership of the security services for state dachas along the coast. This small, but rather appealing home was designed by Miron Merzhanov, the main architect of his day and the designer of Stalin’s dachas. In the 1960s the building was transferred to the Sochi Division of the Russia Geographical Society, the city’s oldest public scientific-educational organization.
The estate has a library, a museum of mineralogy, archive, an exhibition of artistic paintings – a gift from a society member, and an exhibition of photographs and old maps. The hall hosts conferences and lectures and is the departure point from which local guides and experts frequently lead excursions to the most interesting natural and historical points on the Sochi coastline.
Phone: +7 8622 61-98-57
Website: geo.opensochi.org
Address: Kurortny prospekt 113
Hours: 2 – 6 pm, Wednesdays and Fridays.
The special biosphere nature preserve that is Laura Animal Complex is one of the region’s most popular tourist destinations. Situated on the banks of the Achipse River, two kilometers from where it meets the Mzymta, it is also near where the Caucasus Nature Reserve (Zapovednik) intersects with the Krasnaya Polyana ski resort.
The main goal of Laura is to acquaint visitors with the nature and world of the Caucasus, with its fauna. For many, it is their only opportunity to come face to face with some of the Caucasus’ largest non-human inhabitants: mountain bison, lynx, wild boar, wolves, badgers, deer, and a large variety of raptors, including the black vulture.
Phone: +7 988-150-0102
Address: Krasnaya Polyana, Esto-Sadok village, ulitsa Achipsinskaya.
Hours: 10 am to 7 pm daily, with no lunch break.
Admission: Adults, 100R, children 50R.
Kichmay is located on the right bank of the Shakhe River, seven kilometers from the Black Sea coast. It is a settlement of Black Sea Circassians known as Shapsugs. The village allows visitors to experience the lifestyle and customs of this community. Each Saturday the village hosts a celebratory Circassian evening, popular with locals and tourists alike.
The hospitable Shapsugs offer guests exciting entertainment, including traditional Caucasian music, costumed dancing, knife throwing, and samplings of local wines and national cuisine.
A few kilometers from Kichmay, in the Dzhigosh tract, there is a beautiful sidetrip to 33 Waterfalls (right). This mountainous ravine, with its multitudinous cascades, is one of the region’s hidden gems. It is best visited on a sunny, dry day.
Kichmay can be reached by bus from Golovinka village, or by ordering a tour from one of the many companies in Sochi.
Solokh-aul (Solokh village) is located in the mountains, in the valley of the Shakhe River, 33 kilometers from Dagomys. This picturesque village is the birthplace of Russian tea – the northernmost place in the world that it is cultivated.
In 1901, a settler from Ukraine, the peasant Judas Koshman, planted tea in Solokh-aul that he had brought from Chakvy (Georgia). Residents of the village dubbed Koshman an eccentric when they saw that, instead of potatoes, onions or cabbage, he was planting some sort of mysterious brown pellets. Ten years later, Koshman presented his finished tea at a Sochi agricultural exhibition and its exceptional flavor made it quickly very popular. As a result, more plots in and around Solokh-aul were planted with it.
Today the plantation has a small museum in the house where Koshman lived, until his death at 97, as well as the graves of Judas and his wife. Tours are offered around the plantation and its modest home, including old photos and tools used by the first tea planters. Afterwards, on the veranda, you can sample the estate’s tea, sweetened with local chestnut tree honey and brewed with spring water from the grounds.
Address: Solokh-aul village, House Museum of J. Koshman.
Hours: 9 am to 6 pm.
The Winter Theater, by Plotnikov and Berezhnaya
A walking tour of Sochi’s historical center should begin at the Winter Theater, located just a few hundred meters toward the sea from the Teatralnaya transport stop. The Winter Theater is a historical landmark in the neoclassical style, designed by Konstantin Chernopyatov. Eighty-eight columns encircle and support the building in Corinthian style, making it one of the city’s most beautiful architectural compositions. The portico is crowned with a pediment, on which stand three female figures sculpted by Vera Mukhina to signify Painting, Architecture and Sculpture.
The theater was built in just two years, completed in 1937, at the height of the Great Terror. Stalin himself chose the design and oversaw the construction, as it was the main theater of the Soviet Union’s main resort city.
Stalin, despite fearing for his personal safety, traveled to Sochi frequently, and came to the theater quite often. As a result, the security features here are significant. There is a special, secret underground entrance that led directly to his box. There is also a bomb shelter and separate underground entrance for VIPs, and, in the ceiling of the hall, observation windows installed for the convenience of the NKVD.
Today the theater regularly stages plays, special performances and concerts by famous musicians – the Sochi State Philharmonic is also under the Winter Theater’s umbrella.
If you stand before the theater, facing the sea, to your right will be the Seaside Park and walking path. If you proceed along this path, you will soon come to another architectural landmark from the Stalin era: the Hotel Primorskaya, built in 1936.
Continuing through the park, on the left side, across from the Park Hotel, is another interesting building: Pushkin Library. It was one of the first libraries on the Caucasus coastline, founded by Sochi residents in 1899, on the eve of Pushkin’s centennial. It was originally housed in the building for the Public Aid Society for the Poor. The current building was not opened until 1912, was financed through public donations and built in the Modern style.
To the right of the library is the Anchor and Cannon Monument. Unveiled in 1913 on the initiative of Leonid Dolinsky, the monument celebrates the 1838 founding of Sochi. The ancient cannon was forged in the Alexandrovsky Factory; the anchor was cast in 1779, at the Votkinsky Factory, and brought to Sochi from the region near the village of Yakornaya Shchel (“Anchor Slot”). In the mid-twentieth century, the original inscription on the monument commemorating 75 years since the city was founded was replaced with “In memory of the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-29.”
Further, walking past the ultramodern complex of tall buildings on the Olympic campus, you will arrive at the Festival Concert Hall, an architectural contribution from the 1970s. Each of the 2500 seats in the hall offers not only a view of the stage, but also of the sea and stars.
Walking to the right and above the concert hall, you will soon see one of the first Orthodox churches built along the Black Sea coast: the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael. Consecrated in 1891, by early in the twentieth century the church had become the city’s spiritual center (for the Christian population, in any event). It included a church school, parish house with outbuildings, a chapel, garden, and a park complex, complete with nursery. Taken as a whole, the region became known, unofficially, as the Church Quarter.
It is here – where today the Festival Concert Hall and the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael stand – that the city of Sochi was founded. On April 3, 1838, troops commanded by General Major Simborsky landed here, and by April 21, Fort Alexandria (named in honor of the empress) was built. All that remains of the fort is a small section of the fortress wall. This can be found to the left of the stairs leading from the cathedral down toward the seaport. At the turn of the twentieth century, the Sochi business district and bazaar were located on this slope, though nothing of either survived to the present day.
The Sochi Seaport was not built until 1955, two years after Stalin’s death, yet the high Soviet style permeated it. The sculptures and panels were created by the finest Soviet sculptors of that day. The center of the building was crowned with a stainless steel tower and spire. Atop the three wings of the tower were placed figures by the famous sculptor Vladimir Ingal, signifying the four seasons and four corners of the world. In front of the seaport station is a fountain with a sculpture of Isis, the goddess of navigation. Recently, the Sochi Seaport was reconstructed to be able to handle cruise ships.
Downtown Sochi as seen from the Dendrarium (photo by Plotnikov and Berezhnaya)
The Sochi Discovery World Aquarium is one of Adler’s main attractions. It is the largest oceanarium in Russia, encompassing some 6000 square meters, 29 aquaria, and s million liters of water. A wide variety of sea life is on display, from piranhas and cat and reef sharks, to nurse sharks and fish with unusual names like unicorn, ball, cow, hedgehog and surgeon. Forty-meter-long tunnels of glass pass through the aquaria and allow intimate views of sharks, stingrays and catfish, down to the smallest sea creatures.
Phone: +7 8622 46-33-56
Website: adler.su/okeanarium.php
Address: Adler, Kurortny gorodok, ul. Lenina 219а/4.
Hours: 10 am to 6 pm, closed Mondays and Tuesdays.
Admission: Adults 500R, children 250R.
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