Although Sochi is west of Batumi, it is in a time zone one hour further east so we had to change our clocks for the one day.
Maybe it is because of the unrest in Chechnya and the general area, maybe it is just Russian paranoia, but the passport and visa rules were much more strict than the last time we were in Russia. Or maybe fear of sabotage of the Olympia preparations going on.
Sochi is the site of the next winter Olympics. As a consequence, there is an awful lot of building going on - big hotels and apartment buildings. What the city is going to do with all those hotel rooms and apartments after the games are over heaven knows. It is a popular summer and winter resort but until now the accommodations have been sufficient. Is tourism going to increase enough to fill all those buildings? The authorities would be better advised to spend their money on improving traffic flow. It is terrible now and can only get worse when thousands come for the games.
That's our ship in picture 3. We were the only cruise ship in port that day.
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